Living in the “In-betweenness” of Easter

We are all “in-between”.  In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul writes this: “creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:22).

I’ve been pondering this “in-betweenness” in the world lately.  All of us are somewhere between Good Friday—death, and Easter— resurrection.  You see it so much as you read the resurrection stories in the Bible.

Mary, for  instance, clinging to Jesus at the tomb.  Is that Mary stubbornly clinging to the way things were?  Unwilling to embrace the “not yet” of tomorrow, like so many of us?

This last week, a friend of mine, writing about this “in-betweenness” of life, suggested that during this Easter season we should all remember that Easter is a process…that all of us are in the process of becoming.  He shared that during Easter we might want to observe other places in our world that are in the “in-between” stages of resurrection.

He calls these “in-between” places “thresholds”.

One of my favorite thresholds is the nursery tree.  A new tree spring forth out of an old decaying stump.  New life springing forth!

As I watch for the thresholds around me, many people in my faith community enter my heart.  So many of us in the process of dying to the old and embracing something new.  Many of us struggling with it…just like Mary.

This week Cyndy and I are up in Banff, BC! Wes’s girlfriend, Madison, was invited to share in a month-long artist in residency workshop in learning indigenous practices used in clothing design. For her presentation, Madison, shared this dress made from a “scrip” from her family of origin. The scrip system was implemented in Manitoba in the 1870s, in the North-West in the 1880s, and in conjunction with treaties 8 and 10 in northern regions, according to a 2025 post on scaa.sk. It was the primary means of extinguishing Métis Aboriginal title in Canada until the 1920s.

Madison shared this dress as a way of expressing her in-betweeness as an indigenous person. She was sharing the pain of the old and the hope of the new and not yet. She was expessing a defiant “we will rise” into a history that tried to say otherwise! A beautiful and courageous piece, indeed! Easter takes both! This month has been a threshold moment for Madison. She, indeed, is rising! And this community in Banff has surounded her with strength and encouragement.

At the end of his sharing, my friend shared this prayer. As I read it a peace and calmentered the in-between places in my soul. I felt covered by God’s grace.

For Those Living at the Threshold

Holy Presence,

When our trusted maps fail us,

When the ground shifts and cracks beneath our feet,

Teach us to trust in what we cannot yet see.

Root us in love that endures beyond endings.

Awaken us to the tender green shoots rising through the rubble.

Shape us into people who do not flee the dark,

But who carry light, even here, even now.

Amen.

Your friend and pastor, hoping we can all learn to carry the light together, Brook