An Ecotone is a transitional area between two ecosystems, containing characteristics of both. Teeming with life that is mingling with other species from ecosystems different from their own, it is also a space where new plant and animal species are birthed. Often found where one body of water meets another (think lagoons) you can find creatures adapted to salt water merging with fresh water, adapting to a new way of being. It's an ecological wonder. But it is just as theologically rich...the space where our creator God continues to speak new life into being. A place where kairos moments are born and, if we're open, new experiences, life, and possibilities are revealed.
In John 6:31, the crowd tells Jesus "Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness" and Jesus replies "Very truly I tell you...it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world....I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."
When looking at the Greek tense, scripture tells us "manna" is not simply a story that resides in Israel's past, but is an ongoing gift of God in the present. God's liberating power was not something confined to the past but claimed as a present action. Manna is a present tense gift from God, a life giving power that originates in heaven and comes to us through Christ.
In the kingdom of God's ecotone, people are fed and nourished in the present by manna from heaven...giving us new life here and now. Taking us to a new ecosystem. A place where heaven and earth become one through the ONE. Characteristics of both, with Ruach breathing new life into being before our eyes...using our minds and bodies to bring the witness into LIFE. Creating kairos moments where we ourselves are evolving into something new. We have characteristics of what we once were, mixing with the beauty of God's creation, and seeing within ourselves that we are being made new.
One could argue that in God's kingdom, we are always living in an ecotone, witnessing a powerful kairos time. It's a "now and not yet" time-- and to be clear, not the kind of "now and not yet" that encourages sitting in the back waiting....instead, in the kingdom of God, something powerful, life creating, and shifting is occurring. The previous fresh water ecosystem of our lives can't support the new life being formed in the salty water. But the new species isn't built for the open ocean either. So something new is being nourished and emerging. And it happens before our eyes...
In the ecotone of ministry and what God's WORD is speaking into a new creation.
In the ecotone of hearing scripture in ways that allow manna to communally nourish us after a period of individual separation
In the ecotone of deeper relationships that wildly demand God's call for justice for all people.
Unexpected. Holy. Awe inspiring.
All this because God's story is not something confined to the past, but something active and alive in the very presence of our lives.
We weren't "liberated" in some past time and place--we are BEING liberated
From the insecurities, false narratives, broken relationships, former hurts, and lost dreams that LIMIT the full proclamation of the Gospel.
In this ecotone, the Bread of Life LIVES into the promise that we will never hunger or thirst in the desert of despair. We are not forever trapped in the valley of isolation. Our home is not built on the hillside of broken dreams. Instead God's promise is we are never thirsting. We are never hungry...In this ecotone, God is taking us from those places of loss and hurt and lifting us ALL into a newly evolved LIFE in Him.
Being open to seeing the life evolving in the ecotone of God's kingdom (not a metaphorical one...the one RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW) allows for transformation, connection and hope.
When things are NOT in times of radical transition, as we are now in this After Time of Covid,
The willingness to proclaim isn't as urgent.
Speaking radical truths of God's justice feels unsettling.
The desire to be cocreators with our creator God languishes.
But when the fresh water becomes a little salty, we thirst for the waters that flow from above. The manna is broken and shared NOW so we don't miss the moment.
It is when we know we are dwelling in an ecotone of abundant joy that the urgency to receive every gift from the Bread of LIFE grabs hold.
So live into THIS ecotone. Live into the LIFE God is creating. Feast on the manna and water of life that flows from above....
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