The "And so it begins" Series will be a time of remembrance for me... I invite you into my journey.. and I invite you to share yours as well... I love sharing life with a people.. with a genuine, kind, merciful people... I delight in hearing your stories and sharing mine...
Today marks 90 days until our move and I enter into a time of thanksgiving.. a time of remembrance and a time of reflection and rejoicing of all that the Lord has done these 7 years... I start with one of the most precious things that the Lord has added to my life and the life of my family within the time we have spent here in Fort Mill....
She called... My friend called...
"Mims, you.. Jim have to meet them. Have to meet him. Have to come to this church." Her church had just merged with another and she uttered the name, Renovatus.
We hadn't been going to a church in almost four years. It had been a Sabbath of sorts.. a needed break... If I'm honest though I wanted to dismiss what she said, I wanted to deny the way that name landed upon my heart.
It would July 11, 2010 when we would pull into the driveway off of Little Rock rd, and step into a building... step into a community.. step into life....
I have 90 days left within Fort Mill, SC... 90 days before our family transitions to another place that has held within it my heart. I feel the shift. I feel it wherever I go now, wherever I drive, the remembrances of seven years... Some of the next blog posts that come will be these meditations.
That day.. that beautiful South Carolina Summer day, I remember that whole service. I remember where we sat. I remember how it felt. I remember the first worship song I would ever hear there... A hymn that had been playing in my head for months. I would remember a man that made Jim look short getting up to the pulpit and sensing the movements of Holy Spirit would step into and direct the people and the worship team and the moments would
flood with the presence of God.
He would speak on their journey... Their journey of coming into the land that God had promised them.. He would speak on Crossing the Jordan. We as a family had just crossed over the town of Fort Mill, moving from one side to the other.
Tears would flow down over my face as I could feel hope reenter, as I could feel disillusionment with church, with faith, with Christians begin to fall off.... Tears would flow quite continually for those first months... Always sitting in the back right pew. Tears would flow, and chains that had been wrapped around me by religion would fall off.
I would go to a mom's group and connect with some of the most beautiful of women, and I would go to a small group and meet more, our sons would attend youth group and we would once again know what it felt like to be a part of a local expression of Christ. A vibrant local expression of Christ, that implored me to celebrate where I came from and admit my status as liar, dreamer, misfit... We would become members within the first month. The first time I would ever take formal membership within a church. I would know confess I was a liar, dreamer, misfit.. in need of Christ.. in need of hope... in need of home....
On Friday I got a tattoo.. two actually.. but I can't stop smiling every time I look at it.. remembering the hallways.. the journey... the meals, the fellowship, the fun.. remembering the life that this precious Body of believers has birthed back into me....
I have been changed and challenged and cherished... I am becoming more and more and more of all that I was always meant to be... I love the words of the vision statement...
We are a people under renovation. ~ We are in an ongoing process of growth, change and development. We will own up to where we are, but we won’t stay here.
We are a community of liars, dreamers, and misfits. ~ We are a house of mercy. We will advocate for broken and marginalized people everywhere, inside and outside the Church.
We are a people from the future. ~ We act in fearless conviction that the rules have changed and that we are partnering with God to make that change visible. We will not be reactionary to anything or anyone, because the apocalyptic event of resurrection has already transformed the world.
We will build altars in the world. ~ We will collect and tell stories. We will celebrate and honor the people, places and things that God chooses to use.
To the read the complete Renovatus Manifesto you can click: http://renovatuschurch.com/#/about-us/the-manifesto
So these days I am building up altars, I have collected stories and am telling them and will only collect more and more, I celebrate and I honor.. oh my .. I honor... these people, this place, these things that God has chosen to use.... I am in a time of remembrance ... I reflect and I most certainly rejoice.....
Join me.... tell your story... let's walk together... it is such a beautiful tapestry of humanity when we delight in the lives of one another...
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