Labyrinth

The labyrinth is an ancient tool for prayer and meditation. It became a real matter of interest to Westminster when the Schmid family, knowing Elizabeth’s deep love of nature, wanted to use the memorial contributions for Elizabeth Schmid to build a labyrinth at Westminster. Elizabeth (or Flip as she was affectionately known to Westminster and the Knoxville community) was an accomplished artist and would often manifest her love of nature in her paintings, one of which adorns a wall in the church’s office. As a result, the church waited for the right time and place to create a labyrinth in a natural setting that would be easily accessible, yet isolated from the busyness of the world around it. In 2004, the church decided to build a labyrinth in the woods of Westminster and enlisted the help of Tom Grobe who needed an Eagle Scout project and the professional guidance of Rick Oakes. The labyrinth is now a part of the Westminster campus.

Westminster has had a form of a prayer path for a long time. In 2000, Chris Carrasco experienced Montreat’s prayer path. With the idea of re-creating this at Westminster, she shared her interest with various people. In 2003, Jonathan Wiesehuegel was looking for an Eagle Scout project and chose to create the prayer path. With the help of Rick Oakes and Bart Carey, the prayer path existed once again at Westminster.