South County residents have a new opportunity to develop their
spirituality. Each Sunday at 4pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (720
Monterey Street in downtown Hollister) offers an intriguing service
of meditation.
South County residents have a new opportunity to develop their spirituality. Each Sunday at 4pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (720 Monterey Street in downtown Hollister) offers an intriguing service of meditation.
This historic church, founded in 1876 (the present building dates from 1903), has designed a worship event “to give busy people an hour of introspective time. It will also aid those who are working on deepening their spiritual experience.”
According to the Rev. Joan Gardner, the church’s rector (pastor), the Sunday morning services are corporate, community worship, while this new service emphasizes individuality. Participants will be “in their own space while being surrounded by people on very different journeys.”
The service begins inside the church building, an example of classic carpenter gothic architecture “reminiscent of pioneer days.” The sanctuary is of rosewood adorned with stained glass windows depicting events in the life of Jesus and remembering various saints.
The service follows this format:
• a gathering prayer
• a brief reading
• a reflection question
• quiet meditation inside the church or walking the labyrinth
• intercessory prayer
• a blessing
• dismissal.
Perhaps the unique element is using the labyrinth, dedicated in December of 2003 for the church’s 100th anniversary. In the Middle Ages, many churches had labyrinths, intricate maze-like designs of loops and switch-backs ending in a center (called the “Illumination.”) They became popular devotional sites to perform a sort of pilgrimage for those unable to travel to the Holy Land.
Walking slowly into the center of this design, a walker should shed the worries and cares of everyday life. At the center, the pilgrim prays for clarity and insight into self.
On the way out from the center, the walker strives for communion with God. For centuries people have expressed a sense of peacefulness after they have completed this one-third mile journey.
St. Luke’s labyrinth is based on a design discovered in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France. This local outdoor 45-foot diameter version is built of packed sand, brick, and some groundcover plants.
After traveling the labyrinth one or more times, worshipers often sit under the large trees surrounding the plaza to meditate silently before returning inside the church for the closing rites.
Mother Joan, who has led St. Luke’s congregation for 17 years, particularly invites unchurched residents to attend the meditation service: “We wanted to do something for the community which would help busy people wrestle with their inner selves, to help them find greater congruence in their daily lives.”
For more information call (831) 637-7570.
