New Beginnings

Since nearly the beginning of my ministry at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ in South Portland, Maine, I’ve shared my thoughts with the wider internet congregation at Beautiful Beacon. (This blog has now been deleted.)  I have had readers that attend other churches on Sundays and readers that don’t go to church. I bump into people in Portland who innocently tell me, “Oh, I read your blog,” to my shy dismay.

It was never something I expected. The words that appear there were thoughts I intended to share with the people I serve in South Portland — but now, I’m realizing that I have more to say. It shouldn’t be a surprise. I’m called to be a preacher of the gospel. I have lots of words rattling around in my head. I have lots of ideas that I want to share with others. So, this is a new start at the ministry of blogging.

In this space, I hope to share those impossible thoughts in my head. I can assure you that there are more than six. There are many more than six. The repeated use of this phrase in the recent Alice in Wonderland film gave me pause. I watched it on a flight home from attending a friend’s wedding in France. Again and again, Alice repeated these words. Her father encouraged her to consider six impossible things — though the actual quote from Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass falls upon the lips of the White Queen. Her challenge is not to consider six impossible things. It is to believe them. She did it once. When she was young. When she was Alice’s age. Maybe that’s the challenge. To remain young enough to believe the impossible is always possible.

I don’t know. But, that’s my hope in this space. It’s to wonder about ministry. It’s to challenge the impossibility of our faith — surely ministry is always about trying to believe impossible things. By faith, we claim that a camel can go through the eye of a needle. It’s impossible to our limited human imaginations — but to God, all things are possible. I want to believe that. I want to live it in all of my words.