In the Hebrew Scriptures before David dies there is a description of the Levites who are assigned to be gate keepers, see my blog at the Adult Sunday School for more details. Here I question if we are not all gate keepers.
We seek for our worship services to be comfortable and anything that may seem foreign or different must be bad. We look at new ministries happen as void of tradition, and merely giving in to the whims of the day to give the world church the way they want it. We see people and know instantly who they are by how they dress and how they act, before we speak a single word to them…
We guard our children against the evils of the world. And rightly so, they are young and do not know what they are doing sometimes. But I have to say that as I get older I realize that I do not always know what I am doing, yet I am expected to be somebody, because of my age and my occupation, or I should say vocation. We try to protect our children, but the church is not ours to protect.
We are not to be gate keepers, keeping the world form being in the presence of God, ours is a ministry of gate opening. We are to welcome and invite to be in the world yet not of the world, we are to go out into the world as the disciples did in Matthew 9:35-10:23, and go into the villages and spread the word of God. And if it is received, then stay a little while and speak some more so the people can hear, but if it is not received to move on. Not to judge or talk down to or bad about, but simply pick up and move on. We can not judge those who are not ourselves. We want to help our brother or sister remove the toothpick from their eye, when we have a 2X4 in our own eye. Jesus asked us to love and love! Love God with all of your heart, all of your mind and all of your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Not judge and talk bad about someone who is different or see the world differently. These people may be commiting sin, but so are we, and we are only asked in the Bible to point out the sin to those who are in the community, not outside the community.
So do not keep the gate closed, but open it up so that all may see, and come into the green pasture of God.
aSacredRebel 