In the In-Between Times

First Sunday in Lent
1 Peter 3:18-22
18  For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring
you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,  19  in which also he went
and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,  20  who in former times did not obey, when God
waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight
lives, were saved through water.  21  And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a
removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for [c]  a good conscience, through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ,  22  who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with
angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Mark 1:9-15
The Baptism of Jesus
9  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the
Jordan.  10  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the
Spirit descending like a dove upon him.  11  And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son,
the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
The Testing of Jesus
12  And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  13  He was in the wilderness forty
days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.
The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry
14  Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God  15  and
saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the
good news.”

In the In-Between Times
When she was 27 years old, the singer, Stevie Nicks looked out a window at a snow-
covered mountain in Colorado, and she thought about landslides and avalanches. She was tired,
frustrated with her career, uncertain about her relationship, and wondered where her life was
going. She felt overwhelmed by all the changes she faced. And it was there, standing at that
window, that she wrote a song about change called, “Landslide.” In the song, she asks, “Can I
sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?” Sometimes the
changes in life happen like a landslide, or an avalanche of snow. There is a huge shift, and all the
snow that was at the top of the mountain avalanches down to the bottom of the mountain.
So now, we are in Lent, talking about changes and transitions. It’s late winter now, and
not yet spring. It seems like it has been a strange winter this year here in Maine, but then again, it
seems like I say this every winter. Along about this time of year I start looking for spring. Last
week I was in Home Depot, and I asked one of the guys working there, “Is winter over yet?” and
he said, “Oh no. We’re just getting started.”
So, it feels like spring is close, but we’re not there yet because we have to go through that
most famous season of all, the one we really love here in Maine, “Mud Season.” You know, mud
season, when it’s not winter anymore, but it’s definitely not spring yet, and there’s mud
everywhere. It’s an in-between time. Not winter. Not spring. And very messy.

So that’s what I’m talking about here. In-between times. There’s a technical word for this:
“the liminal state.” The word “liminal” describes a transition state. The word comes from the
field of anthropology, and it has to do with rites of passage. It’s a good word to know because it
helps us to understand our experience. It’s good to know where we are, so to speak, on our
roadmap, because sometimes life can be very confusing. If you can look at the map and find out
where you are, you can have an overall perspective, you can get a bigger picture, and this
helpful.
In a transition, there is a threshold time, the in-between stage of the transition. You’re not
the person you used to be. But at the same time, you’re not yet the person you will become. You
know, when you walk from one room into another, for example, in your house, you go from the
kitchen into the bedroom, or the hallway into the bathroom. As you go through the door, you step
across a threshold. Sometimes, if you have wood floors, there will be a piece of wood, a trim
piece, with nice, beveled edges, you know, called the “threshold.” That’s what liminal means. A
liminal state means you are standing on a threshold. You are in between two rooms. You are not
in the kitchen, and you are not in the bathroom. It’s no longer winter, but it’s not yet spring. And
so, this is a very interesting thing to look at.
The liminal state, this threshold state, is like an avalanche or a landslide. Everything is
changing and things feel out of control. In the liminal state, there is confusion, ambiguity, and
disorientation. It’s messy. There’s mud everywhere. It’s like mud season, when the ground is not
frozen, and yet, it’s not solid enough to walk on. This is the nature of being in-between. Things
are surreal. You can’t believe this avalanche is happening. And yet, it’s happening.
Our reading from Mark describes a liminal state. In between his baptism and the
beginning of his ministry, Jesus goes into the wilderness for forty days. Mark writes, “And the
Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested
by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.”
The liminal state is not something we want to go through. Notice here, “the Spirit drove
him out into the wilderness.” The threshold space is not a place anyone chooses to be. Rather, it
is a place we are driven. Even Jesus was driven into the wilderness. The in-between place is a
wilderness. Nothing is familiar. Nothing is comfortable. There are devils and wild animals. It’s a
scary place. We don’t want to go there. But we are driven there.
Everything changes, and of course, that’s a very easy thing to say. But when it happens to
you, it becomes quite personal. The avalanche is real. It’s not just an idea anymore. And you are
thrown into the wilderness, into the threshold between two worlds.
Let’s think of some examples of in-between places. Healing from surgery or a broken
bone. Going through a divorce or a career change. Packing up and selling the house. A car
accident. A fire. Chemotherapy. Losing the one person you love most. These are the avalanches
of life and they are all transitional states that force us to change. They are painful, and they are
not places you want to be, but you have to be there. Your life drives you into the wilderness, and
there are devils and wild animals there, and it’s messy, it’s uncomfortable, it’s chaotic.
It’s important to recognize these in-between places because we need to know they will
not last forever. We come through them, and we are not the same person anymore. Even so,
change can be scary. We build a life, and then it falls apart, and we are in the wilderness all over
again. In her time at the window, looking at the snowy mountain, Stevie Nicks said it: “I’ve been
afraid of changing, ‘cause I’ve built my life around you. But time makes you bolder, children get
older, and I’m getting older, too.”

Lent is a time for prayer. We can pray for wisdom to see where we are, to recognize our
thresholds, the places where change is scary, and to recognize the changes we resist the most.
And we can pray for grace to go through the next one, when the next avalanche falls, when the
next landslide takes us down the mountain, whatever it might be. Because grace will lead us
home. Amen? Amen.