It is due to the experienced love and grace found in the community of followers of Jesus that I have found God to be most “real”. The scriptures, history, and theology have helped me to know about God, but it is God’s people who have helped shape a deeper, more vibrant, true knowledge of the Divine. When Spirit reaches into the cracks and holes of a collective humanity, things happen, people change, and a picture of the world is recaptured for all that it exists to be.
The world is headed somewhere. We buy into one of two narratives: either the world is growing more chaotic, more evil and more depraved with little hope OR the world is growing in compassion, love, and grace ultimately resulting in a renewed earth that is overflowing with heaven. Either the world is mostly bad, mostly broken, and mostly depressing with a small sparkle of light at the end of the story OR we exist in a benevolent Universe filled with wonder, empathy, mercy, and charity in the midst of scattered moments of brokenness.
God exists and insists like a river of joy and surprise awaiting expectant companions to jump in and join the Life of this Good News. Some will participate and dive headlong into the clear, blue Mystery while others reluctantly dip their toes in. Still others will resist altogether for various reasons. The resisters will opt out of this loving River because they have heard stories of what this River is like from others and they want nothing to do with this kind of thing. Others will simply not participate because they are not ready. They’re not there yet. Some are actually closer to the River than they think. They’ve only been told to enjoy/trust this God means “x,y,z” but they’ve experienced something different.
There is a liminal place that exists between you and the other.
Embrace
Some space is not liminal. it is deeper than a momentary not-here-and-not-there space in time. it will always have a gap. But sometimes these gaps are good and even necessary. At times, we try and collapse differences so that everything is the same. For example, some people think the best way to go about handling diversity in race, background, sexual orientation, job, culture, style, etc. is to call everything the same and disregard the differences. I’ve heard this many times from the stage at churches – “we don’t care if you’re black or a woman or a plumber or a PhD… we’re all one in Christ and none of that matters”.
It does matter, though. You’re different. We all are. People know this and to disregard our differences for the sake of unity is actually to disregard the specific gifts, abilities, quirks and unique dimensions that make an individual person who they really are. We’re essentially saying, “Be who you are, as long as it looks like and sounds like and thinks like everyone else”. To be the people of God means to be a collection of people who are in different stages and phases of life, who embody diversity and a kaleidoscope of human experience. Sometimes, the space is necessary to celebrate the imago Dei in an individual. At times this space/gap/difference is hard to adapt to. We naturally gravitate toward those that sound/act/look most like us. The early church got it right when it invited any and all people (Greek, Jew, men, women, etc.) to be the people of God and got it wrong when it tried to impose specific cultural laws (Jewish) onto other people (Gentiles) in an attempt to essentially make everyone the same*. It’s messy and challenging but it’s the best way to move forward in a community that celebrates different views/perspectives/thoughts.
Bridge
On the other hand, the church was and is made up of people that used to not associate with each other but now do. In one way (above) we’re to embrace the space that exists between us (the stuff that makes us different… celebrating these differences and recognizing them). But in another way we’re to close the gap. We’re to make bridges, not walls. To be an inclusive and celebratory community that sees the image of God in all is to put aside all differences for the sake of unity in Jesus. Church should be the place where democrats and republicans can share a meal together and celebrate the other as they celebrate the victory of God in Christ. While forcing a community to be colorblind or ignorant of sexual orientation is unhealthy, the Church exists to be the place where we all have one thing most in common – we want to know and be known by human beings and the Divine. We want to feel safe. We want to have a community that is for us and with us. We want a place where all our differences and quirks matter the most and simultaneously don’t matter at all. It’s a balance and, like I stated above, a balance worth fighting for. It’s much easier to opt for one or the other… to say “Everyone do x,y,z and look like this and believe this because nothing matters except that we’re all Christians” OR “Everyone do whatever you want as long as you love God and others, don’t let anyone tell you how to act and just be nice to each other”. There’s a third way, though. Including and embracing diversity while understanding the common ground we’re all standing on is God who has made us, is with us, and within us.
Release
While we’ve talked about he gaps in relationships that need to be embraced and bridged, there’s another aspect still Some liminal space needs to broaden. Some people/relationships will actually hinder your health and the health (mind, body, soul) of others to the degree that it is toxic. While there should always be a place for people to vent, express, and be included, the reality is that some people will abuse this trust within community. They will violate this give and take relationship and suck the life out of you while blaming you for their problems. They are not interesting in growing or changing or taking your advice to heart, they only want to be seen and will not examine their own motives or actions until they hit rock bottom. This is the hardest thing. It’s an exhausting thing. But to continue the cycle of toxicity is to actually continue to enable this person and affirm their behavior. You cannot change them and you cannot take them where they don’t want to go. So, unfortunately there needs to be even more space. Boundaries are a good thing. Some things must end so that both parties can move into more health and flourishing. This is okay and normal but should always be communicated clearly. Nothing hurts worse than being cut off from a friendship with no explanation
Spaces
Whatever the space is. God. Yourself. Others.
Know that this is a forgiving and benevolent and patient space.
We are situated in the center of a Mystery that exists with us in these gap moments of life, not far away or disinterested. There will be too much space at times and not enough at others. This is part of the Journey.
* To read more about this, check out Galatians 2
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