May, 2003 Calendar In This Issue: Gossip and Nonviolence The Men's Weekend: An Aggressive Spirituality for Active Men Come to the Town Hall Meeting on Sunday, May 4 Healing Service on May 7 Praying for Peace at the Peace Pole Conversion: An Adult Education Course Easter Greetings Summer Sunday School

(The service will be held at 6:45 PM, followed by a Labyrinth walk at 7:30 PM)
by Gretchen Haight

We believe that God calls us to wholeness. We also believe that our growing into wholeness-ourselves and with God--is what our spiritual journey is all about. To find healing for those things that get in the way of our growth to wholeness is an important part of the journey. Rituals, such as the laying on of hands, and prayers focused on healing specific wounds can be helpful in improving our spiritual condition. Walking the labyrinth is another practice available to us for spiritual growth and healing. The Healing Team at St. Augustine's is combining these two practices for an evening of healing on May7. Parishioners and their guests are invited to both the healing service in Pierson Hall at 6:45 and the labyrinth walk at 7:30, or to participate in just one or the other as you feel moved.

No previous experience is necessary; you will be guided by clergy and members of the healing team as we all, together, reach for new life. Just bring your pain, whether it be a broken relationship, a behavior that gets in your way, an addiction, or physical pain, worry or fear. If you have a picture or an icon that's meaningful in representing your pain, you may bring it along so that you can place it on the small altar we will have there; sometimes it helps to make such suffering tangible as we give it over to God for our healing.

The labyrinth, for those who haven't experienced it, is a symbolic pilgrimage. Its origin is in its use as a substitute pilgrimage for those believers who were unable to make a trip to the Holy Land. Walking the labyrinth fits naturally with a healing service in that the pathway to the center of the labyrinth is called Purgation or Shedding; it is the path of releasing, of letting go. From the Center, a place of Receiving, we follow the pathway of Integration back out into our own lives. (You can walk the labyrinth as quickly or as slowly as you wish.) This walk, a time of quieting the mind and heart, following prayers and laying-on-of-hands during the preceding service, offers all of us a special time to focus on healing ourselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit and members of our faith community.

Copyright © 2003 St. Augustine by-the-Sea