World Labyrinth Day was celebrated last Saturday, May 7th. Perhaps you missed it. Mother’s Day grabbed all the attention that weekend, not surprisingly. But it was also Astronomy Day, Herb Day, and Free Comic Book Day (thanks Wikipedia). Missed those too, eh? Maybe next year.
There were 150 official observances of World Labyrinth Day, in 15 countries and 31 states in the USA. One of those events took place in Independence, Missouri, on the rooftop plaza at the Community of Christ Temple. It coincided with the Daily Prayer for Peace, which has taken place every day at the temple since its dedication in 1993.
This particular labyrinth (pictured above) was installed just a few years ago and was patterned after the well-known one at Chartres Cathedral in France. I suppose if you’re going to create a labyrinth, you might as well use the example many folks considered the best. Be that as it may, the mere fact there’s a labyrinth at all at this location signifies a pretty remarkable transformation in the practices of Community of Christ (known before 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or more simply, RLDS Church). Walking the labyrinth is one of many spiritual practices, listed on the church’s website (this may require downloading a free app depending on how you view it).
- Prayer of Examen
- Lectio Divina
- Centering Prayer
- Holy Attention
- Circles of Blessing
- Holding in the Light
- Breath Prayer
- Gospel Contemplation
- Prophetic Imagination
- Welcoming Prayer
- Lenten Practices
Many of those sound quite intriguing. Keep in mind, of course, that the list is not exhaustive. Nor does it mean that the only way to seek a spiritual path is by using any particular practice or discipline. These and other practices are not an end unto themselves, of course; their purpose is to connect us with the Divine.
Let me just say at the outset, too: I grew up in the RLDS Church, beginning in the 1950s, and I wasn’t exposed to any of those things. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Why? Well, mainly because back then spiritual practices were things done by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopalians, and maybe Lutherans. As well, non-Christian religions had their own (sometimes similar) spiritual practices. And we prided ourselves on being different, if downright peculiar. Besides, we latter-day saints, regardless of which branch we’re part of, are generally more “doers” than “be-ers.” And spiritual practices, although they may involve rituals, are decidedly in the “be-er” camp. The ideal is to find your own balance somewhere between spiritual practice and social action.
But if you know anything about the past six or seven decades of the Community of Christ/RLDS Church, you’re probably aware there’s been a lot of changes in regard to identity, theology, and practice. It certainly hasn’t been a smooth ride. For example, a huge chunk of conservative/traditionalist members left beginning in the 1980s. Ordaining women to the priesthood was their breaking point but hardly the only issue.
My point here is not to rehearse all that history. Let’s do that some other time and just focus here on spiritual practices. It’s been a gradual yet continual shift and certainly far from complete. These practices still feel foreign to many CofC members, especially us older ones. For example, I’ve never actually walked a labyrinth and sometimes wonder why people don’t just bump into one another as they’re walking in toward the center and then back outward. Maybe they do. Probably limiting the number of people walking at any one time is the simple solution to that. I’m open to trying a labyrinth walk, along with other spiritual practices and disciplines.
My own spiritual practices usually involve reading and writing. After I took early retirement as an editor at CofC international headquarters (where I was transferred after considerable time with the church’s publishing division, Herald Publishing House, at a separate location), I started writing a weekly blog based on the Revised Common Lectionary (something else we RLDS folks never used to bother with back in the day; now practically all our congregations use it for worship planning). That lasted for nine years, or three complete cycles of the three-year lectionary. During that time I also wrote and published a couple books (one on Apostle Paul and the other on how OT prophets can help us become a prophetic people). From time to time I show up here on Wheat & Tares to comment and post reflections.
For the last few years I’ve begun each day by reading Father Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, which arrive in my email in-box. Those daily readings have, in turn, exposed me to the writings of not only classical mystics such as St. John of the Cross, Julian of Norwich, John Duns Scotus, and so many others, but also contemporary spirituality writers. My congregation has been an encouraging place for social and community involvement. Everybody’s situation is different, of course.
