In The In-Between, He Restores My Soul
(Psalm 23)
(Leader: This guide is written so you can read it aloud like a “script” with the intent to serve and resource you. Anywhere you see parentheses and “Leader:” is an attempt to give you helpful guidance or tips.)
Sermon Recap
In this four-week series In The In-Between, He Restores My Soul, we are attempting to do some centering or re-centering work as a church family. In this series we are asking three questions: 1) What situation do we find ourselves in? 2) What might God want to do or say?, and 3) What might it look like to open ourselves up to this?
This series is not a “vision series” in the sense of corporate strategy. However, we do think it is ceremonial in a way—an opportunity to honor the past, believe in the future, and breathe into the present. In this sermon series, we are invited to have an open conversation as a family, and to join in—stewarding our gifts, roles, and lives together.
This week we begin with the first two questions:
What situation do we find ourselves in? Refuge was planted in 2015. We stumbled along. It was difficult and it was good. Eight years later, in February of this year, our Founding Lead Pastor, Ryan, announced his resignation. His final Sunday at Refuge was in June. We now find ourselves in the in-between organizationally, but also as a community. Many of us are longing to go deeper into relationships and into who we are called to be as the people of God.
Some call this liminal space—a threshold, sacred space, but an uncertain transition, “on the precipice of something new.” Liminal space often looks like an “ending,” but it is actually a “line in the sand.” It is a graced time, an opportunity for transformation.
What might God want to do or say? Psalm 23 says: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want / He leads me beside the still waters [waters of rest] / He restores my soul; / He leads me on right paths for His name’s sake.” In the in-between, we can look to Psalm 23:1-3, centering ourselves on the work of God. God is available to lead, shepherd and restore our souls.
Practices for Tonight
We are going to do our best to make our way through each movement of discussion below. As always, we will do our best to listen to one another and to the Spirit. If the conversation lingers in a meaningful way somewhere, I (the leader) will try not to force it onward.
What about the idea of liminal space (or the in-between) resonated with you most? How do the in-between times in the Old Testament (Exodus and Exile) connect (or disconnect) you to the idea of liminal space?
Share from your present experience(s), What situation do I find myself in now? What has the in-between place we have been in as a church been like for you? In your personal life, are you (1) currently in, (2) coming from, (3) or maybe headed into an in-between time or liminal space? How are you feeling about it or navigating that reality?
Focus on Psalm 23:1-3: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want / He leads me beside the still waters [waters of rest] / He restores my soul; / He leads me on right paths for His name’s sake.” When it comes to the idea of restoration, can you identify your longing? Where are you longing for restoration in your life? In our church? In our city?
Keeping in mind the phrase line in the sand and the story of Jesus: the triumphal entry, Passover, betrayal, death, and then Resurrection. What is drawing your attention or what do you notice? What might God want to do or say to you?
Close your time in prayer
(Leader: You may decide between 2 different prayer time options based on how things have progressed)
(Option 1)
Prayer Requests. Are there any prayer requests people have this week? Let’s go around sharing any we may have, then we’ll take time to pray for each other.
(Option 2)
Listen & Respond. As we close our time in prayer, we will invite the question: How might God be calling me to respond to what has been shared tonight? We will start with a minute or so of silence, listening for God’s voice and/or what is stirring within. Then I will break the silence by inviting you to share “as prayer” in 1 to 3 words what might be surfacing as your response to God. After we’ve had some time to share, I will close that time in prayer.
Practice for the Week
Some time in your week, alone or with a friend, read the poem below that David read aloud during the sermon. As you read, listen for what portion of the poem, stanza, or phrase is stirring your heart and standing out to you. Spend time meditating on that portion, stanza or phrase. You may wish to journal what you are noticing or share with a friend what God might be speaking to you. Allow this time to be an offering of prayer to the Lord.
a blessing for when you need a new dream
by Kate Bowler (view here)
God,
the old dream has died now,
and I really miss it.
O God help me let it go,
comfort me,
and give me a new one.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 7:11 ESV
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
In the shadow of Your wings
I will make my refuge,
until these calamities have passed by.
Psalm 57:1 NKJV
Blessed are we who are not trying to pretend,
who pour out our sadness and our longings,
naming the losses that we have suffered,
the things we can’t get back
the dreams that with heavy finality
have declared themselves over and done.
Blessed are we,
lifting each of them up to You, saying:
God, take the weight of all this,
the whole burden of loss
help me breathe more easily,
think more clearly, move more freely,
and somehow find a way to build again.
And in the meantime,
shelter me, strengthen me,
until I am whole again, a being intact
whose very agency gives you praise.
Blessed are we, who look to the horizon
watching for the low and long
and slow advent of dawn,
with gentler eyes and deeper breath,
who notice that just outside
the anteroom of the soul
there is a call that suddenly comes again
from sideways, as usual, bringing release.
It is something.
not easier, but simpler.
A place to stand on the borderlands
of possibility and peace.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
God sees you. pray for what you need.
and go get ‘em tiger.
But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
Psalm 3:3 ESV
