![\"Moving](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/moving-boxes-500x375.jpg\")
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This past week on Facebook
\na former student posted a picture of herself with her husband.
\nThey\u2019ve been married almost two years,
\nand they were standing with their arms around each other
\nnext to the \u201cSold\u201d sign in front of their very first house.
\nShe\u2019s about five months pregnant
\nas they get ready to welcome their first child this coming December.<\/p>\n
I imagine there are lots of families
\nmoving into new homes this summer,
\ngetting used to new cities, new neighborhoods,
\nchildren about to start the year in a new school.
\nSome of you are taking your children to college,
\nmaybe for the first time living away from home.<\/p>\n
Summer is a season of movement.
\nEach of those moves is an ending and a new beginning,
\nwith overlap between them.<\/p>\n
Anthropologist Victor Turner calls these moments \u201climinal spaces.\u201d
\nLiminal spaces are the in-between places of our lives,
\nneither here nor there,
\n\u201cbetwixt and between\u201d
\nas someone recently described them to me.<\/p>\n
We all experience liminal spaces throughout life,
\ntimes when we are in transition, on the threshold:<\/p>\n
That first week in the new house,
\nsurrounded by boxes and empty cupboards,
\nwondering who the neighbors are,
\nor how to get to the grocery store.
\nYou\u2019re not in the old house any more,
\nbut not yet fully in the new house either.<\/p>\n
Or beginning life as newlyweds,
\nnot single anymore,
\nand yet not quite a couple.<\/p>\n
There are those times we wait for the results of medical tests,
\nunsure of how our lives might suddenly be turned upside down.<\/p>\n
Summer is a liminal space for students,
\nwhere they are no longer fourth graders, but not yet fifth graders,
\nno longer sophomores, but not yet upperclassmen,
\nno longer in high school, but not yet college students.<\/p>\n
Some are transitioning into retirement.
\nMaybe some are in the middle of a breakup,
\nor in between jobs.
\nThere are those who are grieving the loss of a pet,
\na friend, or a loved one.
\nThe smoke in the air reminds us of all those
\nwho have lost homes and possessions in the forest fires,
\nand who are unsure what will happen next.
\nThese are the liminal spaces of our lives.<\/p>\n
This is where the Israelites are in today\u2019s first reading;
\nthis is where the disciples are in the gospel.
\nWe see both groups on the threshold, on the verge.<\/p>\n
At the end of the book of Joshua,
\nthe Israelites have entered the Promised Land.
\nThis is a key moment in Salvation History.
\nGod had sent Moses to lead them
\nfrom slavery in Egypt into the desert
\nwhere they have wandered for decades.
\nBut Moses has died and Joshua has led the Israelites in battle
\nagainst the Amorites, the Moabites, Canaanites,
\nuntil all opposition has ceased.
\nNow a long period of uncertain wanderings through the desert
\nis ending;
\na new era is beginning.
\nGod\u2019s chosen people are about to settle in a land
\nfilled with people who have worshipped other gods.
\nIt is a new place, a strange place in many ways.
\nThe Israelites are no longer a wandering people,
\nbut not yet a settled community.<\/p>\n
They are in a liminal space.<\/p>\n
And in the gospel we have read for the past six weeks
\nthe disciples have heard Jesus speak of himself
\nas the bread of life;
\nthat his flesh is true food
\nand his blood is true drink.<\/p>\n
This new teaching challenges the beliefs of the disciples.
\nSome can\u2019t tolerate it.
\nThey turn back to where they once were.
\nThey return to their former way of life.<\/p>\n
But not the Twelve.
\nThe Twelve are willing to accept the uncertainty of liminal space.
\nThey are on the threshold of a new and radical teaching.
\nThey\u2019re not quite sure what it means.
\nYou get the feeling that they would leave Jesus too
\nif they had a better option.
\nBut Jesus has the words of everlasting life.
\nThere is no place else to go.
\nThey will not return to their former way of life.
\nThey cannot follow Jesus and at the same time stay where they are.
\nThey must move.<\/p>\n
Because of their encounter with Jesus
\nthey are no longer who they were before,
\nbut they are not yet the people they will soon be.<\/p>\n
They are in a liminal space,
\nnot physically but spiritually.<\/p>\n
Liminal space is disorienting, uncomfortable, frightening.
