There’s a scene in Alice in Wonderland when Alice objects that you can’t believe in impossible things. The Red Queen responds: “I daresay you haven’t had much practice… Why sometimes I’ve believed in six impossible things before breakfast.” The angel in the story of the Annunciation invites Mary to believe in impossible things. Certainly that was experienced most acutely in becoming pregnant even though she was a virgin. But the angel also wanted her to believe that her poor, battered people surrounded by mighty empires would also fulfill its destiny as the place where God’s kingdom will have no end. The angel concludes: “nothing will be impossible for God.” As people of faith we believe that God can do the impossible for me and my family and restore us to health and wholeness. And also we believe that God can even make our crazy messed up world reflect the kingdom of God, a place of peace and justice. Nothing is impossible for God!
