by Melissa J. Brachfeld | Staff Writer
While the sounds of traffic filled the air on Veirs Mill Road early Friday evening, soft music was the only audible noise just a few feet away as a handful of people walked around a labyrinth in Crusader Lutheran Church.
Rimmed with small vanilla-scented candles glowing in the darkness of the church’s Fellowship Hall, the labyrinth lay spread out on the floor like a giant round blanket.
Those who walked its path appeared deep in thought as they slowly made their way around its circuitous course.
A traditional labyrinth is inlaid onto a floor or the ground and has a single path for walking into and returning from its center.
The labyrinth at Crusader Lutheran in Rockville is portable.
Labyrinths date back thousands of years and have appeared in numerous cultures around the world, according to a fact sheet provided by Crusader Lutheran Church. The first evidence of a labyrinth is the drawing of one on the walls in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, but the earliest known Christian labyrinth dates back to the fourth century and can be found in a church in Algeria, according to the fact sheet.
The most famous labyrinth is inside Chartres Cathedral in France, which was created in the 13th century, according to the Rev. Sandra Cox Shaw, pastor of Crusader Lutheran Church. The labyrinth at Crusader is based on the Chartres design.
Shaw said the labyrinth, which is painted in purple onto white canvas, measures 36 feet in diameter and was first opened to the public in May.
‘‘There is no wrong way to walk the labyrinth,” she said. ‘‘It’s just a tool for meditation and prayer.”
The labyrinth is a metaphor for ‘‘our own spiritual paths,” Shaw said. All paths lead to God — the center of the labyrinth — and those walking its path carry that ‘‘deeper sense of connection back out into the world.”
‘‘We offer this as a service to the community, not to gain more members,” she said. ‘‘We want to provide people with the opportunity to come and get focused and have some quiet time as they begin their weekends. It just seems to me that in our crazy world, peace and quiet is something that we’re all looking for and could use more of.”
Cox said the church’s confirmation class came up with the idea to install a labyrinth after she took them to walk an outdoor labyrinth at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Bethesda in April of last year.
Crusader’s youth group used its budget to purchase the $2,000 labyrinth kit and helped to paint it along with other church volunteers over two weekends in February, Cox added.
‘‘That was very much an intergenerational effort, which was neat,” she said. ‘‘And the labyrinth itself can be enjoyed by all ages.”
Rockville resident Elizabeth Roybal walked the labyrinth’s path Friday with her 4-year-old granddaughter, Kameron Wachter, trailing behind her.
Walkers are encouraged to make their way around the labyrinth with a certain prayer or thought in mind. Roybal, who is a member of the church, said afterwards she was thinking about ‘‘the things that God has given us and giving thanks.”
‘‘There are some people in other parts of the world who don’t have the same privileges we have and we should be thankful,” she said.
Roybal added she has walked Crusader’s labyrinth twice before and finds the experience enjoyable.
‘‘It gives you time to just think,” she said. ‘‘Everything is out of your mind and you can just walk to a rhythm. It’s like leaving the world behind.”
If you go
The labyrinth at Crusader Lutheran Church in Rockville is free and open to the public 9 to 11:30 a.m. the first Sunday and 5 to 7:30 p.m. the third Friday of each month.
Park in the rear parking lot and enter through the white doors marked Fellowship Hall.
Crusader Lutheran Church is located at 1605 Veirs Mill Road. For more information, call 301-424-8622.
