Walking the Road to Emmaus on our Labyrinth

As part of a short series on creative spirituality and prayer for our 4th through 8th grade Sunday School group this past Sunday, we spent time this past Sunday with the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

First, we used the African Bible study method. Three different readers read the story in three different translations (NRSV, The Message, and The Living Bible). After each reading, each of us answered a question. (1) What word or phrase stood out to you in this story? (2) Where does this passage touch your life today? and (3) From what I've heard and shared, what do you believe God wants you to do or be? Is God inviting you to change in any way? We had a wonderful discussion, full of insight from the kids about how they see people and the idea of what it might mean that Jesus could be next to us without our knowing it.

Next, I let them choose whether we would do a led-Ignation meditation on the story, or go outside and walk the labyrinth as if we were on that road to Emmaus and Jesus came and walked alongside us. It was a beautiful day outside, so it was probably no surprise that they choose the latter. They walked slowly and in silence, and once in the center, stayed there together for quite a while. Kathryn Coneway took photos and turned them into this cool video of our walking:

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