Saturday’s Star Tribune had an interesting article about three south Minneapolis churches who worked together to solve the problem of aging buildings that were keeping them from doing the ministry they wanted to do. It is a common problem across the nation. Buildings built when pews were full of people. People who were able to support these churches in financial ways that are now more difficult. These buildings are now at a point of needing repairs, are not fuel efficient, and are home to fewer people with less income. You easily see the problem.

So, when faced with deteriorating buildings and vital, yet smaller, congregations these three communities came together to become something new. It was a courageous act. They are now sharing a newly renovated building with three varied worship spaces. Attached is affordable housing and space for retail. In describing the process they engaged in to create this trio of communities, one of the clergy said: “It took a lot of holy imagination. We didn’t know where we were going or what would happen.”

I smiled all over myself when I read those words. Holy imagination! I think of the times when I have been caught up in the fervor of holy imagination. Those times when the Spirit dances through some idea or conversation and surprises me beyond belief. It is always a time when I have no idea where I might be going or what might happen. I love it!

Thinking about the holy imagination it took for three different congregations from three distinct denominations to come together in this way seems remarkable. In order to create this ‘something new, I would imagine that each had to make compromises and let go of some things that in other times they would have thought to be non-negotiable. Two of the communities left the land on which they had built traditions and called home, buildings in which they had at one time made their mark in their neighborhood. All three released worship space that had held some of the most profound experiences of the congregation’s lives…..births, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals.Each community had to commit to memory, and I am sure a few well-honored photographs, the special events that had shaped their communal life.

When we agree to let Holy Imagination guide our actions, it almost always requires letting go. It also requires being open in ways that can be scary, practicing deep listening, being able to unclench our fists and our hearts. Holy Imagination will almost always take us places we only could glimpse out of the corner of our eye until the very moment when we say ‘yes’. Yes to being swept up in the Spirit’s movement and yes to not having all the control over every detail. It is my experience that Holy Imagination is never far away. Our work is to still ourselves long enough to feel its breeze blow through our words, our actions, our dreams. Our work is to be present and willing to let go of control long enough to see what might happen without our pushing and prodding. It is not easy. But, from my experience, it is always worth it.

Are there places in your life that could use a little holy imagination? My prayer is that Holy Imagination continues to bless these congregations in their new spaces and that this same Spirit move through all our lives, taking us places we never thought possible, helping us do things that will amaze us.