Almost five years. In March of 2016 Serenity Corner planted itself at our current location on the corner of Rockwall and Grove in Terrell, TX. We decided to follow Jesus’s example of “moving into the neighborhood” (John 1:14 MSG). We had a desire and a vision but it was smaller than what it has become.
We came to help and to serve and we have become the recipients of grace and deep kinship from so many. We have experienced and are experiencing the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi:
“Make me an instrument of Your Peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow Love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy:
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to Love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen”
This journey has included laughter, tears, joy, heartbreak, excitement, and disappointments. Which has been greater? I would say the scale is balanced. That’s life. Has it been easy or hard? Yes. We need balance. Balance is the even distribution of weight in order to do what needs to be done. We pray for miracles and the greatest one we’ve experienced is the realization that where ever we stand Heaven is under our feet. The Kingdom of God is in us and the Spirit of Christ moves us to reveal His Kingdom.
This journey has also been joined by some deeply loving and committed congregations: Faith Fellowship, First United Methodist Church Terrell, First Christian Church Terrell, Good Shepard Episcopal Church Terrell, West End Church of Christ, and Colquitt Road Church of Christ, and The Rock Church Terrell. They have provided food, clothing, hygiene products, and blankets. They have volunteered time and contributed funds. They have reached out with Love and Compassion.
We welcome all who come our way. Not everyone that we have met are homeless or unemployed. We are a vital mix of rich and poor, educated and uneducated, strong and weak. We are a family from different places, different experiences, and different lifestyles. We are a family that doesn’t look alike, talk alike, or dress alike. We are a family.
And that is the Call. To become a family. To become one even as The Father and Son are One. To Love one another. Not just those who are like us. The only way our joy can be complete is by letting God’s Joy be in us as we Love one another.
This is the Season we consciously pause to remember that Christ moved into our neighborhood. He came and showed what a human is supposed to be. He provokes us to give unselfishly and generously. He died so that our sinfulness payment would be paid. He arose so that we could receive His Spirit because God in us is better than just God around us. He did this and now we can receive and experience each other as Brothers and Sisters.
We are Family.