Once upon a time in a city not so far away there was a big old, tried and true traditional Protestant church called theState Street Church. The sanctuary in which the congregation worshipped was beautiful indeed. The whole complex had lots of rooms in which to play and learn and share and the sanctuary was a very special place, highly revered by many in the congregation.

Many years went by and it came to pass that the people and their pastor took a good look at themselves. When they did, they decided that it was wonderful to be a big, comfortable, beautiful adored church with lots of money and lots of tradition but not so good that there just didn't seem to be enough young people or new people for that matter. Therefore, what they decided they needed was a new Vision Plan. One that would bring them into the next century where they would thrive and grow and continue to do God's work in a world that badly needed that work attended to.

Thus, a small group of people (for that is often how it starts) began to meet to form this vision plan. There were small meetings and there were whole church meetings. They even called in an "expert" from out of town, way out of town-Massachusetts. And together they created a five year plan. One of the ideas of this five year plan was that they try something altogether new and exciting. Something that would bring in new folks, young folks, young families and all sorts of folks who might not even realize they needed a church.

And thus, they met and they talked and they met and talked and the plan began to take shape. Together, as pastor and people, they decided that part of the plan should include a new person; like - another minister to work along side the minister they already knew and loved. A partner in ministry, as it were. And one of the jobs of this new minister would be to run small groups and overall to be a help in bringing their vision forward.

Thus a cry went out to search far and wide to find this perfect candidate to join in this most important task.  And the people were excited and shared their ideas and hopes with great expectancy and anticipation.

Chapter 2:

Meanwhile in a far and distant place (called New York) serving another congregation lived a young minister just minding his own business, or should we say God's business. He had a wife and two children - a lad and lass, and they were all going about their business too.

One day they received a call to come and check out this big Portland church and immediately went about to much praying and soul searching - for this would, indeed be a big move and the new minister-to-be wondered what God's plan was in all of this.

Thus, after much consideration and discussion and much weighing of options and much fervent praying, this candidate, Stephen, also known as RevFun on his license plate, came to town. The year was 1998. And it was an exciting time - for God was busy doing God's thing with mustard seeds. But then God is always doing that. We just don't always recognize it.

So after all the rigmarole that it takes to pull off such a move, the people received their new partner in ministry and the new vision plan was on its way.

However sometimes in God's plan there is more than you bargain for, as the saying goes. RevFun was hired to lead small groups. Well he did. A few small groups began to be led. That didn't seem to be quite what they were looking for - yet. But there they were, meeting weekly while RevFun set about continuing to share his faith and his convictions and his creativity. In fact, he soon began to discover that he was actually being invited and encouraged just to "do his thing" and to be himself. "What a concept!" he pondered with trepidation. For being himself seemed at times risky as RevFun had a lot of self to be. But the much beloved minister, who had been at the church for a long time, began to discover that this is what he liked most of all about working with RevFun. And their partnership began to grow and thrive. And it was good. And vision began happening all over the place right in front of their eyes.

Chapter 3:

As spiritual evolution continued to move them forward, so did plans for something completely new and exciting in this great traditional, yet forward-looking church in the form of a new way of worshipping. For that was the direction they seemed to be going in, in spite of their first intentions.

And lo and behold in a side room of this many-roomed large building - seeds were planted and were sprouting and a new kind of contemporary worship was beginning to take on a life of its own. This worship included, not only great preaching, but thoughtful prayer and scripture reading; not to mention a keyboard player, some guitars, some drums and even singers; and thus, a real live band was formed. And it was real good. And this new and spiritually-revived minister (who continued to be encouraged to do his thing and be as creative as he wished) grew to be much loved among a whole bunch of the people. And this new little community consisting of a small handful of people began to call itself the 11:30 Gathering. (Because they thought they should call themselves something).

Every Sunday that small side room rocked, and everyone began to notice that people who seldom had been to any worship, let alone traditional worship, began to trickle in weekly and the numbers grew of those who came back again and again to hear this strange new minister preach and pray and take a stand for all that is good, in God's name, and it was good. It was the fall of 1999.

Chapter 4:

Time passed and practically before they knew it - they were looking at two genuine services, both worshipping God but in different ways. New energy filled the place each week, and as more people came in, the church increased in size. Could this have been part of the vision coming true after all? Many of the people pondered - hmmmm.

Before they knew it, months went by and even a couple of years and both services continued to worship in their different styles and all seemed to be in peace and harmony. The people, particularly in the 11:30 service just had to believe that if God can smile, that God must be smiling at this new venture - not to mention the unfolding of the small miracles of the five year vision plan being moved forward by this great traditional church.

And the numbers of the 11:30 service grew, and before too long, the little fledgling congregation actually began to realize their first age-old problem. Their numbers were beginning to exceed their space in that little side room. What to do, what to do?

