Digesting In the In-Between Place

Every virtue stands between two vices – that of excess and deficiency. We must find the mean: the Golden Middle way.

Aristotle, paraphrased from The Nicomachean Ethics 

I grew up in the Episcopal Church, which I loved the same way I loved Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and The Dick Van Dyke Show. You know, the places where all the best theology came from. 

I loved the liturgy, the seasons of the church year and proudly wore my little blue beanie when I sang in the Junior Choir. I was baptized, confirmed and married in that sacred place and served in many areas of church life throughout my adulthood. It is still my home.

The thing I have loved most about it, even in my beanie-wearing days, was the concept of via media – the middle way. Okay, so I didn’t know the Latin term at age five, but I got the concept. 

Via media?

The term was first used by Aristotle, and many centuries later the Anglican Communion adopted it and has always referred to it as “the golden mean.” That doesn’t mean it’s a watered-down compromise reached to keep the peace. 

It’s believed that is where the truth lies. Spiritually speaking that means between rigid, rule-enforcing dogma and the avoidance of all control while we let it all hang out. As my guy Richard Rohr puts it, it’s that place midway between absolute repression and too-quick expression.

You mentioned “digestion”?

Digesting what feels real – which we explored last week – means sitting in the in-between place. 

• Between what we’ve been told is true … and what we’re too afraid to question
• Between repressing doubt … and believing in nothing
• Between rigor … and complacency

As we remain in the uncertainty, the questioning, the pain of letting go, we have a chance to digest. If we binge at a banquet and then become comatose on the couch, it all just gets stuck and never moves. If we inhale at that same banquet and get right up and run a 10K, we’re bound to lose it all. Ah, but if we relax with the after-dinner coffee and then take a nice stroll and see how it feels, the banquet becomes a positive experience. 

You’re gonna explain that, right?

Sure. 

Some among us learned pretty strict, no-room-for- questioning doctrine early on and have never digested it. It has just sat there within and has never been broken down and looked at and tested against what we come to know in our souls about God as we grow.  

Others had life-changing conversion experiences at some point and immediately began to proclaim their visions to all, giving full expression to the emotion of that moment and never going deeper into what it truly means. 

A firm foundation and/or a burning-bush revelation are both wonderful things. They get us started. But neither on its own continues to nourish us as we move forward. 

I’m contending that time spent in via media allows us to fully know what is really real. We don’t have to stuff anything down or keep looking for the next high. We can be quiet with our heaven-sent cappuccino and let the truth meal digest         

And of course, the beautiful thing about digestion is that we don’t control it. Never have I told my esophagus to send that food down to my stomach or force those juices to start doing their thing. 

We only have to come to the feast and rest between courses. Yeah, God’s got this.

This week’s question: How does via media land with you? Does it sound wishy-washy? Too vanilla? Or is it right where you want to be?