Today’s cool link, Labyrinth, was discovered by my church’s senior pastor, Rev. Doug Patterson. The site, created by emergent church groups in London, offers a modified labyrinth design: it fits more easily into a rectangular space than a traditional round Chartres-style labyrinth, and includes multiple pausing places with innovative prayer stations. Doug and I were both enthusiastic about the idea of bringing this style of labyrinth to our social hall here at Smithfield.
The G20 summit is being held in Pittsburgh this fall, and I think it would be amazing to set up our church - only two blocks from the convention center - as a spiritual oasis space, a place where meeting participants, protesters, press, and passers-by could stop in for quiet and re-centering before returning to the chaotic streets. A labyrinth like this one could be a great way to structure that space.
The social hall at First Lutheran Church, where we began our day, looked amazing. Our theme this year is “Growing With God,” so we hoped to turn the room into a garden. We’re borrowing lots of live plants, put up an 
We visited PNC Park and had a wonderful behind-the-scenes tour. The details of Negro League baseball probably went over the heads of the “pineapples” and “peaches” I was chaperoning (Our four groups this year are all named after fruits: pineapples Pre-K & K, peaches K-1, pomegranates 2-3, and papayas 4-6), but I was fascinated, and I loved the opportunity to go out on the field and visit the press box! Here’s Cora and me in the dugout.
Naturally, we went to a fountain. We try to do that almost every day, since it’s a great way to release some energy and cool off on our long walks. This fountain next to the ballpark is perfectly designed for wading, and the kids ran up and down it, sitting in the waterfalls and chasing each other over the steps. They get soaking wet, of course, but that’s all part of the fun.
We roamed all over downtown in our bright blue t-shirts (props to 
Because surely we can do better than this.