You may remember, some weeks ago, we were asked to fill in a questionnaire about our thoughts and feelings for the future of our church. Since that time, several groups of people have been working very hard to analyse the answers to the questions posed, and to produce a Vision Statement for St Peter and St Paul for the next five to ten years. Of course, nothing is simple – if you ask 100 people the same question you are quite likely to get 100 completely different answers! However, some amazing work has been done and the ideas are beginning to group together in a logical way. It was hugely encouraging that last week, when one group met, we managed to produce a logical and full statement as a committee – the atmosphere in the group was amazing and for once I was in a committee that managed to produce a horse! (Do you recall the old joke about a camel being a horse that was designed by a committee?)
At the end of the meeting, Janet read us an extract from the Newsletter sent to her by Scargill House, a community and holiday, conference and retreat centre in Yorkshire. I thought it was splendid and asked her if I could share it in Thought for the Week,
“There is a word ‘liminal’, a threshold space moving form one place to another.” Ed Catmull from Pixar writes, “there is a sweet spot between the known and the unknown where originality happens, the key is being able to linger there without panicking.” The Warden, Phil Stone, comments “A Community is always a liminal space, but it can be a place of creativity and growth as lives are shared and transformed with Jesus at the centre and God’s transforming Spirit at work among us.” Richard Rohr writes “…We usually enter a liminal space when our former way of being is challenged or changed. It is a ‘graced’ time but it does not feel ‘graced’ in any way. In such a space we are not certain or in control. The very vulnerability and openness of liminal space allows room for something genuinely new to happen”
As we move forward, we pray that God will bless our deliberations and enable the whole of our church family to move forward in faith and confidence together.
[Jo Spray]