September 4, 2024
A Note from Pastor April
Dear Friends,
I’ve always been fascinated by the moments in time when things begin to shift. A word spoken at just the right time, a diagnosis that no one saw coming, an unexpected opportunity, a chance encounter, and sometimes just an idea or inspiration that leads us somewhere we hadn’t foreseen.
Most of the time, we see these moments only in hindsight, reflecting on the spark, energy, or awakening that jolted us from the familiar toward a new trajectory.
Occasionally, life affords us seasons when we can recognize these moments as we are living them. Seasons when we can feel in our body the paradoxical shift happening within us, knowing that we are betwixt and between spaces. Detached at some level from where we have been but not yet fully seeing or understanding what is to come… we find ourselves in a liminal space.
Liminal Space
The word for liminal comes from the Latin, “limen,” which means threshold. It is a crossroads, a transitional point on the journey, often marked with a sense of opening. In the realm of spirituality, it is a place where sacred encounter and new meaning can arise.
At the bedside of a loved one in their final days, in the space between jobs, at the birth of a child, in the days and weeks approaching a crucial election, and at the moments before we head into surgery… liminal space draws us closer to the preciousness and vulnerability that marks our lives and invites us to consider what matters most.
The summer of 2024 has been full of this kind of space. The extraordinary experience of my son’s diagnosis, surgery, and recovery from life-saving surgery for Cushing’s Disease brought us into this space nearly every day. I was so grateful for the beautiful chapel space on the top floor of the hospital, where I was able to pause, pray, and sit with God both before and after the surgery.
A critical election, with a sudden and unexpected shift in the middle of the summer, brought a wave of new energy and heightened focus as our country prepares for November 5.
In the midst of it, I knew I was also preparing for a significant shift, a moment of trusting and following my own inner wisdom, pursuing a path toward a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies and reducing my time and salary to 30 hours a week at the church.
As I begin that season this week, I can feel the tears just a little closer to the surface than normal. I sense the importance of this moment.
Something new is beginning.
Something that matters.
Something that will change the direction of my life and the lives of others.
I will not be the same person on the other side of this journey.
The degree program was never about some end goal I was planning to accomplish. I don’t have current plans to move into academia or become a full-time researcher.
At the same time, I sense a pull, a longing, a life-giving invitation from a place deep within and without that says to me…
“Pay attention. Something important is going to happen here.”
To others on the outside, it may seem like a strange and surprising choice. Why begin something when you don’t have a long-term plan?
For those living and abiding in liminal space, it makes perfect sense. We are on our way toward something that we cannot see. The only thing to do is to keep listening and following.
As I begin this journey, I am filled with excitement, anticipation, anxiousness, and vulnerability. I do not know what I do not know. I’ll have to learn it along the way.
But what I feel sure of… whatever I am headed toward is LIFE. And filled with Spirit. And will help me become who I need to be in this next season.
And that is enough.
I am ever grateful to be in a community that is supportive of this work and encouraging of me to continue following the call and leaning into the liminal spaces where the Spirit is at work.
April
The Rev. April Blaine
Lead Pastor
