EDMONDS — Rays of sunshine peeked through the clouds and filtered through the tall Douglas fir trees onto the meandering pathway.
A group of kids walked the path, to the tune of a hymn being sung in the background. Four adults then did the same.
As it was no ordinary setting, it was no ordinary pathway. It was a spiritual labyrinth being dedicated by the congregation of Edmonds Christian Church on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 12.
About 70 people celebrated the dedication of the labyrinth, more than a year in the making.
Labyrinths were first used about 4,000 years ago in a variety of traditions, the Rev. Glenn Nestlerode told the gathering. Christians adopted them in the 4th century, and they were widely used in the Middle Ages, he said.
“It is a symbolic or virtual path to Jesus,” Nestlerode said. A labyrinth differs from a maze in that it is not a puzzle to be solved, but a path to the center and outward again, in a metaphor for spiritual life, he said.
“You encounter God’s spirit as you walk the path,” Nestlerode said.
The labyrinth was inspired by congregation members Ruth and John Jewell, who had walked a labyrinth at a church in California before moving to the Northwest.
They dedicated the labyrinth to their parents, and the hymns sung at the dedication were taken from among their parents’ favorites, Ruth Jewell said.
Her mother often took long walks during which she received spiritual inspiration, she said.
The congregation first tried it by setting up some furniture for people to walk around, Nestlerode said. It was such a success that the church decided to build a permanent labyrinth. Ruth Jewell mapped the path through the grove of trees outside the picture windows of the church’s sanctuary.
The path was dug last fall. In the spring, 24 people laid the bricks with support from 40 others, Nestlerode said. The path is deceptively long at 795 feet.
Even curious neighbors stopped to help, he said. This is appropriate, he said, since the labyrinth is intended to be open to anyone regardless of faith.
Anyone may come by at any time and walk the labyrinth, other than between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday so as not to disrupt church services. The church is located at 231st Street SW and 84th Avenue W.
“We are offering this labyrinth to our community to bless all who walk it,” Nestlerode said.
Bill Sheets writes for The Herald in Everett.
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