When the Rev. Linda Calkins came to the Diocese of Virginia in May 2024, she brought many years of experience in using prayer beads and walking labyrinths.
Calkins served as rector at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Laytonsville, Maryland, from 2010 to 2021. In that time, St. Batholomew’s “became the prayer bead center for the Diocese of Washington, DC,” she said. In addition to sending prayer beads to parishes in the Diocese, they sent prayer beads to chaplains in the Armed Forces and offered them at a local hospital to parents whose infants died. At the same time, St. Batholomew’s built a labyrinth that was open to anyone at any time.
Walking the labyrinth has deepened her spiritual life, Calkins said, and she regularly uses prayer beads in Contemplative Prayer and in praying the Psalms. She feels called to share those spiritual practices; besides being available as a Supply Priest, Calkins is available to travel to parishes to guide them in walking the labyrinth, with or without prayer beads.
This year, Calkins has visited St. Francis, Great Falls, offering a labyrinth Stations of the Cross meditation on Good Friday and a prayer bead labyrinth in October. Also in October, she led a labyrinth walk at Holy Comforter, Vienna. She’ll return to Reston on Good Friday in 2026 to lead a Stations of the Cross labyrinth.
If a church is able to offer a stipend, she requests $50-$200, depending on the parish’s size and budget and whether prayer bead instruction is included. Calkins wants interested churches that cannot afford a stipend to contact her; “I don’t want monetary issues to block prayer,” she said. She can be reached at lindacalkins@me.com.