After much discussion it was decided that a move into the next bigger room was necessary. (although some protested the change. Uh oh - was this becoming a "real" church after all?) However, the move happened and each week the middle Chapel room was set up for this newly thriving little congregation and music played on the stage and people sang and RevFun preached and the place rocked. And young and old continued to come to experience a new way of doing worship.

All seemed wonderful and inspiring except for a little tiny occasional bit of grumbling that could be heard through the grapevine that children were a little too exuberant with the cookies at coffee time and this service seemed to be attracting a noticeable number of folks and there was an awful lot of energy coming from this motley group of worshippers; with motley being often the key word. And a few people even started to go hmmmm.

Then one day God sent a startling message. Or maybe God didn't send it but life happened. In any case, this message happened in the form of a rather large piece of ceiling that fell to the floor over some pews on the side of the huge, old, traditional sanctuary. And cries went out among the people as they heard about this. "Yikes!" This was not a good thing. But the Revs were so thankful for small blessings. Mainly that it happened on a Tuesday and not a Sunday so that no one was hurt, for they were, after all, in charge of always being thankful for all blessings.

But the folks from the "regular" services held in that beautiful old sanctuary were very, very upset and sad because even though the ceiling was on the floor, the writing was on the wall. At least temporarily. They too would have to move. And then - what to do, what to do. And much fretting ensued among the people. And there was some wringing of hands, and a little gnashing of teeth and scratching of heads. And some people seemed to be running around almost bumping into each other with fear and anxiety with "what to do"; and it was all about a ceiling. The 11:30 people were scratching their heads too - wondering was God was about on this one. But everybody picked up their chins in spite of this and moved forward and the Chapel hall was soon shared by both worship services. Surprisingly many even felt the intimacy of the new smaller space was quite nice after all. (And some of the 11:30 people liked it too secretly, since they didn't have to move chairs anymore. But that is beside the point.)

Then there were conversations and task forces formed and multitudes of meetings all to discuss what to do now about the ceiling. Oh yes, and another very scary subject matter - THE BUDGET. For in spite of a rather substantial amount of money in the coffers, there still did not seem to be enough now.

Then as scurrying and worrying would have it - a decree went out one night at one of the very important big council meetings. There just simply was not enough money to fix the ceiling and to keep two ministers too. And unfortunately RevFun needed to leave. It was a surprise to many but mostly to him. And that did not SEEM good. Not at all.

Then began much fear and uneasiness for RevFun and his family -until they began to think that perhaps God was up to those old plan-making tricks again. Of course that added new fear and uneasiness. But he took a deep breath, said lots of prayers and moved in a forward direction anyway. Later coming to realize it wasn't such a bad plan after all. Which we all often come to realize only in retrospect when it comes to those God-plans.

What followed next became more exciting by the moment. For a small group of deeply committed and inspired folks stood by with faith and encouragement and a solid determination to keep that 11:30 Gathering community going - somewhere, somehow - with RevFun as leader. And there was a meeting to "brainstorm" what should happen next. Fourteen people, which included RevFun got together one evening and on the agenda was one thing - what were they going to do? All they really knew was there was one thing they could not do - let this go. This worship and this community that felt like a safe haven and loving family, and this minister who kept it all going was very important and they believed that was God's opinion too.

Little did RevFun know that when everyone sat down around that circle that evening, that they would all throw into the ring, not only their hats, but also their talents their enthusiasm, their commitments and their monetary promises. As far as they were concerned the concept of what would soon be called "The Open House" was already a done deal. There was no going back. (Kind of like what happened to Moses but that's another story for another time.)

RevFun was even more astonished to hear that he would be asked to just be preacher and teacher and continue to bring the good stuff in God's name, and others would do their best to bring the rest. These meetings continued for many months as the new community began to become more sure of its purpose, and amazing things started happening all over the place.

A special task force was formed on the Conference Level, for instance, to help - as this was the first new UCC church start in the State of Maine in many many years. And - actually, the first new UCC church start of its kind - in the State of Maine - ever. Which leaves a lot of room for making new rules because when you start something new you have to figure out how to do what you're trying to do and make those rules as you go along.

Now, that's what you really call fun.

Of course the leave-taking from the mother-church was sad, but the spirits of the people from the 11:30 service could not be dampened. And because of these meetings they found a new name and a new logo to go with it and The Open House was on its way.

The rest is history, as they say. The first place to meet was to the United Methodist Church on Chestnut Street in Portland, for where they stayed for about a year or so until another move was needed - which brought The Open House to this building we share today. (That's the Stevens Ave. Congregational Church, 790 Stevens Ave., Portland, Maine.)

So, here we are still worshipping, still praying, still learning and still growing stronger together. And still believing that God is in charge of the plan with all of us entrusted to carry it through. There is much work to be done, much joy to be shared and much responsibility to be considered. The next chapters that get added to the history of The Open House depends totally on all of us and what lies in each of our hearts.

So I will say "The End" - but not really - it feels more like another new beginning. But isn't that the way it always is with God's work. It's just never done.