Glitter though dust - discerning the Spirit

 Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Living through a pandemic has changed many things in our world - locally and globally. And we are all still learning how to be in a world that we could never have imagined, in a culture that is still unfolding.

When Path of Renewal was launched 6 years ago, as a 3 year pilot project, the focus was not so much on change, which is inevitable, but on accompanying people through transition - the emotional and psychological responses to change. 6 years on, the effect of that work has been borne out in the ability of folk grounded and sustained by communal spiritual practices to respond to a global pandemic with the resilience built up by learning to discern God’s will and purpose in all our differing contexts and to respond to the invitation of God to live generously in the world

Matthew 10:6-8

Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

Colleagues have continued to meet together to support and encourage one another through difficult times and to continue that hard work of continuing to discern - What now, God? Who are we being called to be in a new era? How best can we be with hurt and broken people in the communities we are called to serve?

As I have worked with others in discernment, my own discernment is that the next part of this journey is not mine to lead. One of the aspects of the role that I have most enjoyed is creating community and a supportive, prayerful network of workers together in the vineyard, some who got on board early, some who arrived later, all of whom have a vital role to play. Fostering collegiality that is not competitive but that recognises the vast range of gifts and skills we bring to the table that has room for all and caring for the individual worker remains a passion of mine. And the calling to continue to offer individuals and communities space to care for themselves as they care for others is the work that I will take forward.

Liminal spaces - between trapezes- have always called to me with their sense of now AND not yet. That sense of taking a deep breath, diving deep and, with eyes wide open in wonder and awe, travelling through murkiness before emerging to take another breath… remaining alert not just to where we might be going but to the sights and sounds and edges and opportunities along the way - and finding the energy to keep on going, fuelled, not only by the companionship of God but also by the accompaniment of other persistent pilgrims who do not retreat from darkness or avoid the challenges of light when it comes.

Matthew 10:10

You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.

Here’s to the next stage of being beloved of God - in all our crazy messy glory - created in dust, immersed in glitter!

Liz Crumlish now offers Pastoral and Cross Professional Supervision and Education and may be contacted at lizcrumlish13@gmail.com

She recently co- authored with Michael Paterson  Pastoral Supervision: Creativity in Action 

The space between - quarantine

Jeremiah 29:1,4-7

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles in Babylon
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 

The prophet Jeremiah is given a message to take to the exiles in Babylon - Gods people - driven from their own land, taken into captivity and forced to live in a foreign culture. These were people wondering how to be the people of God in a foreign land, wondering how long they will remain in captivity and how they can ever maintain some sort of identity as the people of God when removed from all that is familiar to them. The message Jeremiah proclaims is one of encouragement to put down some roots where they find themselves:
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.
The message to these people is that their business is not to mark time. It's not about holing up and waiting for release, waiting for things to get better. Their business is to LIVE where they are - in the midst of death and destruction.
Although they find themselves in a border land not of their choosing, their task is to discover God in that place with them.
And - To affect the culture in which they find themselves, to make a difference right where they are.
Is it too incredible to imagine that a message written some 2,500 years ago to Gods people in exile has any relevance for the people of God today?
Scattered as we are, locked out of our normal meeting places, devoid of many of the tools with which we normally practice faith, our task, no matter how irrelevant or how marginalised we perceive ourselves to be is to find new ways to positively affect the culture around us.
And to remember and discover anew that it is often in the margins, under stress, that creativity comes to the fore.
I’m not sure that that’s all about taking what we do on a Sunday morning behind sometimes locked doors online. Or about planning how we get everyone safely back into our buildings and what we’ll do there when we emerge. Of course that may be part of it but not at the expense of actually connecting with and impacting the community and the culture around us in the midst of lockdown.

A word I loved to use when I worked in Hospital Chaplaincy is liminal.
For me, that word described perfectly the interface in which I often found myself working - encompassing faith and ritual and tradition and superstition - straddling the chasm that folk often felt when their experience of life and faith to date no longer accommodated the place they found themselves in the landscape of illness - their own or that of a loved one.
That place where there were no easy answers - or any answers at all.
Liminal - a place of transition, a border land.
According to the fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia: “During liminal periods of all kinds, social hierarchies may be reversed or temporarily dissolved, continuity of tradition may become uncertain, and future outcomes once taken for granted may be thrown into doubt.“

In the liminal space in which we find ourselves, locally and globally today, how and where are we finding and signposting God in the midst?
And how is the God we glimpse sitting beside us calling us to be authentic people of faith, a people continually on the move - not simply waiting until we can safely get everyone back in the building and continue where we left off, but a people called to practice faith where we are - listening to the voices of those around - those who are thriving through pandemic restrictions and those whose worst nightmares are coming to fruition? Listening so that we can straddle the gaps with all those in very different places.


The natural human response is to resist liminality and to strive backward to the old familiar identity, or forward to the unknown identity. The ambiguity and disorientation are at times so heightened that the very work required to move forward becomes impossible to engage.
Susan Beaumont: How to lead when you don’t know where you are going







That sounds just about right for the church right now.
There are, inevitably, those who are simply waiting, however long it takes, for things to “get back to normal”. And others, who see possibilities to change everything. And still others who are experiencing such disillusionment with the institutional church, along with systems of justice and government that any way beyond the mess we’re in seems impossible.

Perhaps our task is not so much to learn how to be in a new normal or to plan for a changed future but to listen and listen well - to God and to our community - so that we might discern how to engage with those we are called to be alongside now, seeking prosperity in this land in which we are all exiles.
Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.