“Jesus Is the Door”

April 17, 2005

Scripture Reading: John 10:1-10

Rev. Dr. Carol L. Kerr 

 Blue Point Congregational Church

What would you say is the most important part of the church?  A.  The Sanctuary.  B.  The Pulpit.  C.  The Baptistery.  D.  The Door.  E.  Other  (No is to call out the bathroom!)

Although any of these answers are good ones.  For the purpose of this sermon I would say the answer is the door.  The door is the most important part of the church.  At least one distinguished church architect agrees.  He says doors tell people about who you are and what you are about.  This is very important because the function of the door is one of two things, letting people in or keeping people out. 

For instance, when banks changed their front doors, it was a signal of fundamental shift in the business of banking.  In the early days of the last century, banks were built to look like impregnable fortresses.  Their front doors tended to be thick, impenetrable, solid, secure, and all the other things that people wanted to believe about a bank.  You put your money in here, was the promise, and we will make sure that nobody can get to it but you.

Then in the mid-20^th century, banks became more ‘user friendly.”  They attempted to attract customers, to put a warm and friendly face on banking.  Gone were the big, thick, impenetrable doors.  Glass doors were installed.  These were doors that you can see in.  The average person walking by could see activity going on in the bank.  You could see friendly people, tellers, and not armed guards.  My bank, Fleet bank in Falmouth, not only has glass doors, but now stations someone in the lobby to say hello.  They know me by name when I bring in my Blue Point Church Check.  “Hi Carol, how are you today!”  Its nice.  It is kind of like our greeters giving out bulletins each Sunday.

Our church doors are these big green gothic doors.  They are heavy and symmetrical.  I suppose they convey the values of tradition, stability, and quality.  I wonder what people think about us when they pass our doors?

I was fantasizing about other kinds of doors we could have instead.  For instance, what if we had automatic glass doors like those at Hannaford grocery store.  A person walks up the sidewalk, the door sees you coming, and suddenly on their own they swing open.  From the curb you could see the greeters, and the children, and who was there today.  What would these doors say about us?  Something like we are so happy to have you even walk by we will open our doors to you.  It’s easy to be here.  It’s hard to resist in fact walking through a door that has been opened especially for you.  Certainly, a Mom carrying a car seat and infant would be very glad for those doors to swing open. 

Yet, in some ways these would not really be the right doors for a church.  They would infer that going to church was like shopping.  You can pick and choose what to buy and take home.  You can leave what is “too expensive” or “too demanding” or doesn’t suit your tastes.  These kinds of automatic doors say nothing about commitment. 

Then there are revolving doors.  I learned something doint the research for this sermon.  Did you know that revolving doors were invented because of sky scrappers?  The revolving door was necessary because when building are over a few stories high, the interior drafts in the buildings can mean that the air pressure is such that it is impossible to open the front door.  When drafts are working, the air sweeps in the front door, slamming the door shut, making it difficult to open.  So, the revolving door was invented.  It is a door that enables us to get in the building, while controlling the updraft within the building.

So, I started thinking that if we had a revolving door as the door to the church it might convey the idea that the church is a kind of pressure valve.  Sometimes one needs to decompress once a week, so you can come to church and do that.  Or, sometimes church is intense, takes you to high places, the Holy Spirit is powerful, and one needs to shift gears upon leaving and going back to the mundane world. 

Of course, revolving doors have another meaning.  That is, people leave as fast as they come.  They come to church because they are forced to and leave as soon as they can.  Or, it can mean we are going in circles.  Revolving doors aren’t really the right doors for the church either. 

Then there is the drive-thru.  It is not really a door at all.  You don’t have to stop and enter.  You drive by and get church handed to you anonymously through a window.  Here is a bible, a few prayers to look at, and a tape of some songs.  Of course nothing is wrong with having these in your car.  After all I preached just last week on the advantages of having a portable Bible in your car.    But, if church was just a drive-thru window there would be no community.  It is scary actually getting out and going through a door, any door and encountering people.  Yet, that is all some people are willing to do.  I think we implicitly acknowledge that with our sign.  We give them a quick thought as they drive by like “God is still speaking….and the Blue Point Church is listening…”  The fact is that a drive-thru isn’t the right kind of door for the church either.

Why is it so hard to find the right kind of door to the church?  This is because Jesus is the real door and the only door to the church.  The scripture reading today Jesus says, “I am the gate” – the door.  The gospels begins with Jesus saying, I am the shepherd.   This is a very popular image of Jesus and God in the scriptures.  Jesus is the good shepherd who is so good that he is willing to lay down his life for his sheep.  Then the image is changed from shepherd to the gate or the door.  Jesus is the gate by which the sheep enter the pen.  He is the way the sheep will be saved and will be able to come in and go out to pasture. 

By saying he is the door Jesus is saying that he is the way to God, the way to abundant life, the path to true freedom.  Jesus is the means whereby we get to God.  And, importantly, the way by which God gets to us. 

