About that “and” . . .
Welcome to and. It’s where we all are right now, that stepping stone between before and after. In fancy vocabulary terms, that “and” represents my favorite word: liminal. Liminal means the space, place, or time between who we were and who we will be. Pregnant women occupy liminal space. So do engaged couples. So do the dying. It’s a space that is unsettling, but also full of possibility and, often, clarity.
If we take a minute to apply our Christian lens to liminality—a faith that says live today as if God’s tomorrow has already come—we can see that the Christian is always in liminal space. They are always growing toward God’s purposes, always a Beloved Child at any age, always looking forward to God’s realm on earth.
So, is it exciting and a little scary and full of possibilities for us to be living into a new pastorate together? You bet. We are smack in the middle of and, the time before we really know each other and learn to support each other in our innermost desires to serve God and Creation, and the time after all the interviewing, get-to-know-you gathering, and decision making about each other. It’s bound to be unsettling and surprising.
It will also be a time full of loving patience with each other and hope for the best possibilities coming to light under God’s call. I trust that what happens in this between time will be like sowing fertile grown together, not so that I can plant my own crops, but so that we can prepare a our patch of earth so that all who come here (whoever they are and wherever they are on life’s journey) are not only welcome, but feel empowered, encouraged, and engaged to grab a trowel and get to planting.
I’m keeping a prayer for all of us in this and time that we will take our leaps of faith bravely and smile if we trip and stumble. We surely won’t get anywhere together by standing still.
All good things,
Pastor Nikki
PS—I’ll be in the office 9-4 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays if you’d like to call and plan to see me, please do!
