Why is life like a labyrinth?
A couple of years ago, returning from a half-term suspension in France, we had a tyre blow out on the autoroute and, since almost everything is closed on a Sunday in France, nosotros had an unplanned extra day in that location. We stayed over in St Quentin, a town of ancient foundation which was the majuscule of the war-like Viromandui, a Celtic tribe, during the reign of Caesar Augustus. It takes its name from Quintinus, who was martyred there in the tertiary century; little is known about him, though his cult was popular in the Middle Ages, and several towns are named after him.
What I didn't know nearly St Quentin was that its basilica is 1 of six important French church buildings which contain labyrinths, the best known of which is Chartres. The one at St Quentin follows the same pattern as Chartres, though is slightly smaller and based on an octagon rather than a circle, so its lines are straight and segmented rather than curved. Simply it is superior to Chartres in that information technology is e'er accessible to the public, whereas at Chartres the labyrinth is usually covered with chairs, and only cleared for walking on once a week. I accept long been interested in labyrinths, and had even drawn upwardly plans to build i in the theological college where I was on staff. So I took the opportunity to walk around it.
I thought that I would by and large be struck past the twists and turns of the pathway, and the frustration of not getting to the centre very quickly. (My daughter, who walked information technology, commented 3-quarters of the fashion through 'Does life really have this long?') I was, but non quite in the way I had expected. There were iii significant phases to the walk.
one. On starting the walk, the path takes you well-nigh to the center, though with one minor detour. When you get equally shut to your goal as you can without reaching it, information technology is then that you lot start to plough away and meander back outwards. This seems to me to correspond (deliberately or non?) to the energy and dynamism of youth, which oft has the confidence to have the shortest route to a goal. This is not the whole story of life, but it is surely an important office of information technology. As Emma Ineson notes on the Trinity College leadership blog, one of the things young leaders bring is a stimulus to 'go on with information technology!'
Many younger people are fed up with the cynicism and aloofness of previous generations and desire to get on with making a deviation, changing things where they are non equally they ought to be.
There is groovy physical and emotional energy that often comes with youth and while, of course, younger people need to learn the field of study of stillness and reflection, we must encourage their hunger and willingness to run into faith spelled out in actions. Many of our students in their church placements act every bit catalysts in their local communities, helping to put feet and hands on the command to feed the hungry, visit the prisoner and spread the proficient news of Jesus in both word and deed.
Don't forget to volume your place at the Festival of Theology on Jan 30th!
two. In the middle stage, there is much walking to and fro, apparently retracing one'due south steps in a like place, though in parallel, rather than on top of, the path that was taken earlier. Where perhaps I had expected this to signify a sense of frustration when there appeared to be lilliputian forward progress in life, the effect was rather the contrary. Equally I watched the path I traced, information technology spoke of the layered nature of mature thinking and living. Life is much more than like a mille feuille than a sponge block—layered and textured rather than homogenous and compatible.
three. The concluding phase of the walk was the nigh surprising. The path is designed so that, having created the multiple layers in the middle phase, you and then walk effectually the outside, surveying all the has gone earlier, and virtually reaching the point where you started. You lot so plow towards the center and, again with a short detour, suddenly reach your goal—and this time it is for real. Having seen the goal, turned away from it, and meandered for some time, the goal is reached with surprising suddenness.
It was a fascinating and surprising journeying—and all the more poignant given the context. St Quentin was a boondocks that had flourished considering of its cloth trade, but had also been in the wrong place at the incorrect fourth dimension all through history. It was devasted by the English in the Hundred Years' State of war. More than recently, information technology was over again badly damaged in the Franco-Prussian state of war in the 1870s, and once more devasted in the First Globe War; the Somme flows through it, and sites of some of the worst fighting are but a few miles away. The nearby Thiepval memorial is inscribed with the names of more than xx,000 soldiers whose bodies were never found in the mud. Such was the destruction that St Quentin's population did not recover to pre-WW1 levels until the mid 1950s.
The twenty-four hours after visiting the labyrinth, I was delivering some teaching on discipleship in Mark's gospel, and found a curious correlation betwixt the narrative shape of Mark and the phases of the St Quentin labyrinth.
The gospel starts off with a very direct opening, presenting the good news of Jesus, Messiah, whose paths are 'made straight' by the messenger who goes ahead of him. After a brief detour on the ministry of John the Baptist, nosotros announced to get straight to the center of the matter—Jesus' declaration of the kingdom of God being at paw, and the urgent need to repent and believe. Jesus never hesitates in 'getting on with it'—one episode happens 'straightway' after another in a tumble of energy and excitement.
Afterward all this direct activeness, in affiliate 8 the disciples announced to 'get it', to empathize who he is, the Messiah (Mark 8.29). Only no sooner has this happened than a greater detour takes place; it is clear that the disciples have little grasp of what this might actually hateful for Jesus and for them. Following the manner of the cross is a detour that they certainly had non anticipated. Interestingly, Mark (equally distinct from the other gospel writers) actually builds up the layers of the journey quite deliberately; the whole of chapter viii is a parallel retracing of events in chapters half dozen and seven, involving a feeding of a crowd (half-dozen.30, 8.1), a trip in a boat (6.45, 8.13), pedagogy virtually the Pharisees (seven.ane, viii.15), and a healing of a man (7.31 and 8.22). Just equally the blind human being, who after Jesus' offset healing sees 'people as trees walking', needs a second touch, so the disciples need a second touch on, a third, a fourth and more than, earlier they really empathise.
But later all the detours and the meandering, the end of the gospel comes with a surprising suddenness. Subsequently Jesus has encountered the whole range of responses, from the commemoration of the women who anoints him, the expose of Judas, the rejection by the authorities, and the denial past Peter, his crucifixion becomes a sudden revelation of who he really is, mirroring the opening of the gospel. He who proclaimed the kingdom (1.15) is identified equally male monarch (15.26). The Messiah of 1.ane who is anointed by the Spirit at his baptism is mockingly called this past the religious leaders (15.23). Equally the heavens were 'torn' (unique to Marking) to reveal the heavenly vocalism, then the drapery is torn (15.38) to reveal the emptiness of the Holy Identify. And just as the vocalization from sky (1.xi) proclaimed Jesus every bit God's beloved Son, so a voice from earth (fifteen.39) recognises this Son of God. The cease catches anybody by surprise—even possibly Mark himself!
So if you have the gamble to walk a labyrinth, exercise take the opportunity. Information technology might teach you more almost discipleship and the gospel than y'all get-go expect.
(I ought to credit my wife Maggie for the pictures of the church edifice and the labyrinth. They were much better than the ones I took!)
Don't forget to book your identify at the Festival of Theology on Jan 30th!
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