20th March - Maundy Thursday, Gethsemane.

Today 100 children (years 5 & 6) from Malmesbury primary school walked the labyrinth, used the prayer room and looked at the art exhibition (which we used again for assembly in the secondary school). They had a great time on the labyrinth and covered the praise wall in the prayer room.

There was a great atmosphere again all day; and lots of prayer, cake, coffee and laughter.
After Songs of the Cross there was a simple communion service.

Then, mindful of how many people had walked the labyrinth, and how much they had been moved and helped by walking this sacred space, we prayed a psalm of lament, and gently and sadly dismantled it. Starting at the outer rings and moving inward the labyrinth was stripped at the same time as the altar - ready for Good Friday.



Ring by ring, in a matter of minutes, the labyrinth melted back into the floor.


As the last circles disappeared I shed a few tears! All that was left was an echo of chalk, but the impact this labyrinth made on hundreds of people will linger.


Once it was all gone we said a prayer of thanks and took the big candle, which has burned in the centre of the labyrinth almost continuously for nearly 7 days and nights, and placed it with the tea lights by the big cross - about half an hour later its flame reached its base and gutted.

This photo shows the stripped altar. Today we remember Jesus agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, tomorrow we remember his death - there will be no flowers, no coloured cloth in the church. All is stripped bare, everything is in mourning.

The day ended with the Gethsemane watch where we 'watched an hour with Christ - Matt.26:40' and then with night prayer.