Living Liminally

This is a devotion I shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  The reason for the many Lutheran references is because of the original intended audience. The principles apply to all Christians, however.

Have you ever heard the term “liminal space?” It is:

 

a threshold…Liminal spaces are transitional or transformative spaces. They are the waiting areas between one point in time and space and the next.

…we have the feeling of just being on the verge of something. Liminal space is, of course, a literal space …But there are also spaces of liminality in our mental states. This, too, is a type of liminal space” (betterhelp.com/advice/general).

As Lutherans, we think of that kind of space as living in the “now/not yet” of the kingdom of God. It is not the past, which is behind us and we are not yet in the future, which is unknown. Doesn’t it seem fitting to our lives today? It’s not an easy space to inhabit and it often makes us uncomfortable because we want to get the proverbial show on the road.

Jesus’ disciples were in a liminal space between the crucifixion and the resurrection. The two on the road to Emmaus illustrate this. They were sorrowing the loss of Jesus, uncertain of their future. They were on the verge of a revelation but didn’t know it until Jesus broke the bread with them (Luke:24:13-35).

There are other scriptural examples as well, such as Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus died (John 11:17-44). This changed their lives completely. In that day it was important to have a man in the household. Jesus gave them back their brother, which was the beginning of the end of his ministry on earth. That was the last straw and led to his arrest and death.

So now we are in this liminal space of being home due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Some of us enjoy being home while others are climbing the walls. Will we fully enter into this time that despite the disease, can be a gift of time for us or will we kick and scream because things aren’t the way they used to be and we just can’t wait until everything is back to normal—whatever that may mean.

Will we allow our hearts to burn within us at Jesus’ words? How many times in the past did we feel we didn’t have time for spiritual things because of all our commitments? We have time now to a certain degree. We don’t know how to best live in the liminal space, how to pray at a time like this and yet, God’s Spirit prays in us, through us, for us. As Paul wrote, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). Let us be Lutherans living liminally.

Our Lord and our God draw us ever closer to you that we may know your presence in this uncertain time of our lives. Amen.

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