An Easter Blessing for Liminal Time

Liminal times are in-between spaces in our lives. “Threshhold moments” where you are not fully here any longer, but not quite to the next place either.

Standing in the door frame between the kitchen and dining room is a comfortable way of experiencing it…or in the car on the way to work. But many more uncomfortable liminal moments abound everywhere: a spouse develops dementia and she’s still here—but sometimes in a different reality than before—and where are we going as a couple next in our relationship? Another couple discovers they are expecting a child, whether adopted, foster, or biological, and while they wait for his/her/their arrival they are seeing the world through a new set of eyes. They are not parents yet, but they are no longer who they used to be either.

The pandemic is a liminal time for the entire planet. When was the last time we had a global in-between time together? The last ice age maybe? This time is not something we “get through” so we can go back to being who we were before. None of us can go back to who we were before this Shift of Awareness occurred. I don’t believe even God knows who we will become as we emerge together. But I do believe that God will be breathing with us through the hard work of labor, holding our hands and looking firmly into our eyes when we need some coaching to resist the urge to push the birth prematurely.

Here is a blessing from Emerge: Blessings and Rituals for Unsheltering, published by the United Church of Christ’s Stillspeaking Writers’ Group. They have some fabulous pieces like “Meditation for When People Who Ignore Safety Recommendations Are Making You Mad as Heck,” “Litany of Farewell to Google Classroom,” “Prayer for the Pooch That is Suddenly Alone and Doesn’t Understand Why,” and even a “Prayer to Release Doom Scrolling.”

Here’s the “Blessing for the Future” by Rev. Mary Luti:

Bless, O God,

the unanswerable

the hypothetical

the possible

Bless the silence

the shrug

the hard to say

the “who knows?”

the “have to wait and see”

Bless the markers

the absence of markers

the path

the no path

the indistinct

the clearing

Bless the arriving life

the nothing-normal-about-it new normal

the un-scouted

the future

the unknown

Bless you in it

the presence

the firm

the knowing

the power

the same love

Bless you in it

the center

the serene

the hidden near

the gleaming

the boundless mercy

the same love

The same love

Here and there

The same love

Now and when.

Happy Easter, everyone! Christ is risen—He is risen indeed! We are invited to “rise” as well—like a new day—in response to this invitation from liminal time.