As a Spiritual Practice for Holy Saturday I was invited by my church to go on Holy Hike. The original plan, of course, was that we would all hike together. Since that was not possible, I went by myself to the park. I wanted to write about what I had seen but I was afraid I might forget some of it by the time I got home, so I decided to try a Voice Memo. I have not done that before, but it was just like writing in my journal. I thought I would share both here: what I recorded on the walk and my notes when I returned home – my conversation with God.

Here is the transcription of my audio recording:

Today I went to walk in the park and I realized it was 4 years ago when broke my toe. At that time, I had been walking almost every day, not so much for exercise but for time with You as a prayer walk, as a conversation with You. It was when I was feeling my call to ministry. I started recording messages and sharing them, recording in the sense that I would go home after my prayer walk and write down what we had talked about. Sometimes I would share what I had written with others. And then I broke my toe on a early morning walk before church. I was at Parr Park and some adults were playing soccer and their ball came towards me. I felt young and alive and I felt energized and strong, so I went up to kick the ball really hard. I didn’t realize the ball was a weighted ball and I broke my big toe. So, I limped home. In the ‘recovery’ of that I also injured my other foot, broke a different toe, and threw my back out. It has been 4 years since I have been walking in the park in the mornings with You, Lord. In all of that I started journaling. Now I have pages and pages and pages of our conversations. So now today I am out walking and I want a way to combine the two. How do I walk with You and still find a way to record the messages? So, I am trying this Voice Memo. I am not sure how I feel about it. It’s weird to walk through the park talking to yourself. Of course, we all do it maybe just not out loud. We’ll see.

So today on my walk through the park I wasn’t drawn to my normal path through the woods by the river. I was drawn a different way, which seemed odd to me.  So I had my usual argument with You in my mind. Why would I go that way? It feels like it just goes straight to a neighborhood. There won’t be anything to see, or experience. But I am trying to listen, trying to be obedient. So, I followed the nudge and of course You led me to something beautiful. I have lived by Parr Park for almost 20 years and didn’t know this existed. There is liminal space. There is a threshold. There is a ‘Prairie in Progress’: a place where someone was intentional about setting it apart for a different purpose. It is in the area between the park and the neighborhood and it has been set apart. And it looks a little wild but sacred at the same time. It is a lot of different kind of trees, a lot of different grasses, a lot of different kinds of wildflowers. I would imagine a lot of different kinds of bugs, a lot of different kinds of birds. I would imagine that maybe a lot of different kinds of people come through. It is interesting that as I walk along the path between the park and this liminal space, someone else is walking in the grassy area between the liminal space and the neighborhood. We are enjoying different perspectives of this space You have created. And lo and behold, a connector between the two. Someone has mowed a path between the park and the neighborhood through this sacred space that has been created.

I think it may be time to go home, but I don’t know that I am ready. I love that it is only 8am, and I still have a full day. Of what, I don’t know…family I guess. It is interesting to think that today on Holy Saturday, our church has encouraged our congregation and others to go on a Holy Hike since we cannot be together due to Covid-19 and quarantines. So, at this very moment there may be people I know and people I don’t know out experiencing liminal space and the messages of threshold that You might be giving them. Other messages maybe, pertaining to where you’re calling them. It feels to me like you are calling me to the edge, which is a familiar call. I love the coast, the edge of where land hits water. I love a seaside. I love the edge of a meadow. I love the edge of the forest. Even a cliff. When I have the courage to fight that woozy feeling I get when I get too close to the edge, but I’m still drawn to look over to see what begins where something ends.

– What edges or thresholds are you being called to explore today?

Isaiah 43:19 (NIV)
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

My Prayer:
Dear Loving and Faithful God,
Thank you for your call beyond where I would go myself. Thank you for being with me in the liminal spaces of Holy Week and of life.
In Jesus powerful name I pray,
Amen.