Trains and Liminality

All Aboard!

Hello Beloved,

Here’s something not many people know about me – I watch passenger train videos on YouTube for fun.  Two of my favorites are Solo Travel Japan and Downie Live

An overhead view of a trainstation interior.  The building is made mostly of steel.  There is an expansive skylight above.  To the right of the picture is a passenger train.  To the left is an empty track.  In the center is the train platform.
By Thiago Matos

Trains are interesting forms of transportation, if you think about it.  They are designed to be liminal spaces – places where people are betwixt and between destinations – but for a good subset of the population (like myself) they are the destination.  Furthermore, while many liminal spaces (such as waiting rooms and hallways) are little more than parking lots and passageways, where we place life on hold, trains are places where life happens.  Trains are places where people eat, sleep, fight, make love, wonder, talk, work, etc.

First Church has been in a liminal state for the past several years.  Between the pandemic, and this year without a minister, we’ve been in a waiting room of sorts.  Oh, sure, life still happened at and around First Church – people got married, children were born, initiatives were started – but for many at First Church, the life of the church was put on hold.  That, however, is likely to change.

Six candidates have expressed an interest in becoming First Church’s next developmental minister.  I am hopeful that we’ll find one to lead us in the next year, which means it’s about time we leave this waiting room, and hop on the train. 

We’re about to enter a new liminal period at First Church, one which is defined by rapid change – just as quickly as the scenery changes on a moving train, that’s how quickly change will come to First Church.  That sort of change can scare people, raise their anxiety, and cause conflict, but it can also lead to great innovation and much needed culture change.  The key to success will be in our perspective.  Will you view this incoming train as simply a means to an end – lamenting the track its chosen and the time it may take to get us to our destination?  Or, will you join me in viewing this incoming train as the destination – reveling in the experience and the life which will unfold therein?

As Downie Live often says, “I don’t know where I’m going next, but I know I want you there with me.”

Learn more about liminal space, and how it may be managed and utilized here:

Liminal Space: What Is It And How Does It Affect Your Mental Health?

Learning from Liminality: The Importance of Purpose During Organizational Change