Liminal Space in the Season of Epiphany
This weekend I went away from my babies and my husband for the weekend. My best friend, the godmother to my children, is marrying her new best friend in April. I had to make a
trip to celebrate with her. She is loyal and thoughtful, and recently we have been learning a new way in our friendship.
In Between
A wise friend told me about a new concept, "liminal space." A term for in between two things. My best friend is in between being a single woman and a married woman. It's a very tricky transition with all the decisions that need to be made and relationships that need to be built. And I am in my own liminal place, making decisions and figuring out what God is doing in my life. In many ways, this feels like the first time we have been in different liminal spaces. It is stretching us and growing us.
Mary & the Wisemen
It's not unlike how Mary must have felt as a new mom, or how the wise men must have felt as they decided to follow a star into an unknown future to worship an unknown king. I don't know if I would have been brave enough to make that journey. It is hard to step out in faith and courage. It can hurt to have your relationships grow and change. In my situation, change and growth have been thrust onto my shoulders, maybe more like Mary may have felt. In the Wisemen's case, the star was so compelling it caused them to make a change and enter a journey through liminal space.
For my friend and me, in some ways, I want everything to stay exactly the same. But in other ways, I know that she is growing in exactly the right ways she needs to. And as I look back on my own liminal space, I can see how much I have grown in these last couple of months. I am learning to trust God more than I ever have, and I don't think anything would have brought me to my knees like an unknown future.
Maybe you are in a liminal space, too, walking in between who you are and who you plan to be.
Faithful Throng
It's hard, relationship change, routines change, places change, whatever your liminal space is. But I want you to know that although I don't know the answer, I do know that you aren't alone there. You are among a faithful throng of people traveling through a wilderness. You are becoming the person you will be. You are learning the hardest lessons.
What would happen if we treated the other people we meet as if they, too, might be in a liminal space? In their own hard transition, that feels a bit like their guts are being ripped out and reformed.
Journeys
How do you think Mary received the Wise Men? Two different stories, but ultimately walking through liminal spaces because of a King named Jesus. Jesus also knew something about liminal spaces as he stood between the humanness of his life and the calling of his sacrifice. And he is so very compassionate to us as we walk our own journeys in between. I don’t think Mary felt ready to display her new motherhood on Instagram, and I don’t think the wise man felt they had it all figured out when they arrived at the feet of a child King. But for a moment in time, two different people were at the feet of Jesus. I hope that they celebrated, in my mind, gifts seem like a hint to us that they did celebrate. I hope that they encouraged one another.
Celebrate
My friend and I don’t have the right words for each other’s seasons, but we spent the weekend together, and we spent the weekend celebrating what God has done and thanking him for his goodness.
Take a moment today to sit and see where you are, see where you have come from, and notice the faithfulness God showed you yesterday and the day before. Do you have anything to celebrate?
God is Faithful
If nothing else, you have made it to today. If nothing else, you took a step forward. If nothing else, you took a breath of the same air God created. Speak over yourself the truth that God is faithful, and that you are going somewhere, you are becoming someone. And there will be a day when you can look back at this time with a laugh and a tear, and may you be able to say, that liminal space made me the kind and compassionate human I am today.
*Thank you to Deacon Monica Napoli Warren for her sermon on liminal spaces found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThT5eCKu4g&ab_channel=ChristAnglicanMobile
(Monica’s sermon begins about minute 45 in the recording.)
Rachel Schwandt serves at St. Timothy’s Anglican in Spring with her husband, Fr. Michael Schwandt.
