Liminal Football

I know very little about football, but I do know wisdom and a good sermon when I hear it, and Dr. Keith Anderson brought both to Boise First today.  A former Boise State Bronco and current educator on racism, Dr. Anderson accepted my invitation to join me today for a conversation about Black History Month and ways the church can address racism.  He gave us all that, and more.

I asked him the same three questions I asked Cherie Buckner-Webb and Cedric Minter in previous weeks.  They also gave excellent answers by challenging us to consider how we could use our privilege to make a difference (Cherie) and how shaping attitudes about racism begins in the home (Cedric).  But Keith took the question in a different direction - he took us to the football field.

When asked what the church could do to address the question of racism in our community, he told us that the church was like a football team that was on the field; it hears the plays called by the coaches up in the box, but then sits back and admires the beauty of the plays being called from "on high" - without ever executing them.  He reminded us that it wasn't enough to hear the plays called and admire them - we had to execute them.  We know what needs to be done, and now we have to do it, and execute the plays like a team.

There are things you are free to say when you are visiting a church that the home pastor struggles to say (they need to be said by an outside voice).  Today Keith spoke some very important truth that was important for Boise First to hear.  I often refer to myself as the coach instead of pastor, as I struggle to find ways to motivate the church to function as a team, instead of a collection of talented and highly independent individuals.  His words today were a gift to the church, and to me.

God spoke loud and clear today through the voice of a guest, who I hope will become a friend.  How perfect that on Transfiguration Sunday, when I started talking about those "thin, liminal spaces" where God breaks through unexpectedly, we should have the experience of God doing just that - breaking through unexpectedly.  It made it a joy to sing the closing hymn  "I've Got A Feeling Every Thing's Gonna Be Alright."  And I do - for surely God is in the midst of it all!

Are you part of something larger than yourself - are you part of a team that is working together to bring God's love, compassion, mercy, peace and justice into the world?   Are you paying attention and listening for the unexpected ways God may choose to speak in your life?  It is so worth staying open to those thin places...that liminal space...that Holy Ground where we encounter God unexpectedly!

With gratitude,
Kim