The Community of Christ website explains that there’s three parts to walking a labyrinth: release—walking inward; receive—at the center; and return—walking outward. I can see how that works. It’s not unlike sitting inside the temple sanctuary right next door to the labyrinth, looking up into the ceiling which spirals upward until it reaches its center point, then spirals back down. Theologically, the message is to be drawn toward the Divine and then outward to the world.
The recent Labyrinth Day event was sponsored by the Center for Living Water, a relatively new program at church headquarters to promote spiritual growth. The center’s skeleton staff and numerous volunteers include a good many young adults, something that gives me some hope for the future of a church with an aging membership base. Although it’s taken about three decades to establish such an entity, I can foresee this becoming a major aspect of ministry connected with the Community of Christ Temple.
Most of you reading this post are connected in some way with the Latter-day Saint (or Restoration) movement. My guess is that many of you are tilted toward that “doer” category I mentioned above.. And, of course, there’s nothing wrong with that! But have you ever wanted, or even tried, to experience a “be-er” practice? For example, can you imagine the possibility of constructing a labyrinth outside an LDS temple? If nothing else, I suppose, it would offer a nice distraction to “non-recommend worthy members”and nonmembers waiting outside for a temple marriage ceremony to be completed inside.
- Which of the listed spiritual practices are most attractive to you?
- Which spiritual voices speak most clearly to you?
- How do you engage in your spiritual journey?
- Where do you stand between the poles of “being” and “doing”?
Wheat & Tares 
Rich Brown is absolutely correct that far too many young people are ignoring the wealth and diversity of experience that spirituality has to offer. This is a sad reflection of the modern world.
All spiritual adherents should spend time in quiet contemplation. Great and powerful inspiration can occur when one shuts out the world and contemplates it’s mysteries. It cannot occur in the boisterous crowds of honky tonks, Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens.
In addition, far too few follow the Lenten practices involving sacrifice and self-control. This is unfortunate, because great spiritual power can come from giving up worldly pleasure to focus on spiritual things. Inspiration cannot come while stuffing one’s face with Irish nachos and German beer like there is no tomorrow.
Rich’s point is correct that there is a wealth and variety of spiritual experiences out there for the taking. All young people need to do to obtain these experiences is to shut out the modern world of Dua Lipa and Machine Gun Kelly for a while. But whether they have the strength to do remains doubtful.
Definitely more of a doer mindset. Not very good at contemplation. My mind is usually organising things into the most efficient way to get stuff done…
I’m still trying to get to grips with the whole idea of spiritual practices as a thing. I used to try and do the LDS thing of personal daily scripture reading (we still do this as a family), but went from not really getting anything out of it to getting downright angry about everything I was reading. So that wasn’t helpful. It always makes me laugh or perhaps cry that one of the first things LDS ask if people are experiencing problems is: are you reading scriptures regularly? I don’t think yes and they’re just making me mad is the answer they’d expect. I think the closest thing I have to spiritual practice at the moment is sitting playing hymns at the piano, specifically not from the LDS hymn book. I am building a collection of hymn books.
The eldest of my children recently attended a retreat at Community of Christ’s Dunfield House here in the UK. They mentioned walking the labyrinth there. I was interested to hear the difference between a labyrinth and a maze.
Hedgehog: I, too, love singing hymns and playing them on the piano. I hope you can get your hands on “Community of Christ Sings,” the hymnal published by the church in 2014. It’s loaded with magnificent, new hymns.
Checked out your Dua Lipa reference, John Charity. It sounded like a diet program. Boy was I wrong. Wowza, think I’m in love!!!
I’ve been looking for resources to teach my children deeper forms of communication with God and the “Spiritual Practices for Children” tab on the link you shared above has some fantastic ideas for kids or adults. Thank you!
Rich, my eldest has their own hardback copy, bought online second hand in the UK. I’ve looked through it, but they keep it in their room so not readily accessible from the piano. I want to get my own copy, but have yet to organise myself into doing so, as it looks like I will need to order directly from the publisher. But yes I definitely like it.
Laura: So glad you checked that link. I had not read through the spiritual practices for children, and you’re right that there’s some great ideas there.
Be-er spiritual practices are what I crave and haven’t yet figured out a way to add consistently to my life. One of the things I loved about everything falling apart with covid was suddenly having free time to build in spiritual practices. What works for me is morning pages, rewriting scriptural books in my own words, and recited prayer. If love to try a lambrynth!
