liminality and the neverlocal
Paul had his thorn in the flesh,
I have this lousy continuously intermittent feels-like-a-sprained-ankle but not quite right ankle.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking how the Church, visible and otherwise,
is made up of people who would not come together otherwise,
were it not for a common faith – not even for a sporting event
or a political rally.
The twenty dollar word for this is liminality.
It’s not an entirely foreign word to most of us;
the term preliminary has the same Latin root
(limen – a threshold).
Liminality has three stages: (Wikipedia quote follows)
With examples from a college graduation ceremony.
First or preliminary stageThis change is accomplished by separating the participants from their usual social setting.
The students are first separated from the rest of their community,
both by gathering together and by wearing distinctive clothing.The liminal stage
A period during which one is “betwixt and between”, “neither here nor there”.
When the ceremony is in progress, the participants are no longer students
but neither are they yet graduates. This is the distinctive character of liminality.The final or postliminal stage
A period during which one’s new social status is confirmed, and reincorporation occurs.
Upon receiving his or her diploma, the student officially becomes a college graduate.
The dean and professors shake the student’s hand in congratulation,
giving public recognition to the student’s new status as a person with a college degree.
Another example of liminality cited is the pilgrimage,
where upper, middle, and lower classes all have the common status of pilgrims
instead of their previous socioeconomic roles.
This ties into what I’ve been processing as of late,
as I’ve been reading A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
which refers to the Song of Ascents
the pilgrims to Jerusalem sang as they went up to the feasts.
I’ve come up with a word I’ve used sparingly in this blog before,
but I’d like to refine its definitition somewhat (or hopelessly muddle it – you be the judge).
The word is neverlocal.
By neverlocal, I mean the distinct conviction that you’re
an outsider no matter where you are, even (and especially)
when you’re somewhere you have every right to call home.
In essence, a seemingly perpetual liminal stage.
This has its benefits, mostly in not giving a rat’s arse
about what passes for the crucial events of the day -
mostly bleed-leading studies in fear induction, celebrity trivia,
and the three ring circus that is partisan political discourse.
I don’t know if neverlocal adds something to the conversation
or is just my own version of Bucky Fuller’s word Dymaxion -
I guess time will tell…