Finding the right path

The maze of life can be better navigated with God’s support

By The Revd Canon Andrew Wright

Mazes are a collection of paths leading to a goal. They are not simple. Finding the right path can be difficult. Very often you might find yourself at a dead end. Sometimes they are called labyrinths and they go back deep into history.

Some medieval cathedrals, particularly in northern France (most famously Chartres), have such labyrinths. Their purpose was not absolutely clear. There is evidence that clergy would sometimes dance on them at Easter. They may have been seen as a symbolic way of going on pilgrimage, with the centre representing Jerusalem, the Holy City. However, it is highly likely that mazes echoed life. Life is, after all, a journey.

Christians, and indeed others, believe life has a purpose and a goal. And yet it is also the experience of most of us that life is full of uncertainty, fragility and wrong turns. Finding the right path can often be confusing. Never has this been truer than during the pandemic when those at sea and their families, along with many others, have faced acute uncertainty and anxiety about what might lie ahead. Currently that situation continues. Sometimes it can feel that large impenetrable hedges are all around us.

In one famous maze in England, it is the custom every now and again for someone to climb a ladder and give guidance to those who are really stuck and cannot find their way in or out. Perhaps there is a symbolism in this as well. As we approach Lent, Holy Week and Easter we are reminded of the God who does not leave us without help. While there are never easy answers to life’s confusions, we can still often hear his guiding voice as we pray and reflect.

Mazes also remind us that even when we reach dead ends there is always hope. We can retrace our steps and try again. The prayer below is one I found recently when visiting a house with a maze. It is composed by Robert Runcie, a former Archbishop of Canterbury.

May God help and guide us all.

The Revd Canon Andrew Wright is secretary general of The Mission to Seafarers.