BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
SCRIPTURE
I’m of two
minds about locking doors. Some years
ago, within the space of a few months the church I served in
Now comes
the “on the other hand” part. If I had
left everything unlocked, there would have been less damage except for the
things that were strewn all around the office.
Perhaps after hearing of my experience you can see where my ambivalence
arises about locking doors. Insurance
companies don’t share my ambivalence. Now
rest assured, when I leave this building I lock up what needs to be locked up
to secure this sacred space as I did in Eau Claire, but I didn’t like being
surprised by all the damage I found from marauding thieves.
We
generally lock things up to keep others who don’t belong out. That’s what the disciples were doing that
night. The only difference is that they
locked themselves in. It would be easy
to point fingers and laugh at this fearful little band of former followers of
Jesus for their fearfulness, faithlessness and downright terror, but what they
had seen of the forthright brutality of the beating of Jesus and the crucifixion
would have unsettled the best of us.
So, we know
something of the mood in that room that night when they were gathered there
licking their wounds. We know they were
dispirited, frightened, and doubtful of the reports of the empty tomb and its
implications. There was security for
them in this hideaway where no one could touch, threaten or molest them. Suddenly, there was Jesus in the room behind
closed doors. Did he chide them for
hiding out like cowards? Did he take
them to task because they didn’t believe a word he told them about the way that
he would overcome the tomb and be raised on the third day? Instead of a good tongue lashing he said to
them, “Peace be with you.”
You see,
what they feared most, a Roman invasion of their privacy in that locked room,
never happened. Their family and friends
did not come and make fun of them for following and believing in the man the
Romans thought they had done in with the cross.
The religious authorities did not come after them to discredit them for
their allegiance to Jesus nor to find them guilty by association with the one
they had handed over to the Romans. No
one else broke into their little locked sanctuary to do them harm.
That’s
often the way it is. Sometimes, we
expect the worst that can happen and it never does. I play a game with myself when faced with
potentially threatening situations. I
try to imagine what is the worst thing that can happen and then divide that in
half. I find that I have a wild
imagination when it comes to disaster, so I need to help myself through
difficult times with this device. I find
that I consistently overestimate even at half-strength the magnitude of those
anticipated challenges.
I know that
this church is going through a time of uncertainty with all the changes that
have occurred over the past year. I hope
that you have had an opportunity to read the article in the most recent issue
of The Open Door concerning the search
for a new Senior Pastor. It is a
wonderful article outlining the process through which your Search Committee has
been proceeding to bring you new pastoral leadership. I know that there lurks beneath the surface
some lingering doubts about the outcome.
I remind you that you have chosen wonderful people to serve you in this
important search.
Other
gifted and talented people have been engaged in searches to bring you new
musical leadership and new administrative leadership and have concluded
successful searches. I might say that
the pastoral search and the other searches have been carried out under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. We are not
alone leaning on our own devices, my friends.
The church can never do that and be faithful to its nature.
I hasten to
assure you of the institutional health of this church. We continue to receive new members. We had a net gain of members last year and
while lots of churches of the mainline variety are in decline, this church
remains vital and strong both as a missional outpost and as a place where
spirits are nurtured and enlarged.
Let me say
that in addition to the health of the church as an institution, that the
institution is nothing without the wonderful people who comprise it. I have so enjoyed being among you and that is
because of the quality of the individuals of this church. You are easy to love and work alongside. These months I have been with you have been a
great joy to me. So lest anxiety
overtake you, please hear my words about the life we live together in this
great church.
What Jesus
said to the disciples in that room with closed and locked doors he says to
us. “Peace be with you.” He said it not once to those terrified
followers, hunkered down in fear. He
said it again in case it did not take the first time. “Peace be with you.” If the resurrection means anything at all it
means a release from petrifying fear, a fear that disables and disarms us. It is a freeing of the spirit for
action. When Jesus said, “Peace be with
you” the second time, he also said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send
you.” So we go forth in service to the
risen Christ in the faith that where we go, Jesus seeks us out whether we are
hammering for Habitat for Humanity or mentoring confirmands or knitting prayer
shawls or building clean water systems for an African village or serving
breakfast at the Emergency Shelter or any of a host of other things we do for
the world as a congregation.
We take
pride in being the Church of the Open
Door. Obviously, that means that we
extend Christ’s extravagant welcome to one and all to join us in this adventure
we call the Christian faith. Not so
obviously, it means that we don’t hide behind closed doors of fear when faced
with life’s challenges when changes occur in our midst.
The
disciples learned to come out of the locked room to freely proclaim the
resurrection faith to the whole world.
They didn’t do it on their own, but just when they felt hemmed in and
threatened Jesus sought them out. Jesus
came to bring them not condemnation but peace and blessing. He didn’t scold them for running away, rather
he emboldened them for the journey, just as he encourages us. We of the Church
of the Open Door proclaim in the
faith of those early disciples, “Jesus is Lord.” “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” “Hallelujah!”
Sermon
preached by Reverend