LAKELAND — “People really think it’s the end days, and there’s a mood of doom and gloom about the arrival of the new millennium,” said the Rev. Patricia Brown, the Florida Conference’s director of Spiritual Development.

Brown believes, however, that the new millennium will be a time of hope and light for the people of Christ, and to help Florida United Methodists welcome the new millennium, she is organizing a conference-wide New Year’s Eve celebration at the Life Enrichment Center (LEC) in Leesburg, which, she says, will be a time for people to “have fun, find joy and find other people also walking in the faith.”

The theme of the one-night celebration is “Festival of Light,” which has a twofold meaning, according to Brown. The grounds of the LEC will be decorated with candles and holiday lights, and many of the activities will utilize candles, including a candlelight dinner and celebration at midnight. “Everything is going to be lit up,” she said.

Brown says the light also has a deeper, theological meaning: “The light is Jesus Christ. This is going to be a place where people can come to experience Jesus Christ…and walk in the light of Christ.”

Brown plans to facilitate that experience by offering hands-on workshops throughout the evening. The 30- to 60-minute classes include “Dancing our Prayers,” “Creating Your Own Personal Labyrinth,” “Living Simply” or “Pax et Bonum — The Way of St. Francis” to learn how to live more simply in the new era.

“The workshops are all hands on” Brown says, “because people don’t want to hear about God, they want to experience God.”

There will also be opportunities to walk the new prayer labyrinth being built at the LEC. The labyrinth is an ancient prayer tool used by Christians as early as A.D. 350, according to Brown. The labyrinth is a circular structure with one winding path leading to the center and another leading out. The center is a rosette, in which people can kneel for prayer.

Brown says the labyrinth is one of a variety of prayer methods people utilize. Others include group prayer, guided prayer, prayer journals and praying the scriptures. “People pray in different ways, depending on who they are,” she said. “There’s nothing magical about the labyrinth, but there is the mystery of God, the mystery of communicating with our Creator.”

A landscaped prayer garden will surround the 120-foot round granite brick labyrinth, modeled after the one in the Chartres Cathedral, France, according to Michèl D’Annecy, executive director of the Florida Conference Camps and Retreat Center. The entrance to the labyrinth will also be made of granite bricks and will feature a fountain that can be used for baptisms.

D’Annecy said people can participate in building the labyrinth by donating a brick in honor or memory of someone. There are also nine granite benches that can be engraved with the name of an honored family or individual. The suggested donation for a brick is $100; $1,000 for a bench.

The labyrinth, like the rest of the event, will be handicapped accessible, Brown said, to make the event as inclusive as possible. Although New Year’s Eve celebrations are usually targeted toward couples and families, she says singles are especially invited. Families are also encouraged to attend, and child care will be available. Two workshops will be offered in Spanish, and Brown is looking for people fluent in other languages to lead and interpret the workshops and interpret the labyrinth.

Brown says the workshops, prayer labyrinth, prayer and communion service, and midnight celebration all have one goal. “It [the millennial celebration] will be a place of hope, of hospitality and, hopefully, a place of healing as we enter the new millennium,” she said.