Wilmore is a liminal space. A transitional area between two states. I’ve spent a lot of time pondering that idea. Like, years… because of just how true that statement is.
I am in my fourth year of seminary. Things have changed so much since I began my time here. I changed degree programs, I have moved 4 (yes 4) times, I got married, I transitioned from working full time to part time to full time again. Most of the friends I met that very first year are out in the world doing ministry in the church or market place. This is all just what has gone on in my personal life, not to mention the transition that has happened within the seminary.
If you ever lived in Wilmore during your time as a student, you know how liminal this place can be.
And things that are liminal, transitional, can sometimes be uncomfortable. It can be hard to know where to plant your feet at all times. I’m reminded of when I was a junior in college and I was sitting in the office of my biblical justice professor, Dr. Jeff Stark at Olivet Nazarene University. I had been feeling very overwhelmed with the content of the class, and more than just that I had been feeling frustrated with the lack of care I was perceiving from my peers. I’ll never forget what he told me that day.
He said “Makenzie, I want to encourage you to stop trying to make everything so black and white, when so much of life falls in the grey. Stop trying to get rid of the tension you feel and see, it is where Christ makes His home in you.”
I have thought a lot about that specific interaction when thinking of Wilmore as a liminal space. This transitional area between two states. For most of us, this is a place we call home for only a short amount of time. Even if it is your permanent residence, it is a revolving door of people from all over the world who become equipped to then leave and be sent out all over the world.
As I just described, even when you are in Wilmore for 2 or 5 or however many years you experience change time and time again. Of course Wilmore is a liminal space, which means there is an adjustment period over and over again.
But I think, at the risk of completely over-spiritualizing here, Wilmore can feel this way for a much more spiritual reason.
For whatever reason, God loves Wilmore, Kentucky. He has chosen to break out revival in our tiny town not just once, but multiple times. In my short amount of time here, I have seen chains be broken, I have met people who have unbelievable testimonies, I have seen people dedicate or rededicate their lives to Jesus, I have seen baptisms. Point blank, I have seen God.
I often describe Wilmore as a place where God’s presence is incredibly tangible. That kind of power doesn’t make an appearance without leaving its mark.
So of course Wilmore feels liminal, it is a place where we have had the incredible privilege to get glimpses of heaven on earth.
It really is an “already but not yet” sort of existence you get when you come to Wilmore. It may be uncomfortable at times, but it is a privilege to get to live in that tension. Holy Dissonance is a term I use pretty often and the term I’d probably slap onto that feeling.
I know many of you don’t live in Wilmore that are reading this. Some of you lived here for a short period of time, some of you lived here for many years. Some of you never lived here at all. Wherever you are located, I imagine there might be some change going on in your life too. Maybe a change at your church… in your congregation, on your church staff, in your denomination. Maybe a change in your family… a death, a wedding, a new baby on the way or just arrived. Maybe there is a change where you live, you are starting out somewhere new all over again. Maybe it is a change in a long suffering friendship, or marriage. Maybe you have a new boss, or you are the new boss.
Even good change can result in some tension within us, because we are forced to grow with it.
Whatever it is, I want to encourage us today to spend some time sitting in the liminality of change. For some reason we were made for it, change, even if it is something we want to ignore until it settles.
What are the ways God wants to open your eyes to the new ways He is moving around and within you today?
Sometimes I am reminded that when change is hard, we have the opportunity to really treasure the one who never changes. Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Hebrews 13v8)
Liminality is uncomfortable, but I don’t know if we are meant to be entirely comfortable on this side of heaven. God is clearly not done working at Asbury Theological Seminary, in its Staff, Students, or Alumni. He is clearly not done working in Wilmore, or the small businesses or churches here.
Maybe we can remember the tension we feel and see is often where Christ makes His home in us, and I know wherever He is present is where I want to be.
This article is by Makenzie Sherwood-Murray, The Coordinator of Strategic Events and Alumni Relations