Labyrinth walks help
UMs approach God

Fair Oaks Ranch pair
install spiritual paths
at home, Boerne church

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
Its pathway is intentional, lined with pink bricks and intricate crushed pebbles.
Its environment is serene, splashed with trickles of sunlight, traditional benches, sacred stone statues and colorful flowers.
Its purpose is imparting peace in the midst of a chaotic world.
Though the labyrinth at First UMC, Boerne—one of several labyrinths in the Southwest Texas Conference—opened about six months ago, leaders consecrated the spot Nov. 5 and informed members of its sacred presence.
A labyrinth is an ancient meditative tool used to quiet the mind and spirit. Walking the labyrinth is a way to center prayer and focus on God.
The Boerne labyrinth’s story begins with members Tom and Pat Butler.
Pat Butler completed a two-year internship in spiritual direction at Travis Park UMC, San Antonio, in which labyrinths were mentioned. She walked her first one in Colorado.
“I was hooked,” she said. “I’m drawn to the contemplative and intuitive worship. In our busy world, it made a lot of sense to slow people down and give them an opportunity to have a nice, quiet walk.”
Pat approached her husband, lay leader of the 1,810-member Boerne congregation, about constructing a labyrinth on property behind their home in Fair Oaks Ranch so she could walk it whenever she felt the need.
He readily agreed.
Theirs is an 11th circuit labyrinth—like the one later built at the church—but made of rock instead of the more permanent brick.
Traditionally, a labyrinth walk has three stages. The walk to the center of the labyrinth is known as the “path of release.” Walkers let go of burdens and cares.
The center of the labyrinth is the “path of illumination.” The light of the presence of the Divine shines upon a walker.
The walk from the center is the “path of union.” Walkers carry the “gift” they receive and God’s presence back into the world.
“I feel really blessed to have one at home,” Pat said. “Tom was sweet enough to implement it for me.”
Her vision, Pat said, was to open up the labyrinth to groups and individuals who might want a place to meditate. But so far, she added, people have been hesitant about visiting a private residence.
Not long after Tom and Pat constructed their personal labyrinth, First UMC leaders decided to install one on a small lot at 207 E. Theissen St. behind the church’s annex.
The Rev. W. Conrad Archer, associate pastor, said he walked a labyrinth for the first time at Mount Wesley.
“I found it to be a meaningful and spiritual experience,” he said. “So we decided to put one here.”
Tom Butler said leaders wanted to give members another form of worship.
“There are many ways to worship, and it depends on the individuals,” he said. “Some can worship better singing praise. Some are more in tune with the contemplative techniques.”
Tom and Pat Butler designed the labyrinth for the Theissen Street lot. The layout mirrors one inlaid in the floor of France’s Chartres Cathedral in 1220 and uses 12 concentric circles.
The center of Boerne’s labyrinth is a rosette, a symbolic representation of the Rose of Sharon. A cross can be detected in the design.
Tom Butler said 12 volunteers from the church helped him lay bricks for the labyrinth. Member Karl Kuhlman designed and installed the labyrinth’s surrounding landscape as an Eagle Scout project.
Archer said about 15 to 20 people walk the labyrinth each week—not as much as church leaders had hoped. But he said he believes it will catch on.
“More and more I have seen people using it,” Tom Butler said. “But this is not for everybody. When more people know about the labyrinth, I think it will be a major part of worship.”
Pat Butler said, “It’s really slowly entering the consciousness of people. If we can get past discounting the labyrinth as some New Age mysterious kind of thing, if they can get past that and just try it with an open mind and heart, I think they’d enjoy it. But, then again, it’s not for everybody.”
Pat uses her personal labyrinth frequently, walking for sick friends or in memory of those who have passed on and for joyous occasions like her son’s birthday.
Full moon walks are beautiful, she said—especially when deer make an appearance.
Labyrinth walking is her way to connect and draw closer to God.
For more information about labyrinths, check a variety of suggested readings on a sheet in the mailbox at the Boerne labyrinth
site or www. labyrinthsociety.org.