Finger Labyrinth Prayer in Thailand

Showing images of labyrinths around the world while introducing myself at chapel at the Kawthoolei Hope Theological Seminary in Tak, Thailand led to an invitation. “Could you teach the third year Master of Divinity students about the labyrinth?” Of course!

What a delight to discover there were only eight students in the class! We were able to introduce ourselves and make connections before viewing the introductory slideshow about labyrinth prayer.

After identifying what we were feeling, we used the paper Chartres-style labyrinths to pray for ourselves. There was a period of journaling afterwards (I experienced… I want to remember… Now, the prayer of my heart is…), and then sharing in the group. We began by identifying our feelings after the labyrinth “walk.” Every single person’s emotional state had changed during the exercise.

The theme of Center emerged over and over: moving towards the center, longing for the center, resting in the center (one student placed her cheek in the center after her finger arrived there.) Many of the students drew symbols in the center, a heart, a series of circles, geometric patterns, a dot, and sometimes words. As seminarians whose Christian faith has sustained them as they have fled from their villages in war-torn Myanmar and lived as refugees in one of the camps along the border, many talked about Jesus’s presence and help in very concrete ways.

For their second finger walk, I suggested that they try praying for others while moving their finger, pen or eyes along the path to the center and then back to the threshold. I asked them to pay attention to any ways that the second labyrinth prayer experience might be different than the first. It seemed they were surprised to discover that it was!

By going around the room and sharing the content and experience of praying for others while moving on the labyrinth, each person was able to share what was on her or his heart. I was deeply touched by the concern for others expressed and some of the intense needs. One young woman spoke of the air strike that had been carried out on her village the day before. Everyone had fled into the jungle and there was no news. She was waiting to discover the fate of her mother, brother, grandfather and other relatives. The importance of taking time to pray seemed more important than ever. I was grateful for how moving our hands through the pattern of the labyrinth also offered the possibility of moving concerns into the loving hands of God.

Before the third finger labyrinth prayer experience, I gave the students time to write down a question they had for God. When everyone was finished, I encouraged them to share the question with God before entering the labyrinth, cross the threshold, and see where their prayer using the labyrinth pathway took them. I was astounded that every single person said their question had changed as they moved along the path in prayer. The wavy lines in the labyrinth above were explained as representing how the conversation with God was far from straightforward. Another student spoke about the experience as if she had been in the ocean, being lifted, being lowered, sometimes being still, and eventually arriving at the beach.

We ended our class with a time for questions and answers about labyrinths. My favorite was the last, “Is there any way we could have one of these on our campus, so that we could pray with it as we walked through it?”

Given all that we experienced, I would highly recommend that you pray with a finger labyrinth today! Here’s the one we used. Thanks to Warren Lynn for making his drawing available to us all.

Would you like to walk the labyrinth will me in Chartres this year?
I will be leading a week-long pilgrimage in Chartres, France hosted by Lauren Artress and Veriditas from June 10-14, 2024. Our theme will be The Treasures of the Chartres Cathedral and its Labyrinth. An after-hours labyrinth walk with just our group is one of the highlights.

A personal note:
I am traveling with Faith Hope and Love Global Ministries this winter and am grateful for opportunities to share the labyrinth as a tool for prayer.

To find a labyrinth near you, use the World-Wide Labyrinth Locator.