Thresholds

Three years ago our lay leader, Katie Myers, reflected on social media about the nature of thresholds. She shared her thoughts in the context of shifts and uncertainties that were in the offing for The United Methodist Church. Katie’s insights regarding the promise and hopefulness of such uncertain times, drawn from the words of author Christine Valters Painters, seem so very fitting for us just now as we enter a season of significant change at Laurel Heights, crossing a threshold from what has been to what is yet to be:

Christine Valters Paintners says this of thresholds: “A threshold is a space between – a doorway between the old stories and the new one being birthed, between the . . . former way of life and the aliveness emerging. Thresholds are challenging places to be because there is no map. There is no ten-step plan for how to move through this space. We feel disoriented there and impatient in having to wait.

And while no maps exist, there are stories . . . [of those] who have found themselves on a threshold, and stayed awake, until they could welcome in the new aliveness as it emerged. They stayed awake through the doubt and confusion, the letting go and grief, the anxiety and the hope.”

May we all live into that calling, for behold God is always doing a new thing.

Katie’s words, and the quote she shared, remind me of our journey through the year before us—and that God is doing a new thing, and we are each a part of it. God bless the sacred journey we travel together across this promising threshold.

Grace and peace,

Paul