Sound engineers speak of two things – signal and noise. The signal is the meaningful part of a transmission. The noise is all the unwanted stuff that interferes with our ability to hear and understand the signal. Our lives are full of noise – so much information, so many messages, all competing for our attention. We find it hard to find the signal.

Take some time to identify the noises around you one by one: traffic, children playing, dogs barking, the hubbub of life…As you recognise each one, savour it, and then place it to one side. What are noises on the inside? That song you can’t get out of your head, thoughts that won’t stop chattering, nagging worries, hurt, anger, things you have to do tomorrow… Identify them one by one, listen to them, and place them to one side.

Let God still the oscilloscope of soul, Turn the noise off and give you peace.
Then listen for his signal. Be still. Quiet. Listen. Still.

Take some slow deep breaths and relax. Begin to let go of the tensions in your body. Feel the pressure and busyness slipping away. As you draw breath, think of how your body is using oxygen. It is being carried to every part of your body. Feel the life it brings.

As you exhale, you breathe out carbon dioxide which you don’t need. Trees and plants take this in. they then produce oxygen which sustains you. You are an integral part of God’s mysterious and wonderful creation.

In front of you is a pile of stones and a pool of water. Take a stone from the pile. Imagine that all your concerns and worries are held in the stone. Hold the stone tightly and name the concerns and worries in your mind. Hold the stone over the pool of water. In your own time let it go. Watch your concerns and worries fall. Imagine them falling into God’s lap. How does it feel to release them?

The world is broken in many ways – our relationships with others, God, the planet, and ourselves. What hurtful things have been said to you? What hurtful things have been done to you? If you were to write a word or draw a symbol to describe this, what would it be? You might like to draw it now.

What hurtful things have you said? What hurtful things have you done? If you were to write a word or draw a symbol to describe them, what would it be? You might like to draw it now.

Look at your symbols. Do you want to take them with you? Or do you want to let them go? If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will purify us from all unrighteousness. Jesus said if you let go of the hurtful things people do to you, so God will also let go of the hurtful things you do. This is forgiveness.

Think carefully are you willing to ‘let go’? If you are, then throw the symbols in the bin. Let go of them as God lets go of the hurtful things you do. You are loved. You are free. You are forgiven.

In front of you is a map. In the centre is a compass. The needle of the compass points directly north. Also on the map are some small magnets, some “false norths.” Try moving these magnets around the compass. See what happens. The “false norths” pull the needle away from true north. If God is true north, what are the false norths distracting your focus away from God? As you identify these false norths, move them to the edge of the map. Refocus on true north… Begin to focus on God

This is holy space. God is here – you are welcome. This is your space to be with God. And God’s space to be with you. Make yourself at home. Be yourself. Be real. There’s no rush. Let God love you. Let God know you. Let God heal you. Let God speak to you. Receive from God. Commune with God. Feed on God.

As you journey out of the labyrinth, take your encounter with God with you.

Reflect on how this encounter might affect or change you.

John says that God became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood. Think about how you might allow God to be made flesh in your life and in your neighbourhood.

Freely, freely you have received. Freely, freely give… Take: eat. Take: out.

As we meet with God and receive, think about taking the light out into the world. Even if you are only a bright spark, kindle. Kindle the life and the light you received from the heart of the Son. You might even get fired up. You might blaze a trail, Stand up for others, Seek out injustice, Protest on behalf of the innocent, Carry a torch for the unloved, Demonstrate for love. Demonstrate love itself.

Mary was also given a challenge. She was asked to carry the Word, the pulse of the cosmos within her. She literally carried God into the world.

Mary said yes and changed the course of history – Took a gamble on the divine, flouted the odds, Evened the score with darkness, Carried the light of the world and allowed it to shine. So that we might see it and respond.

She had a choice, as we have a choice. Choice cuts: sometimes like a sword to the heart. It did for her.

Choose carefully. Jesus was no robot – he made agonising choices. Stood up, stood out, and was crucified for it. “Look where that got him,” they said. It got him all the way to us.

You can choose a lifestyle. Or you can choose life. The choice, as they say, is yours.

So where do we go from here? As the journey seems to be ending, it is only just beginning. We are caught between a world that is passing, and a world that is yet to come. A world of the now, and the not yet…

Someone spoke of a road less travelled. Of a narrow path. Today we are going on a journey…

“You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

When you look in the mirror. What do you see? Do you, like the psalmist, see someone that is “fearfully and wonderfully made”? Does what you see make you want to praise or cringe?

What do you think Jesus meant when he said to love others as we love ourselves? What is the you of you?

Stop to feel your pulse. Life is running through you. Life is a gift of God. Feel your fingertips. Look at the pattern on them. Each is unique.

You are unique. You are made in God’s image. You are loved by the Creator who is proud of you, the created.

Look again in the mirror. Ask God to show you the real you, the you without image, the you that God sees.

You are out in space. Floating, weightless, calm and secure; Seeing things clearer than ever before.

Watching the earth. Listening to its uninterrupted stream of noise From the silence of infinite space.

From here there are no visible countries. It’s not like a map or a globe. There are no lines for territories; No colours to mark out countries, historical separations, human definitions… Just rock, sea, forest and desert. Evolving, eroding, reforming, colliding.

Life, death, birth, turning – Movements and currents, Massive and caught up in the energy of creation.

You are looking for signs of ownership, but none are visible. You are looking for clues of permanence, But all is slowly changing. To whom does this all belong?

Who has the right to claim its power, plunder its resources?

You are out in space. Breathless and patient, Awe-struck and motionless in front of this big, blue, bright ball; This great glittering, God-filled gift; This unbounded blessing you can only call Home.

In the palm of your hand you hold a small seed. This seed contains all the information needed to reproduce its own kind. You plant the seed in some soil.

As you do so, feel the moistness of the soil.

Think of the darkness the seed experiences before it can spring to life – on the brink of creation there is darkness.

As you plant the seed, you are participating in one of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos – you are co-creating with God. Together you give birth to life.

As the seed grows and flowers, it is a symbol of your love and care of nature, creation, of the planet, of home.

Reflect on the web of relationships within which you live. Who are the other people with whom your life is connected?

One of the oldest ways of praying we know is lighting a candle. Light a candle and pray for one or more of the people. Give thanks for them. Hold them in prayer before God.

In front of you is some sand. You remove your socks and shoes. Tread in the sand to leave your footprints. Step back and look at them. Where you have walked has left an impression.

What will be left of us when we’ve left? When we’re gone under down into the darkness, the earth, and memory? When our dust and ashes have shaken themselves down and reverted to their original state, will their miraculous interlude have leaned on history’s rudder?

What will be left of us when we’ve left? What traces will we leave? Will the evidence be compelling? What will the surviving witnesses say? How will they know we were here? Will the future be better because of what we did with our present?

How many breaths make a life? How long does it take to make a difference? What will history say of us when we’ve left?

If there is something you would like to say to God as a result of your journey through the labyrinth, you can write it in the Visitor’s Book as you exit.