Prayer Labyrinth at Calvin

April 21, 2004 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Several student leaders at Calvin, working out of the office of spiritual
leadership development, have brought a prayer labyrinth to campus.

The event is being co-sponsored by Ada Bible Church. It began April 6 and
will end on April 29 (on that closing date the labyrinth will be open to the
public).

The prayer labyrinth is a maze with one path which, say the students, people
traditionally walked through as an aid to contemplative prayer and reflection.
It was a spiritual exercise or a form of pilgrimage.

The contemporary version that will be at Calvin focuses on four themes:

*Journey - through spiritual and social relationships
*Letting Go - symbolically yeielding the stress and busyness that spoils
relationships.
*Centering - sitting, resting and meeting God at the center
*Incarnation - learning what it means to live as Christ in the world

Says Calvin junior Lindsay Wieland of Grand Rapids: "As busy students it is
difficult and rare to have a large amount of time and space to just enjoy being
in God's presence. The prayer labyrinth reminds us how valuable time with God
is and allows a new and refreshing way of coming into God's presence."

Students are assigned a particular day to go through the labyrinth according
to where they live. Residence halls at Calvin and the college's upperclass
apartment buildings are matched according to relationships already established
as part of a new program at Calvin that builds relationships between first- and
second-year students and upperclass students.

Participants in the labyrinth at Calvin will be invited to travel at their own
pace through a maze of 12 stations, using their senses to guide them through
different aspects of prayer. The journey, say the students, takes about 70
minutes. A CD and a player are given to all participants which helps explain
the different stations.

Times and Locations

April 26 2:30pm-5:20pm Meeter Center Lecture Hall
April 27 2:30pm-5:20pm Meeter Center Lecture Hall
April 28 2:30pm-5:20pm Meeter Center Lecture Hall
April 29 8:30am-7:20pm Meeter Center Lecture Hall

For more information contact:
Carly Jones at cjones22@calvin.edu
Lindsay Wieland at lsw2@calvin.edu
Autumn Shilling at ams7@calvin.edu

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Received on Wed Apr 21 14:50:35 2004