40,000 BCE: Young people these days – all they want to do is stand around and throw rocks at bigger rocks. And so on and so on, through all generations of time.
JCS – Kids are not miniature adults, they are becoming adults. Most grow up and learn to value more important stuff. 7-11 is not a temple. Kids go there to get a Slurpee – it’s not a hang-out.
If children/youth/young adults are not more spiritually minded, perhaps the two generations that came before them haven’t done a very good job of helping them see why they should be. Or maybe it just takes time to grow up.
One thing for sure, being nagged and berated by old timers doesn’t help.
Great post. Mormons really don’t do spiritual formation. We get a set of rules to follow.
So leaders and members who do have a spiritual inner life, have stumbled on it or initiated their own search for it. The last bishop with whom had a discussion about “questioning” and same-sex marriage (initiated by him) only had one tool in his box: “BeenThere, will you read the Book of Mormon every day?” Over and over and over.
None of us can effectively teach that which we don’t know.
I”ve been thinking about this quote from Melvin J. Ballard (The Struggle for the Soul) “All the assaults that the enemy of our souls will make to capture us will be through the flesh… All the help that comes to us from the Lord to aid us in this struggle will come to us through the spirit that dwells within this mortal body.” I think that Spiritual (Be-er) practices are necessary for our spiritual development and progress, even more than do-er activities. Once we have the spiritual experiences and are changed, then we’ll want to “do” better.
I really disliked the October conference talk “1% Better”. It was a fine motivational speech, but I don’t think it had anything to do with the Gospel. I don’t think the gospel is just grinding away to try to keep rules and commandments (although it often gets portrayed that way). It is about having our spirits and our hearts changed through experiences with God, Christ, and the Spirit. We need to spend less time grinding away “doing”, and more time in connection with God “Being”
I love the post and the spiritual practices listed.
Rich, thanks for the info regarding Father Richard Rohr’s daily meditation. I will add that to my daily sacred thought and weekly sermons from SSJE (Sacred Society of Jesus, Episcopalian-I’m not positive that this is the correct name) that I learned about on this sight years ago. It’s sad that the most spiritual thoughts and material that I read daily are NOT produced by the church. My family and friends that I send the thoughts and sermons to agree.
I’m definitely a contemplative type of individual, so learning even more about the “being” part of the Christian way of life has always appealed most to me. I always have felt badly that there is no place in the temple where members can go to just quietly contemplate spiritual things. The celestial room could be such a place, but it’s usually so noisy (at least in temples along the Mormon Corridor) and the temple workers always appear to be in such a hurry to get patrons out of there ASAP. What a shame! I suppose that we individuals need to find our own quiet places, although that is easier said than done depending on where one lives and who one lives with, in order to engage in contemplation. If the Savior did it on a regular basis, and scripture tells us that he did, then this is a practice that members might look into to enrich and deepen their relationship with Christ. (Notice that I said might instead of should, must or ought to. This is because so many members are already overwhelmed with all of the musts, shoulds and oughts tos that the Q15 and leaders below them put on the shoulders of church members who are trying to “live the gospel” 100% or more.)
Good article! Yes there have been a lot of changes in the Community of Christ but also in the Utah LDS faith. I think it goes back to the decision made in 1845 after Smith was killed. Both churches went in different directions which can both be traced back to Smith’s writings. What I find most interesting about this article and the changes it talks about in one faith tradition is that the CofC is opening itself up to questions and individual reflections to get answers for oneself. The Utah church has been in a long effort of change to make questioning more difficult. Whether it’s the more controlled Sunday School, Priesthood, Relief Society or even Seminary and Institute Curriculum or bishops now assigning talks in sacrament meeting to be taken from talks already given at general conference or the constant crackdowns on individuals that ask deep questions about who should have the priesthood or where tithing goes or even the history of the church. One church is opening up to diversity and encouraging people to look within the other church seems to be, at least culturally, swinging hard to the political right and discouraging independent thought. I guess another point made is that change is always going to happen, the question is what direction is it going.