Rev. Jocelyn Emerson addresses the profound concept of liminality—those threshold moments between what was and what will be—through the lens of First Plymouth’s six-year journey through multiple transitions. She illuminates three essential spiritual shifts required for navigating these in-between spaces: moving from knowing to unknowing, from advocating to attending, and from striving to surrender. Like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, these liminal seasons invite us to release our grip on familiar patterns and trust divine guidance.
The sermon draws powerful parallels between ancient biblical narratives and contemporary spiritual challenges, particularly through the story of Lazarus. This account demonstrates the transformative power of unknowing—where Martha and Mary had to release their understanding of death’s finality to witness resurrection’s possibility. The message challenges our reliance on past experiences and proven methods, instead inviting us into a deeper trust in divine mystery.
Don’t touch the river. Don’t try to control it… Trust the movement of God that it is going to take us where we need to go. If we can unknow all of those mechanisms that we learned to make sure that if we’re floating down a river, we don’t run into rocks… God is inviting us to not do that, but to fully be that stick, that leaf that floats down the river, trusting the current, trusting that it will get wherever it needs to go, and not worrying about how it got there.
This profound metaphor of floating down a river illustrates the essence of spiritual surrender. Rather than fighting against life’s current or attempting to avoid every obstacle, we are called to trust the flow of divine guidance. This requires a radical unknowing of our accumulated wisdom and control mechanisms, allowing ourselves to be carried by a wisdom more significant than our own. The message reminds us that in our most uncertain moments, our greatest strength may lie in our willingness to let go and trust the sacred current that carries us.