As I said at the beginning of the sermon, doors do one of two things.  They either let people in or keep people out.  Jesus is the kind of door that lets people in.  Jesus was inclusive and not exclusive.  Jesus was loving, compassionate, and gave his very life for others.  He healed without judging.  His passion was for the poor, the sick, the orphaned, the widowed and the most despised of society.  He invited everyone to his table.  Jesus’ inclusive ways scandalized many.  He opened the door to people who the religious at the time had kicked out, slammed the door, and threw away the key.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  By this he did not mean, if you are not Christian you are going to hell.  He meant that through him and his far reaching welcome will people find God. 

Like I said, doors can let people in or keep people out.  Somehow people have distorted what Jesus was all about.   They have made Jesus the door by which to keep people out rather than let them in.  This is completely opposite to what Jesus was all about.  These people use Jesus to exclude rather than include people.  These people are the self appointed toll keepers.  They have secret passwords, and special beliefs that one has to have in order to be permitted to enter.  They think they have the keys by which the door may be opened or not.

A sad gate keeping, door locking, issue came up with the Terry Schiavo case.  She was the woman who had severe brain damage and who was in a vegetative state, or near vegetative state.  Her husband after many years wanted her feeding tube removed.   Her parents did not.  This is a tragic and complicated issue.   The judge, Greer, who was one of the judges who ordered the withholding of the feeding tube left his Southern Baptist Church over the issue. 

The minister of the church, William Rice, wrote a letter to Greer.  In it he says, “I am not asking you to do this, but since you have taken the initiative of withdrawal, and since your connection with Calvary continues to be a point of concern, it would seem the logical and, I would say, biblical course.”  Rice admits that they church supports keeping Schiavo alive and though he was “truly saddened and embarrassed by the level of harassment and vitriolic nature of so many comments that purportedly come from people of faith….But you must know that in all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life.  I hope you can find a way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of thousands.” 

I want to make clear that my point is not about whether I think Terry Schiavo should have had her feeding tube removed or not.  I know some thoughtful people in our congregation deeply believe she should not have had her feeding tube removed.  And, I know other deeply thoughtful people in our congregation who think she should have it removed.   Both are in our congregation.  My point is that I refuse to use it or other issues like it as a kind of key to get in through the door.  Although Rev. Rice points out that Greer made the choice whether he wanted to stay in the church or not, he agreed that it was a “biblical” choice (whatever that means).  Also, he says that they and not the Judge were on the side of the angels. 

Our country has become politicized around what is called “moral values.”  “Moral value voters” became the defining story line of the 2004 election.  “Moral values” were a few narrow topics mostly – abortion and gay marriages.  Unfortunately many people who didn’t vote for Bush also felt that they voted on moral values but ones that were not stated in the survey, such as war and peace and the ecology.   Which ever side you are on, both sides will beat the drum and claim God for their side.  They think that they have the keys to the door of Jesus. 

However, I think Abraham Lincoln had it right.  Our task should not be to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God’s blessing and endorsement for all our national policies and practices – saying in effect that God is on our side.  Rather Lincoln said, we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God’s side. 

If we say that God is on our side we are making the door to God an exclusive door.  It becomes a door that keeps people out because they don’t have the right keys.  On the other hand, if we pray earnestly that we are on God’s side we are making the door an inclusive door.  There will be a willingness to listen and dwell in the gray areas of life.  Instead of polarizing there will be a movement towards finding common ground.  My suspicion is that that is how real progress is made. 

As a counselor, I have learned that most of the time the health of a marriage does not hinge on who takes the garbage out, what they spend their money on whether it be cars or vacations, or who absorbs the bulk of the child care.  What the marriage hinges on is how these issues are decided and resolved.  The process is the important thing.  Often times, most times, the process if far more important than the end result.   If the couple starts calling each other names, one telling the other that they have the moral high ground, and the other is immoral, etc.  that all leads to polarization and escalation.   Rather if each person respects the other, and is willing to listen to the other’s point of view and value it, not as their own but as a possible alternative, then the marriage is far more stable, loving, and healthy. 

I believe that there is a key to the door of Christ.  There is one key and that is humility.  Humility is the only thing that protects us from the all too human tendency of distortions, blind spots, denial, ignorance, rationalizations – otherwise known as sin.    Those things that make us claim the door of Christ as our own exclusive door, and that we are the gate keepers. 

What do the doors to our church say about us?  They are those big green heavy Gothic doors.  They speak of tradition, stability, and quality.  I like the sign over them, “God is still speaking…” which says that we are stable, but not completely stuck in the past.  Also, I like, really like the fact that there are two doors.  Our doors can open wide.  Perhaps we should put a sign on our doors which says, “Jesus is the door.  Please open and come on in.” 

I don’t know what Jesus thought about Terry Schiavo, about gay marriages, about the war in Iraq, about stem cell research.  I do know that Jesus wanted everyone to sit at his table.  I do know that Jesus is the door by which we are saved.  Jesus is a door that is open not to an exclusive few.  This is completely opposite to the whole point of Jesus’ ministry.  Rather Jesus is the door that is open to the world.  A door that reaches out and calls to everyone, come to the banquet there’s a place for you in here.  The key is humility.  Let our doors be this door.