11/30/25 Living in the Holy In-Between
“Living in the Holy In-Between”
I want to start with something funny that I found on an internet site: A couple moved to a new neighborhood. One morning, the wife looked out the window and saw their neighbor washing clothes. “I think they don’t know how to wash,” she said to her husband. “Their clothes are so dirty. I’m sure they didn’t use detergent.” Week after week, it was the same—dirty clothes, the same comment.
Then one morning, the clothes looked perfectly clean. She exclaimed, “Finally, they learned how to wash!” Her husband smiled and said, “I got up early and cleaned our windows.”
We all have windows through which we see the world—our mindsets, biases, and life principles. Sometimes, those windows need cleaning. We are called to see through a God-centered mind, as if wearing the glasses of Christlikeness. When we do, we see the world, people, and events differently. Paul writes, “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). Advent is a perfect season to renew our faith—like cleaning the windows of our hearts.
Dear Family in Christ, today we begin Advent. Advent begins a new Christian Lectionary year. Advent starts in the dark—shorter days, longer nights. Into that darkness, the church lights a single candle: the candle of Hope. Hope is small, almost fragile, yet it begins the whole season—a promise that a greater Light is coming.
And this year, we celebrate something special in our church: our Prayer Shawl Ministry, which began during Advent 2021. With yarn, needles, and prayer, we hoped God would use these stitches to wrap someone in comfort, peace, love, and Christ’s light. Grantsburg UMW invited women to knit together. Some were experienced; some, like me, were complete beginners. Paulie Kratchmer taught us how to knit and explained the meaning of the shawls.
Yet God has done more than we imagined. Since 2021, we’ve created 87 shawls, with 13 more ready to go. Each shawl brings hope, comfort, and prayer—literally wrapped in Christ’s light.
In Matthew 24, Jesus tells us that no one knows the day or hour of His return—not the angels, not even the Son—only the Father. His point is simple: we live between two comings—Christ’s first coming in Bethlehem and His coming again in glory. All Christian life is in this “holy in-between.” We are not waiting for God to start working—we are waiting expectantly for God to finish what He has already begun. Jesus calls us not to fear, but to hope. Not to predict the future, but to stay awake and live faithfully.
Hope is not passive. It is active. It is lived out in ordinary acts:
- Choosing kindness when it’s easier to withdraw
- Praying for someone when we don’t know what to say
- Forgiving when we could hold on to hurt
- Serving even when we’re tired
- Making space in our hearts for Christ’s love
When our Prayer Shawl Ministry began at the advent season in 2021, we didn’t know where it would go. We only knew: people needed hope, comfort, peace, joy, and love—and Christ was calling us to wrap them in something that carried His light.
Each shawl begins the same way: one loop, one stitch. Advent begins the same way: one candle. Our lives of faith begin the same way: one act of love, one prayer, one moment of obedience, one step toward Christ.
Dozens of shawls. Dozens of people who have felt God’s presence—in grief, in illness, in surgery, in loneliness, in new beginnings, in celebrations, in baptism, in confirmation, and more. People have said:
- “I felt God holding me.”
- “It reminded me I’m not alone.”
- “Every stitch felt like a prayer.”
- “I feel very warm.”
This ministry is an Advent ministry—a ministry of hope in the holy in-between.
Jesus tells us to “keep awake.” That doesn’t mean anxious waiting—it means living with expectant faith. Hope is waiting that works love. Prayer shawls do exactly that: they are hope stitched into shape, prayers you can touch, reminders that Christ is near. In a world that waits with fear, the church waits with hope.
What are we wrapping the world with?
God may ask us:
- How will you live in the holy in-between?
- What will you wrap the world with?
- Will you wait in fear, or with hope?
Maybe you won’t knit yarn—but you can knit kindness, stitch encouragement, weave forgiveness, sow peace, offer love. Each act of compassion is a stitch, and together they create something beautiful—something that warms, comforts, and brings Christ’s light.
As we enter Advent, we celebrate small beginnings: a baby in a manger, a candle in the dark, a first stitch on a prayer shawl, a ministry that grew into a blessing. We live between Christ’s first coming and His coming again, but we do not live empty-handed. We live with hope: hope that God is with us, hope that Christ is coming again, and hope that every small act of love matters in His kingdom. And just like that first candle, hope may seem small—but it is enough to begin. Thanks be to God. Amen!