Anxiety, fear, pervasive violence, stress, information overload, disconnection from community, as well as theological and political polarities are endemic in the USA and world in 2016. A frenetic pace coupled with daily, if not hourly, disruptive, often catastrophic world events leave little room for spiritual practice which focuses on theological/spiritual reflection, cultivating individual and community peace, restoration, discernment, remembering, and contemplation about meaning and purpose in the midst of a culture of chaos. Spiritual practices which create spaces for reflection can be vital re-connective pathways for spiritual formation and building beloved community in our churches, our communities and the world - a world that draws humanity into a vortex of broken, anxious and disconnected selves and communities. The practice of creating restorative, reflective sacred space is deeply rooted in the Christian scriptures and tradition. I offer evidence and story about labyrinth practice rapidly being renewed as a sacred space for discovery and realization of “common ground” in building beloved communities; a place for people to meet and know one another, encouraging reflection, introspection, conflict resolution, focus, listening, healing, calming, spiritual formation, neighborliness and peaceableness. Using Dr. Walter Brueggemann’s Old Testament theme of “orientation/ disorientation/reorientation”, Murray Bowen’s Family Systems Theory and practices to buffer anxiety in The New Testament, as well as Sarah Drummond’s call for clergy increased opportunities for church leaders to seek clarity, and Heifetz’s “Equilibrium/Disequilibrium/More Adequate Equilibrium” theory, and Kurt Lewin’s change theory, and in interviews with novice and experienced labyrinth practitioners, site visits and case studies, I explore what role the ancient labyrinth plays in building beloved community in our time, as an antidote to fragmentation, fear, violence and polarization.
