A Liminal Moment in May

A Liminal Time . . .  reflection on the Gospel of John 14:23-29

This passage in John continues Jesus’ last discourse to his disciples before he is crucified.  These words are

repeated in a similar way when Jesus finally leaves this earth, just before His ascension into heaven.  Jesus repeatedly reminds His followers that they will never be left without someone to lead them, someone to guide their thinking.  If we love the Lord, thy God with all our heart, we can continue the great commission of leading others to Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Once again, Jesus reminds His followers that the Father will send ‘Someone’ to help them remember.  These are affirming words that Jesus’ disciples would not fully comprehend until Pentecost.  And so, the disciples enter a place of wondering, of waiting.  They stand on a precipice or a threshold that is, for now, a safe place.  They have no clue what is ahead and can only live on memories of the past three years.

We might call this ‘threshold’ or holding place a liminal time.  Laeman is Latin for ‘threshold’.  This passage in John focuses on a very short ‘liminal’ time . . . about three days of unknowing.  Of course the Christ followers are greatly relieved to find that Jesus is ‘alive.’  Their liminal time, their time of wondering what is next, is over.  Jesus has returned.  

And then it happens again.  This time Jesus tells those who did not scatter that He will not return to them again.  At His ascension, Jesus reminds His followers to wait until they receive what the Father will send them.  Do not leave Jerusalem.  Wait.  Jesus never told his disciples to wait for him after his crucifixion. 

I wonder.  Would Jesus remind His disciples to wait because they will remain on this threshold, in this liminal period, for ten whole days?   Is Jesus, perhaps, encouraging His followers to hang on, to wait patiently and then keep waiting?

The disciples are filled with joy and anticipation of Jesus’ next return, and yet, after the ascension, Jesus will not return in their lifetime.  Yet, Jesus leaves His followers with hope.  Perhaps the disciples spent the ten days between Jesus’ ascension and the day of Pentecost

remembering their salvation history.  Perhaps they are remembering other times they were on the threshold of new life.  This hope has been the focus of the Hebrew people since they exited from Egypt into ... into a liminal space like wandering in the desert for forty years.

When God used Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt, God dangled hope among them.  That hope led them through a wall of water.  That hope sustained them for decades as they wandered in circles.   These chosen people of God could have crossed into the promised land in two to three weeks but there were circumstances that prevented them from doing so.  God had other plans. 

God needed His people to wander, to remain in a liminal state until an entire generation died out.  God used this time to change a weak people, chained to slavery, into people strong enough to develop a new land and conquer

those who prevented them from worshipping the One God.  These people had forgotten how to think for themselves.  They forgot how to be creative.  They even forgot how to worship as they should.  Even worse, they had given up hope.  God needed to restore to His people a strong work ethic, the ability to solve difficult problems and the use of their creativity to move forward with eyes focused on God with renewed hope.

This history lesson was repeated every year about the time of Passover so that the Hebrew people would remember the HOPE God gave them.  They needed to remember that times of waiting for the next step were not empty times but times to regroup, reflect, receive fresh hope to anticipate a fruitful future.

Just like their ancestors, these disciples who waited in Jerusalem might have used this ‘liminal’ time, when Jesus left them, for the second time, to asses what they learned, assess their strengths and reflect on the HOPE

that was and is and is to come.  One can only imagine how the disciples felt on the fourth day . . . one day longer than Jesus had left them last time.  Were they becoming anxious?  Were they losing hope?  Or were they taking this time to reflect and plan their next steps so that they would be ready for what was to come next?  I wonder if Jesus, during his 40 day visit, reminded them that there would be a liminal time, a threshold time, a time of waiting that could be very productive.

I wonder.  Have we had liminal periods in our own lives?  Have we known the hope of God’s plan for us and then, either suddenly or slowly . . . silently . . . over a period of time we find ourselves on the threshold of . . . of what?  It’s like our world was going along just fine and then our life changes.  Perhaps the bottom dropped out from under us or life simply became hope-less.  We reached a point where we needed to wait, re-assess our conditions, renew our life purpose, re-direct our thinking, wait . . . and wait some more.

Perhaps you who are reading this is in a liminal space right now.  It’s not an empty time.  Far from it.  It’s a time to review goals and aspirations.  It’s a time to renew one’s commitment to God in Christ and to one another.  It’s a time to wait on the Lord’s leading but that also means taking time to listen. 

This is a time, more than ever, for us to gather weekly to celebrate Christ’s resurrection.  By acting on our love for God in Christ and coming into His presence with thanksgiving ... weekly ... the Holy Spirit continues to feed our soul.  That soul-feeding is essential in order for us to see beyond the threshold on which we might be standing. 

Before we realize what is happening, this ‘liminal’ time, this holding time, disappears.  There is so much hope, so much purpose, such a powerful sense of community with one another and with God that one can’t help but make the time to pray and seek God’s direction.  We all need those ‘liminal’ times in our lives to equip ourselves and each other for the next phase in our lives . . . in God’s life for us.

When the disciples experienced the power of the Holy

Spirit at Pentecost, they were ready to explode into the world.  

Keep praying.  

Continue to gather together as one body.  

Imagine.  

Affirm one another as each is called to step over their own personal threshold of liminal space into a new space.  

God  wants to prepare all of us to explode into the world in His time.  Together we all will discern God’s will.  Together we will explode with new life, with fresh purpose, with renewed hope that sustains us all as we journey with God in Christ into new places.  

Hang on to that hope that was and is and is to come as God moves each of us us through this liminal space.  AMEN