A Liturgy for the Threshold of the Unknown: For Waiting Before a Complex Moment

Breathe Deeply, remember the very breath of life which God breathed into his creation flows in you now.
As long as you breathe it, you do so for God’s good pleasure.

Take a moment to slow your body, sit in this moment.
Let your shoulders drop. Let your jaw unclench.
Breathe slowly.

Opening

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1, ESV)

Father,

You are not absent from this kind of moment.

You are not only God of quiet mornings and open Bibles.
You are God of thresholds.
God of paperwork.
God of rooms where decisions are made.

Before I step forward, I stop. I shabbat.

This matters to me.
It carries weight.
It carries consequence.
It could open something. It could close something.

Naming What is Before Me

You know how I can freeze in moments like this.
You know how anxiety can creep in and try to take the wheel.
You know how my mind can rehearse worst case scenarios before anything has even happened.

“Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.” (Psalm 27:3, ESV)

Not because I feel fearless.
But because You are steady.

Asking for Steadiness

“One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4,ESV)

Let that be true for me now.

Let me seek only after You.
Your presence.
Your will.
Where You want me.

Not my outcome.
Not my control.
Not me managing the next things.

Just this. Just you.

Keep me clear.
Keep me honest.
Keep me from defensiveness.
Keep me present in my body.

If questions come, help me answer simply.
If pressure rises, help me stay calm.
If silence stretches, help me not fill it with fear.

Entrusting What I Cannot Control

You hide me in the day of trouble.
In you I am lifted, steadied, grounded.

So I release what I cannot hold. I let go of what I cannot manage.

The tone of the room.
The decisions I cannot see being made.
The outcome outside of my authority.

You are my rock, this result is not.

Trusting in God’s Goodness

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living!” (Psalm 27:13,ESV)

Even here.
Before this moment.
Even in this process.
Before the path bends in ways I did not expect.

Waiting for Courage

Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:14,ESV)

So I wait.

Trying not to be frozen.
Releasing myself from the frantic.
Seeking to be grounded in you.

Stepping Forward

As I step forward, let me do so with steadiness.
Not because I am steady, but because you are.

Step with me.
Step before me.
Stand with me.

You, O Lord, are my light.
You, my King, are my salvation.
You, God, are the stronghold of my life.

Amen.