Thresholds

Hey Christ City, Friday January 23rd, 2025

As I think about this weekend and the “snowpocalypse” headed our way, I’m thinking about everything that will slow or stop in Memphis—cars and commerce, childcare and church, family gatherings and restaurants. I think of all the unsheltered people scrambling for warmth. I think of all the people being hunted by ICE who, ironically, cannot prepare for the literal ice and snow without risking illegal kidnapping and deportation.

As I think about this, it strikes me that in many ways Memphis has been unable to move forward regardless of the weather or who has control of the White House. It seems we are perpetually wandering in the desert on the outskirts of Egypt—a nod to the Bass Pro Shop pyramid. In fact, it was right here at Mason Temple that Dr. King said, “I’ve been to the mountaintop … I’ve seen the Promised Land.” I too feel, along with many others, that there have been moments when we have stood on that same mountain top, Dr. King’s mountain, Moses’ mountain, with a vision of a better, more equitable Memphis (a promised land), yet we have been unable to get there.

Still, something feels different this time. Perhaps we are not on a mountaintop right now, but rather standing at a threshold.

A threshold is literally a plank, stone, or piece of timber that connects one space to another. Once you cross it, you have arrived somewhere new. It is difficult to straddle a threshold because eventually, you’ll get hit by the door. What are the thresholds you find yourself crossing in life—health, relationships, spirituality, community? Perhaps your personal trepidation is not separate from what our city is feeling collectively.

I wonder if Memphis has been struck by the door of indecision far too many times—through repeated failures to cross into new spaces. Will we choose, in this moment, not to keep one foot in the old and decaying logic and beliefs of the past, but instead step into a new and spacious land? --A place of equal civil rights for all, reliable and fast public transportation; well-funded, well-resourced, and desegregated public schools; and safe, non-predatory housing opportunities for all Memphians? 

Time, votes, passion and conviction will tell.

As we settle into a collective state of hibernation, we are given a moment to reflect on where we find ourselves. As you imagine crossing into new rooms of life—full of unknowns, heartache, celebration, joy, and despair—take heart, knowing that life is made of such things and that the Spirit of God meets us readily in the unknown and in the depths of our hearts. Life is best lived in an expansive house of change and growth.

It is time for us to grow—and for Memphis to grow along with us. I pray that the expansive heart of God would meet us at each threshold we steady and ready ourselves to cross, and that we, along with Memphis, would lean heart-first into a new and expansive future—unfettered by ICE and undeterred by snow.

-Jamin Carter

Directional Pastor of Christ City Church