Thresholds, Week 2: Trusting in the In-Between
Exodus 16:1-4 (NIV)
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
Exodus 17:1-7 (NIV)
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Discussion Questions
William Bridges distinguishes between change (external, what happens to us) and transition (internal, how we accommodate to change). Think of a major change in your life. How long did the internal transition take — and was it longer or shorter than the change itself?
Bridges’ list of what happens in the “neutral zone” — rising anxiety, old weaknesses emerging, mixed signals, increased conflict, eroding trust — is strikingly specific. Which of those have you experienced personally in a season of transition, and what got you through it?
The biggest temptation in the neutral zone, the sermon said, is to go back to the way things were — even when “the way things were” wasn’t actually that great. Where have you idealized a past season that wasn’t as good as memory makes it feel?
Jeff Manion wrote that complaint and faith are “incompatible roommates” — one will eventually push the other out. Do you agree? And where does lament fit in that picture — how do you distinguish between lament that holds onto God and complaint that pushes him away?
Pastor Dave described a period when he felt like he’d lost his faith — and later realized it wasn’t gone; it was changing. An old framework was breaking down to make room for something new. Have you ever been through that kind of faith transition? What came out on the other side?
The sermon asked: Where are you finding daily manna? What is God using right now to remind you that you are still seen, loved, and sustained — even if the bigger picture still feels unresolved?
Brad Griffin’s framework named two kinds of threshold rituals — rites of separation (saying goodbye) and rites of incorporation (saying hello). Think of a threshold you’ve crossed. Did you have a ritual to mark either end of it? What was it — and if you didn’t, what do you wish you’d had?
The life jacket illustration landed as a simple act of commitment that made turning back feel psychologically harder. What is one small act of faith — one “throw the life jacket” moment — you could take this week to lean into whatever threshold is in front of you?
The sermon closed with the old hymn: “I have decided to follow Jesus — no turning back.” Is there a threshold in your life right now where you’re still deciding? What’s holding you at the top of the cliff?
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