Meditation Venues
Labyrinth
This meditational space is located to the southeast and down the hill from the Sanctuary. It is a one way path: one path to the center and one path out again. There are no dead ends or places to get lost as in a maze. One should look at the walk as a three part process: purgation, illumination and union.
Meditation Garden
Our Meditation Garden is located near the Columbarium and was designed in the shape of a fish. Jeffrey Cooke, son of Vista’s first pastor, Rev. Donald B. Cooke, designed and built the Meditation Garden as a gift to Vista in memory of his father. In the 1st century the fish symbol (Ichthys symbol – Jesus fish) was used by early Christians to indicate meeting places of worship and to secretly signal that they were followers of Jesus. They were placed on trees, doors and even graves.
The garden offers a tranquil place to sit with God while enjoying his magnificent creation, the Catalina Mountains.
The garden offers a tranquil place to sit with God while enjoying his magnificent creation, the Catalina Mountains.
Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross is a series of 13 crosses and a tomb portraying events from Jesus praying in the Garden to his entombment. The devotional exercise of visiting and praying in front of each of the 13 stations and meditating stems from the practice of early Christian pilgrims who visited the scenes of the events in Jerusalem and walked the traditional route from the supposed location of Pilate’s house to Calvary. Tradition holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, set up stone markers at her home outside Jerusalem to prayerfully retrace the steps of her son’s Passion.
The Vista Church Stephen Ministers team decided to construct the thirteen Stations of the Cross at the Labyrinth with memorial donations for a devoted church member, Dr. Bill Pohnert, who sadly passed away in 2022.
The exhibit includes a replica of the tomb Jesus was placed in after His crucifixion. Vista member Ron Olson did most of the ironwork and various Vista committees constructed the crosses while the Landscape Committee prepared the area. Kathleen Greer used her pottery talents to make all the signs inserted into the iron frames from Ron. Special thanks to Dottie McIntyre and Mary Louise Roberson who spearheaded this project.
The entire exhibit is almost finished. It is available for the public to visit.
(Note: the path to the crosses is gravel and a slight decline; not advisable for wheelchairs and walkers at this point in time).