Two weeks ago my son and I were at an event where the SWAT team were showing their truck, their drones and robots, and repelling down the side of a building. Part of the event included Santa arriving on the roof and the Grinch showing up and stealing his sack of presents. The Grinch then repelled down the roof and ran around the crowd while the SWAT team followed behind and eventually “took him into custody.”
The kids were told he was “in the vicinity” and to “be on the lookout” so they knew he was coming. It took about 15 minutes after the announcement for the Grinch to gear up and make his appearance. In that moment kids, parents, reporters, staff members, and whomever else were looking around, waiting, and reminding everyone he must be nearby. All adding to the excitement of what was going to happen.
He showed up as promised, took Santa’s sack and climbed down the building. However, once he did show up, perpetrated the theft, and attempted to flee the scene. It seemed like nobody knew what to do. We all knew the SWAT team was coming, yet in the almost chaotic energy the atmosphere sort of hit “pause.” And as time stood still we couldn’t help but feel excitement, uncertainty, and expectation.
Eventually the SWAT officers made it down the building, apprehended the Grinch and put him into a secure vehicle. Don’t worry though. The Grinch’s heart did grow three sizes that day, he changed his ways, and he was given a warning as long as he completed his restitution.
It’s that kind of excitement, uncertainty, and expectation that we can’t help but feel moving into a new year. So much so, that many believers throughout history and today celebrate the tradition and time of worship and prayer called Watch Night.
A time to embrace the hope, uncertainty and expectation found in the in-between.
Long before it became a New Year’s tradition, the early church gathered through the night to pray, repent, and remain awake—remembering Jesus’ command: “Keep awake, for you do not know the hour” (Matthew 24:42). These night vigils were not about fear of the future, but about faithfulness in the present.
In the 18th century, John Wesley sought to “reclaim Watch Night” as a covenant service—a holy pause at the edge of time where believers recommitted themselves to God’s grace. It was never meant to be spectacle; it was meant to be surrender.
And perhaps nowhere is the meaning of Watch Night clearer than in African American history. On December 31, 1862, enslaved people gathered to watch and pray. It was the eve of the emancipation proclamation. Freedom had been declared, but not yet fully realized. Midnight stood between bondage and emancipation.
They worshiped in the in-between—uncertain, vulnerable, yet assured that morning would come.
Watch Night teaches us this truth:
God can and often does God’s deepest work not at arrival or completion, but in the space between.
If we’re honest, we often want nothing more than to rush past the in-between.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus, but often forget the long waiting that followed. The angels depart. The shepherds return to the fields. Rome remains in power. Violence erupts. Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt. And then—silence. Thirty seemingly hidden years. Thirty years of creation waiting.
The psalmist writes,
“I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning” (Psalm 130:6).
I love this because:
A watchman does not create the dawn. They simply remain faithful until it arrives. Their assurance does not come from control, but from trust in what is beyond them.
Waiting in the in-between is not passive. It is attentive presence or assurance.
Jesus and the In-Between Life
Jesus speaks often about waiting, but never with panic.
In Luke 12, He says,
“Be dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.”
The servants are not frantic. They are simply ready. Assurance produces readiness, not fear.
On the night before the cross—another sacred in-between—Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled… I go to prepare a place for you…I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.” (John 14).
Jesus offers assurance not by explaining what comes next, but by promising presence.
John Wesley believed assurance was “the quiet work of the Spirit reminding believers they belong to God.” Assurance did not mean certainty about circumstances—it meant trust beneath uncertainty.
Similarly Karl Barth insisted that faith is rooted not in human confidence, but in God’s self-giving in Christ. “Faith stands or falls with its object.” and
“Loving us, God does not give us something, but Himself; and giving us Himself, giving us His Son, He gives us everything” The perfect infallible object of faith and assurance.
St. John of the Cross described the “dark night” or in-between not as abandonment, but as “a divine, purposeful purification process where God actively draws the soul closer by stripping away attachments to worldly comforts and spiritual consolations, leading to deeper union through faith, even though it(sometimes) feels like darkness and emptiness. It’s a transformative, refining fire (like refining gold) that purges imperfections, enabling a more profound, non-sensory love for God, moving beyond superficial spiritual highs to a profound reliance on faith alone.”
