The Space Between...
ON THE COVER:
by Pastor Kris Tostengard Michel
This summer, my family’s house provided space for a
‘threshold,’ of sorts. Our kids are gone and bedrooms are
unoccupied, so my friend’s daughter, Emily, came to stay
with us. Fresh out of college, she needed a place to land
while she transitioned from ‘what was’ to ‘what would come
next.’ Like many recent college grads, she was entering a
liminal space.
The word liminal comes from the Latin limen, which means threshold. It’s the
‘in between’ space where one foot is about to enter something new, but the other
foot is still touching the old. The old structures and ways of being no longer fit,
but the future has not yet been realized or maybe even envisioned. It’s a time
of transition, waiting, of not knowing. It's a time of disruption that has the
possibility of being transformative. Richard Rohr calls it a sacred space where
the old world is able to fall apart, and a bigger world is revealed. It’s a space that
human beings actually hate to occupy, he says, but it’s where the biblical God
continually takes us. Think Abraham and Sarah, the Israelites slaves, a young
family who flees a jealous ruler, and disciples called to leave their livelihoods to
follow a rabbi.
This past year brought changes many of us would not have anticipated. From
November 2016 until November of this year, there were mile markers that I
suspect some of us will describe as thresholds for our nation, our community,
perhaps our personal lives. Here at church, an unanticipated call process was set
in motion by our senior pastor’s cancer diagnosis in November and death in June.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he reminds his young
congregation that they, too, are living ‘between the times.’
Not only has Christ come, but he will come again. The
knowledge of this impacts the way we live and how we
think about the future. Paul encourages his hearers to be
“stewards of the mysteries of God.”
We’re uncomfortable with the
unknown. It’s a difficult thing for
which to plan. It’s unsettling to set off
down a path when you’re uncertain
where it will lead. But time and again
God invites God’s people to do just
that. God invites us to venture into
the unknown and the mysterious.
God calls us to leave our certainty and
security and lean into a future that
is yet unseen but sustained by the
presence and promise of God. Will you
come? Will you bring yourselves and
your gifts to bear on the mysteries of
God?
November 5:
All Saints' Sunday
1 Corinthians 15:51-80
November 12: 1 Corinthians 3:18-4:2
A sacred space November 19: Commitment Sunday
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
where the old
world is able to November 26: Advent begins
fall apart, and a
bigger world is
revealed.
We often think of stewardship as caring for creation or
sharing material blessings we’ve been given. In the ancient
world, a steward took care of the master’s household on
behalf of the master. What would it mean to steward the
“mysteries of God,” to care for those things we see as in a mirror as yet dimly, but
will one day see face to face? I believe the poets are well suited to help us. It is
perhaps poetry in music that best helps us tell the story of God’s upside down
kingdom, of God’s power made known in the self-giving love of Christ.
This month will provide wonderful opportunities to sing. On All Saints' Sunday
we’ll give thanks for the beloved who now sing at the throne of the Lamb. At the
installation of Mary and Ben, we’ll proclaim the hope of God’s promised future.
On stewardship Sundays and Thanksgiving Eve we’ll acknowledge the source
of our blessings. And on the first Sunday in Advent, we’ll look for the coming
of God. I look forward to joining you in song and prayer as we “steward the
mysteries of God.” It’s my privilege to share life with you!
“Think of us in this way,
as servants of Christ and
stewards of God’s mysteries.”
- 1 Cor. 4:1
Next CONNECT deadline:
November 10, 2017
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