Good morning…
Each morning we wake into a little pocket of liminal space, as we quietly cross over a new threshold, from what was to what will be. I set my alarm clock very rarely. Instead I love being woken when God’s Spirit stirs me from sleep, coaxing me from my unconsciousness into the more conscious portion of my fertile brain.
Some of my sweetest moments of the day are spent in the la-la land of liminal time, when my awareness returns from a night of rest, consciously engaging again in ongoing conversation with our ever-present God. My inaudible elements begin to sense sound. An intangible state morphs into sensing and smelling, touching and tasting. The invisible unseen is gradually colored in with sight as I blink open my eyes to begin a brand new day.
Praying in bed before I stretch my feet to the floor is one of my absolute favorite times of each day. Like this morning, the spiritual soundtrack filling me full is this repeating song refrain: “Oh no, You never let go, through the drought and through the storm. Oh no, You never let go, LORD, You never let go of me” (later, I welcome you touch on the link below to experience the expansion of God’s song in our shared liminal space).
My musical prayer crescendoes creatively.
“Oh no, You never let go, LORD, You never let go of us.” Then I sense, “LORD, You never let go of George.” And “LORD, You never let go of police.” The cascade continues: “LORD, You never let go of blacks. LORD, You never let go of latinos. LORD, You never let go of whites.” My prayer grows in power: “LORD, You never let go of Trump.” “LORD, You never let go of Biden.” “LORD, You never let go of Your world.” “LORD, You never let go of all.”
In our unshakeable humanness, we are the ones who sometimes let go, taking matters into our own controlling hands. We are not “us” and “them,” we are each a strange holy mixture of selfish and sacred. Jesus understands our human condition, as he once lived in a little liminal pocket of earthly time, both fully human and fully divine. Jesus’ prayer for his own violent oppressors expands to cover us all. Jesus said (of them and says of us), “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34, NIV).
LORD, as You forgive us and infuse each of us with Your Holy Spirit, please increase our conscious knowledge of what we, ourselves, are truly doing. Into a fresh little pocket of liminal space, we surrender every person, every worry, every hope, morning after morning.
But as for me, I will sing of Your mighty strength and power;
Yes, I will sing joyfully of Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For You have been my stronghold
And a refuge in the day of my distress.
To You, O [God] my strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my stronghold [my refuge, my protector, my high tower], the God who shows me [steadfast] lovingkindness (Psalm 59:16-17, AMP).
…Sue…