God is often most present where God feels most hidden.
Søren Kierkegaard called waiting the highest form of faith. Anyone can believe after fulfillment; faith is revealed when we remain open before it arrives.
Augustine taught that God exists outside time, holding past, present, and future together. That means the in-between is never empty—it is already filled with God’s presence.
To wait is not to waste time.
To wait is to inhabit time faithfully.
Watch Night gives a name to our shared human condition.
That each one of us exists in some in-between.
We live between grief and healing.
Between prayer and answer.
Between promise and fulfillment.
Hebrews urges us to “hold fast to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Our assurance is not that everything will be resolved quickly—but that God is with us in the unresolved.
Three Ways to Live Faithfully in the In-Between
Well then what do we do in the in-between? When the Grinch was running around it seemed like every kid had a different reaction, some were scared and hid their eyes, some watched, some were entertained, and my son who always seems to have his own take decided to immediately run after the Grinch and grab the stolen sack of toys and detain the Grinch until the proper authorities arrived.
For us, Scripture gives practical wisdom living when we are caught between what has been and what will be.
- Stay Rooted, Not Rushed
“Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.”
—Isaiah 40:31
The temptation of the in-between is urgency—trying to force clarity, closure, or control. But Scripture invites us not to rush ahead of God, nor retreat into the past, but to stay rooted.
Waiting in the biblical sense is not inactivity; it is attentiveness. To wait on the Lord is to lean into God’s timing rather than our own. Roots grow slowly, unseen, before fruit appears. In the in-between, God is often strengthening what cannot yet be seen.
Assurance grows when we stop trying to outrun grace.
- Practice Trust Instead of Certainty
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
—Proverbs 3:5
The in-between exposes how deeply we want explanations. But Scripture does not promise certainty—it promises trustworthiness.
Trust does not require answers; it requires surrender. When we stop leaning on our own understanding, we make room for God’s wisdom to hold us. The mystery remains, but fear loosens its grip.
Assurance is not knowing how things will turn out.
Assurance is knowing who holds the outcome.
- Remain Assured of God’s Nearness
“The Lord is near to all who call on him.”
—Psalm 145:18“25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
—John 14:25, 26
The danger of the in-between is absence—believing God has stepped away until resolution arrives. Scripture tells us otherwise. God is not waiting at the finish line; God is near in the middle.
Presence is the holy discipline of noticing where God already is. When we remain present, we discover that the in-between is not empty space—it is shared space with God.
Assurance deepens when we stop looking for God only in what’s next and begin recognizing God in what is.
Watch Night Spiritual Practice: Being Present in the In-Between
As we approach the turning of the year, and seek to practice presence and assurance, one of the ways I’ve found this achieved is through contemplative practices. There are a few but they don’t have to be complicated. We’re going to end this moment with a short contemplative prayer.
- Grounding
Sit comfortably. Place your feet on the floor. Rest your hands open in your lap. Take three slow breaths.
- Naming the In-Between
Silently name one place in your life where you are between what was and what will be: (some examples might be)
- Graduating but not yet employed
- Retiring but not yet reoriented
- Newly married, still learning how to be “we”
- Newly single after divorce or loss
- Becoming a parent before feeling ready
- Children leaving home (empty nest)
- Starting a new school or job
- Sensing a calling but lacking opportunity
- After a diagnosis, before treatment outcomes
- During recovery, not sick but not whole
- Mental health healing in progress
- Sobriety in early stages
Whatever is on your mind. Do not attempt to fix it. Do not explain it. Simply acknowledge it.
- Receiving Presence
Hear the words of Jesus:
“I am with you always.”
Let those words rest in you.
- Prayer of Assurance
Pray quietly:
“God of the in-between,
Meet me where I am,
Not where I wish to be.
Hold me as I wait.
Teach me to trust Your presence
In this holy space between.”
- Holy Silence
Remain in silence for a moment. Let assurance settle deeper than answers.
- Closing Blessing
As this year ends and another begins,
may we resist the urge to rush.
May we learn to dwell faithfully in the in-between.
And may the God who holds all time
hold us in His peace.
Amen.