Labryrinth

Oliver Herfort Imagine: a labyrinth in front of the Church, transforming the Green into a sacred space and opening the Church to its surrounding!

April 1 at 9:38pm · Report
I was doing some personal research early this morning and came across the Facebook entry above that was talking about that snow-covered lawn in front of the Meriden Congregational Church in what was once my home town of Meriden, New Hampshire. I grew up in that church. I learned when and how to pray in that church. I was baptized in that church as were my three children. For a period of time during my high school years, I rang the bell in that belfry three times every Sunday morning, first to advise that it was Sunday, second to advise that the service was soon to start, and the third time to tell the minister that he could begin the service. I played parts in Christmas Pageants for years, growing from a fidgety kid dressed in what we thought represented shepherd's attire, to playing one of the wise men carrying a gift for the Christ child.
I gave some of my background to let the reader know that, while I no longer live anywhere near Meriden, I do have a valid reason for adoring that sanctuary and its surroundings. Yes, Miss Duncan, I was one of the children who would play in that old horse-drawn carriage in the shed behind the church. Yes, Mrs English, it was one of your sons (I'll not name him) and I who smoked pieces of dried grapevine and later pilfered cigarettes behind the church.
But this morning I was up early and, because we were planning on attending our daughter's church this morning to celebrate its 175th anniversary, I looked up my boyhood church to see how old it was. In December of 1780, a group of parishioners met for the first time, two hundred and thirty years ago.
So much for background. The real purpose of this entry in my blog is to advise you, the reader, of my astonishment when I read that Oliver Herfort was imagining that beautiful expanse of lawn and magnificent trees being replace with a labyrinth. A LABYRINTH. A labyrinth on top of a hill in the middle of one of the most picturesque villages in North America. Now I've been in a labyrinth or two and to be perfectly honest, they don't strike me as being a Christian symbol at all. Near my home in Georgia, a local farmer plants an enormous corn labyrinth each year and all through the autumn months, people pay to see if they can get through the maze. Near an apartment where I once lived in São João do Estoril, Portugal, an enormous maze has been developed on an expanse in front of the Casino Estoril, which bills itself as the largest casino in Europe. In Hawaii, the students in architecture at the University of Hawaii have painted a labyrinth on concrete in the "Sustainability Courtyard." I don't mean to deny that houses of worship have labyrinths - many do. But not a single one I found would pay respect to the beautiful stone church on top of a hill overlooking Mt Ascutney and Grantham Mountain. Not a single one could pay any respect to those church members who have gone on before us.
I began conjuring a picture in my mind of a person who'd even suggest such a thing, but came up with little except that he must be an ogre. There is a Dr Oliver Herfort who practices internal medicine. There is an Oliver Herfort who has some interest in energy management. There is an Oliver Herfort who can set up links from one on-line web site to another.
Finally, it came to me. Our Oliver Herfort is a practical joker. He posted his comment at 9:38 pm on April 1. What a relief.
I hope.
Jim McNamara