Transformation Thurrock : Passion for Labyrinth at Grays church

Passion for Labyrinth at Grays church

St John's in Victoria Avenue, Grays (right), hosted a labyrinth based on the Easter theme last week (5/6 April).

Classes from a Deneholm Primary School were invited in to follow the labyrinth around six interactive stations. The church's chairs had been arranged into a spiral - the participants worked their way into the centre, where the children had adorned a large bare cross with beautiful paper flowers they had made..

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Rev Clive Russell (left) was extremely pleased with the results. "The way the children responded was amazing," said Clive, "and some of the things they come out with are really deep".

Just looking around at the labyrinth and seeing some of the things written by the children and you begin to see what Clive meant. The labyrinth wasn't only educational, but also cathartic, an opportunity to express things in a safe environment.

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This is the latest labyrinth to be held in churches around Thurrock, inspired by the training day put on at Grays Parish Church back in late January which was facilitated by Fiona Moss and Deborah Weston of SACRE. The training was in preparation for the Celebrating RE month in March, when churches and schools all over the UK were encouraged to work together in putting on labyrinths to help children understand and interact with the story of Christ's Passion.

"The training was very helpful and the materials and examples were excellent," Clive told Transformation Thurrock. "A team of people from the church actually put the labyrinth together, and the local school had clearly done a good job preparing the children in advance for the experience."

The 6 stations were:

Popularity - Jesus rides into Jerusalem
Serving - Jesus washes the disciples' feet (above, right)
Suffering (below, left)
Heavy Loads - Jesus carries the cross
Crucifixion
Resurrection (below, right)

Tim Harrold, 15/04/2011