retired, but not retired

liminal lessons and singing with dogs

My wife Banu and I just passed our second Sunday in which we were not in charge of worship, or other pastoral activities. It still feels like we are on vacation, which until the end of this calendar year, is actually true. There is also the reality of a long-delayed sabbatical. (FYI: we recently retired from parish ministry.)

I have yet to settle into a morning practice of a devotional nature. I have long claimed to myself I need to go for walks in the morning.

However, this neighborhood has a decidedly large ratio of dogs-to-humans with which to deal! Perhaps the not so infrequent barking can provide a serenade. And then, there is the local rooster who could take a turn in leading the chorus.

Often the best change is one that is imposed — that is, regarding my early daily discipline. I do not think of our current situation as “retired, but not retired” as having been imposed!

[from the next day] On my morning walk, I was indeed serenaded by canines, five in number. There were a pair of duos and a lone soloist. Were I walking our dog, Ronan, more attention might have been drawn.

Later, Banu and I met on Zoom in a time of prayer and fellowship with a network from the Alliance of Reformed Churches. (It was the Light for the Nations network.) It has been three weeks since I participated. Preparations for moving, moving itself, and the aftermath of moving have taken a bit of priority. We also have had initial conversations with the folks running the Kingdom and Spirit network. The Alliance has provided, and is providing, a ministry evolution for us.

One of the themes from that meeting involved transition. Not only Banu and I, but a couple of others spoke of their own transitions: doors opening and doors closing.

Transition can entail liminal space or liminal time. The word “liminal” comes from the Latin limen, which means “threshold.” We’re familiar with the word “subliminal” — below the threshold.

As Richard Rohr puts it, “Liminal space…is where we are betwixt and between, having left one room or stage of life but not yet entered the next… It is a graced time, but often does not feel ‘graced’ in any way. In such space, we are not certain or in control… The very vulnerability and openness of liminal space allows room for something genuinely new to happen.”

“The wind [the Spirit] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8).

In the “retired, but not retired,” we may find ourselves being blown around, rearranging our mornings, singing songs with strange dogs, making friends with new colleagues. We just might experience liminal spacetime.

We are beckoned beyond the threshold.