\nBut liminal space is where growth happens,
\nwhere new perspectives appear.
\nIt\u2019s in these threshold moments that communities are formed.<\/p>\n
Joshua summons all the people together to remind them
\nnot to look behind at the gods of the past, but to look ahead.
\nHe challenges them:
\n\u201cAre you going to worship the gods of your ancestors?\u201d
\n\u201cAre you going to return to your former way of life?\u201d
\n\u201cOr are you going to serve the Lord?\u201d<\/p>\n
On the threshold of settling into the Promised Land,
\nJoshua leads the people in a renewal of the covenant.
\n\u201cAs for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.\u201d
\nAnd the people essentially answer, \u201cAmen.\u201d
\n\u201cWe also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that answer, the community makes a conscious choice
\nto remain God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n
Jesus challenges his disciples in the same way.
\n\u201cDoes this shock you?\u201d he asks.
\n\u201cDo you also want to leave?\u201d
\n\u201cThe words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.\u201d
\nAnd through Peter, the Twelve answer, \u201cAmen.\u201d
\n\u201cWe have come to believe and are convinced
\nthat you are the Holy One of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
With their answer, the apostles make a conscious choice
\nto stay with Jesus, to be a community of disciples.<\/p>\n
And now the challenge is before us.
\nJoshua\u2019s question is for us, too:
\nAre we going to worship other gods?
\nOr are we going to serve the Lord?
\nJesus asks us, as he asks the first disciples,
\nDo you also want to leave?<\/p>\n
To serve the Lord, to stay with Jesus,
\nmeans entering into liminal space.
\nIt means leaving our former way of life behind.<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 first words in the gospel of Mark are
\n\u201cRepent and believe in the Gospel.\u201d
\nThis is what conversion is,
\na turning away from the old, false self
\nto the new, true self.<\/p>\n
Jesus is constantly inviting us to follow him,
\nbut we can\u2019t follow him and stay where we are.<\/p>\n
Anthropologist Victor Turner called Christians \u201climinal figures\u201d
\nbecause we understand
\nthat we are temporary residents of this world.
\nWe are \u201cbetwixt and between,\u201d
\nin liminal space for our entire lives.<\/p>\n
Our conversion is not a single moment in time,
\nbut a lifetime of turning that began with our baptism.<\/p>\n
To be a Christian means to live always on the threshold
\nof this life and the next.<\/p>\n
What are the uncomfortable places that we are each being led to?<\/p>\n
Maybe we\u2019re feeling called to serve others,
\nbut we fear losing our comfortable existence.
\nWe might be trying to let go of an addiction
\nor sinful pattern of behavior,
\nbut we haven\u2019t yet found anything healthy to replace it.
\nMaybe God is calling us to a religious or priestly vocation,
\nor to commit ourselves in marriage,
\nand we\u2019re afraid of how that would radically change our lives.<\/p>\n
Whatever liminal spaces we may find ourselves in,
\ntoday\u2019s scripture readings reassure us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lord protected us along our entire journey\u2026\u201d the Israelites say.
\n\u201cTherefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus, you have the words of eternal life,\u201d says Peter.
\nGod protects us and gives us the words of eternal life.<\/p>\n
What makes the liminal spaces bearable,
\nwhether they\u2019re physical or spiritual,
\nis first, the sure knowledge that God walks with us,
\nand second, the reality that others are in the same situation.<\/p>\n
No matter how disoriented, uncomfortable, or afraid we may be,
\nwe always have a home in the Body of Christ.
\nThe Christian community is to be the place where anyone can come
\nand be held in the arms of Jesus.
\nThat gives us strength and hope,
\nand the courage to accept the liminal spaces in our lives.<\/p>\n
This Eucharistic celebration,
\nlike the assembly of the tribes at Shechem,
\nis a chance to renew our baptism,
\nand to embrace our ongoing conversion.
\nAfter coming here to this liturgy
\nare we going to \u201creturn to our former way of life,\u201d
\nor continue to serve the Lord?<\/p>\n