Pastor Angie's In-Spire-ations March 2019
There is a word from my early study of spiritual formation that has been on my mind lately, first for Ash Wednesday and then much to our surprise, for the coming months as we prepare for a new chapter in Trinity’s history. The word is liminal.
The definition of a liminal space is “the time between the 'what was' and the 'next.' It is a place of transition, waiting, and not knowing. Liminal space is where all transformation takes place, if we learn to wait and let it form us.”
Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar who was ordained in 1970 in the Roman Catholic Church, is an author and theologian I enjoy. He refers to liminal space as being “betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown.” He writes about the importance of the liminal space as a place where new things begin to happen.
Rohr refers to the liminal space as “the sacred space where the old world is able to fall apart, and a bigger world is revealed. The threshold is God’s waiting room. Here we are taught openness and patience as we come to expect an appointment with the divine Doctor.”
As we approach Ash Wednesday, I want you to think about that word…liminal. We don’t think about our “old world falling apart” as a positive thing. But if we didn’t experience this “falling apart” feeling, we might become complacent and stagnant in our faith and miss the newness God so loves to share with us.
How will you use the Lenten Season to seek out liminal spaces in your life?
What do you need to allow “to fall apart” in order to find the newness that God would so love to share with you?
One place where we are all in a liminal space together relates to the announcement that Pastor Chris is moving. We have entered a time “betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown.” We still have a lot of ministry to do together with Pastor Chris before he and his family move, yet there is a sense that things are not quite the way they were before the announcement. While it may feel like our “old world is falling apart,” I want to encourage all of us (myself included) to approach this liminal space intentionally with a heart for what we can learn from it and how we can grow in the midst of it.
What will you do…learn…or become in the liminal space between now and July?
What will you let go of so that your hands are free to embrace something new?
What can we do together that will help us to be even stronger when Pastor Alex arrives?
I hope you will join Pastor Chris and me on March 6th at 6:30 p.m. as we bring you the Ash Wednesday service together.
Until then…Keep Moving Forward.
Pastor Angie