On Dying - Living in the Liminal
Living in the Liminal
Jan’s parents are in the throes of bodily and mental decline. They are dying. This is why we are here; to be with them and support them as they live in the land of in-between.
Liminal space is the term I use to describe their state; they are leaving the life they have known for 97 and 94 years respectively and headed into a new and indestructible life eternal, yet unknown. They are in transit. Daughter and son-in-law are witnesses to what William Butler Yeats colorfully refers to as “a tattered coat upon a stick” (Sailing to Byzantium).
Jan and I are spectators of God’s winnowing in this liminal space. The chaff is being separated from the wheat. The folks are being shaken. What we hear from them is both comforting and disconcerting.
Yet this liminal space is holy ground. Jan and I wish to tread it with reverence, awe, and a learning posture. I am convinced that living a non-anxious life, a joy-filled life, is connected to robust theology. The Bible as God’s revealed truth is the basis for navigating the storms in life that will descend upon us in due time. What Jan’s parents are experiencing in their decline we too will experience.
What is helpful here? It is extremely helpful to know that we are already living in the kingdom of God before we enter the kingdom of God realized. When we pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” we are asking the Father to make the reality of God’s rule operative in our lives today. We live under the dominion of Jesus before we enter the heavenly kingdom of Jesus after death. We experience the joy of living with Jesus now as we will experience it fully, later.
It is helpful to know that entering into the kingdom of heaven is to enter into life. In Matthew chapter 18 these two phrases, to enter the kingdom of heaven (verse 3-4) and to enter life (verse 8) are parallel in meaning. Plus, the word for life in Greek is zoe, not bios. Zoe is eternal life, which is indestructible; where what is seen will be swallowed up (eaten up, consumed) by what it not seen. “So while we are in this tent, we groan under our burdens, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed, so that our mortality may be swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:4). The best is yet to come.
It is comforting to know that our “Father who is in heaven” is here with us now as well. He is at home with the poor in spirit, the humble, those who are surrendered to God and His will. We are not castaways of fate buffeted by the storms of life that are out of our control, but live our days in the good and beautiful presence of the Father. He is the Father that knows what His children are going through and comforts them with his love. We experience God in his goodness in the hardness and confusion of present reality.