Dear St. Paul’s Family,
Have you read any good stories about doors lately?
Think for a moment about the many ways some of the great literary works have used the image of the door as a central metaphor.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne begins The Scarlet Letter with a chapter called, “The Prison Door”, which introduces a shadowy undercurrent of human depravity in the midst of a Puritan community.
- Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights uses numerous locked doors and gates to symbolize the confinement that comes from social convention and desires for revenge.
- A concealed door becomes the entryway for a young girl to experience long-lost happiness and peace in Frances Hogson Burnett’s The Secret Garden.
- And a hidden door in the back of a wardrobe becomes the passage for four children to enter the magical world of Narnia, in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Even the Bible has its own fair share of door imagery:
- In Exodus, the Hebrew slaves sprinkled blood on the doorposts of their homes in Egypt, saving them from the death angel as it passed over them.
- In the Temple, a veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, symbolizing exclusive, privileged access to the presence of God.
- And as the Israelites ascended the hill to worship in the Temple, they enthusiastically chanted the words of Psalm 24: “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in.
Centuries later, John Wesley would continue the metaphor, in this classic formulation of the salvation journey. Listen to how he equates a door with one’s saving faith in Jesus Christ:
"Our main doctrines, which include all the rest, are three: That of repentance, of faith, and of holiness. The first of these we account, as it were, the porch of religion; the next, the door; the third, religion itself."
Whether in the Bible or in works of literature, doors symbolize entrance into new freedom and new life. It invites deliberate movement, from the trouble and trauma of the past into hope and possibility for the future. It’s no wonder that John would seize this image for his gospel, including it among the ways that Jesus would identify himself as the Son of God.
So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Consider the possibility that Jesus is offering you a doorway to a new, abundant life. What will it take for you to walk through that door? If repentance is the front porch of religion, what will you need to leave behind in order to come in? And if a life of holiness lies just beyond the threshold, what new commitments will be demanded of you?
This week we continue our “Something to Believe In” sermon series based on Jesus’ seven “I Am” statements with a sermon titled, “I am the Door.” To prepare for this Sunday, I invite you to continue reading the scripture bookmark you were given last Sunday in church. Additional copies are available at the church.
See you on the journey,
Magrey
No comments:
Post a Comment