Christ the door needs no other gatekeeper

The unconditional love of God

“The mission of the church is the same in every culture and country: to demonstrate, through its actions and words, that God’s offer of unconditional love to every human being through Jesus Christ calls us to holiness and hope.” The Archbishop of Canterbury

The statement above was made by The Archbishop of Canterbury, that should be the end of any dispute regarding who belongs or not according to whatever beliefs or perceptions we might have. This statement was to address statements made by The Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria.

No other gatekeeper to the door

I am uninterested in joining issues with whatever the archbishop in Nigeria had to say, but it is necessary that the profession of Christianity, being an individual article of faith needs a place and security of expression, that when Jesus Christ professed in his own words, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” [Bible Gateway: John 10:9-16 (NKJV)] He was not asking for another gatekeeper to that door.

Whatever position anyone might hold in the church, their call is to welcome not ostracise, castigate, judge, or condemn. For Jesus Christ did not die on the cross for another man to take away the benefit of that salvation from others.

Know the amazing grace of God

Even if anyone might think themselves bestowed with that power, a humble reflection on what Christ had done for them must every time lead them to fall on their knees for the grace upon them and the mercy of God that they are not consumed as they deny others the pleasure of that grace like the ungrateful servant. [Bible Gateway: Matthew 18: 21-35 (NIV)]

Obviously, there are some that might find some legalism to support the need to cast God’s creatures aside, seeking to ex-communicate, deny them the sacraments and abandoning fellowship with those they deem unworthy of the same sacrifice that brought them into the kingdom of God. That is their prerogative, that you refuse to church with me does not deny access to God.

The many people Jesus met with and bestowed amazing grace on were not the religious folk, but the apparently notorious, the obviously possessed, even the verily dead that were raised.

Full members all

The Archbishop of Canterbury goes on to affirm, “This resolution both restated a traditional view of Christian marriage and was clear in its condemnation of homophobic actions or words. It affirmed that “all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.” [Anglican Communion: Section I.10 - Human Sexuality]

Maybe the greatest call to understanding the unconditional love of God to the devout Christian today is to find ways to express the love of Christ to others regardless of who or what they are. If that is so difficult, then it is a cross to bear, for Christ bore a greater cross than this for the whole world, whilst we were yet miserable sinners. The call is upon us heavy as we might make the burden out of our imperfectness when humanity asks for the better of us.

Thought Picnic: Unlatched from Slumber

False premises

Deep in sleep, one is suddenly awoken by the opening of the door as if a child playing prankster has run by tugging at the handle to annoy you.

You wake up startled expecting to see the child sheepishly come by, half-contrite, half-satisfied for doing the reprehensible to us but the comprehensible to them.

Then your mind gets subjective and you prepare to bound out of bed and deliver a severe warning just stoking the limits of absolute rage but you restrain yourself as the door is closed once again for you to settle into slumber.

Possible remedies

Not too long afterwards, it happens again, then again and again, over days as it becomes unclear as to whether the door is possessed or the child is more possessed but ones peace is held all the same giving the benefit of doubt that there might well be something else at play. Meanwhile, the child is scolded by someone else as one settles into the satisfaction that it will not happen again.

Another remedy to this little inconvenience is to either lock the door or close the window because a spark of scientific thinking suggests when the wind blows and pressure is reduced in the room the door apparently flings open, but why one did not just ascertain that once and for all is left to the laziness of mind.

Reasons arising

Then purposely the door was closed and it did not seem to have the clicking sound that suggests the door was properly closed, why does one have to manipulate the handle to close the door? We were close to why the problem existed but not the reason yet, subconsciously, one put it down to bad workmanship and left it at that.

This afternoon, the reason with all its ramifications became evident, the lock was put in wrongly so the bevel of the catch that ensured the door was properly closed and caught off the fitting of the door frame was facing the wrong way.

Doors to dummies

Mortice Lockset courtesy of HomeTips

Let us get really technical here, we can all learn something from this little but seemingly inconsequential matter. One needs a lockset to lock a door, the example above is a Mortice (UK) lockset. The lock body goes in the body of the door itself where you will attach the handle or knob. Accompanying the lock body is the strike plate which can be a rigid fitting to the door frame or cut into the door frame.

The strike plate holes take the latch bolt to close the door and the deadbolt to lock the door. In some cases the door handle is immobile usually on the exterior which means the door only needs to be slammed shut for it to be locked requiring a key to open the door. The lock system can be built into the latch assembly, thereby, not needing a deadbolt, those are all aesthetics but they all could determine how secure the lock will be.

The latch bolt is bevelled allowing for the door to be shut easily but it catches against the strike plate so that the door cannot be pulled open except by turning the handle or knob or by using a key.

In this case, the bevelled side of the latch bolt was not catching against the strike plate meaning the door can be pulled open or like I described earlier, the wind could just do it for it.

Determine why every time

I could have saved myself the subjectiveness of causation by immediate observation and inquiry rather than let my mind wander off into conjecture, assuming a premise that has now been proved to be totally wrong.

The many times we have allowed the subjective to becloud better judgement derived from applying ourselves to the task of acquiring knowledge by keen observation and the logic that allows one to make complete sense of how and why things happen.

For therein lies the smarts; being inquisitive, precocious, questioning and challenging of situations brings knowledge that cannot be contemned, because your thinking, sentiment and discernment will be based on data and facts. Doing it immediately makes you even smarter, we need to have the presence of mind to think this way.

Jam!

The sound of no keys

What an ordeal I had. Hand to the handle, a pull and a jam.

The jolt to bring you to the realisation that your keys are on the wrong side of the lock.

Immediately, I rang my neighbour’s door bell; they were out but I noted enough clues to assure me they’ll be back sometime in the day.

So, without labouring myself, I returned the shopping trolley to the supermarket on the ground floor and made for the African shop to get some other goods.

The proximity of the supermarket makes for some uncomfortable realities and this is the second time the casual act of returning the shopping trolley has resulted in an inadvertent lock-out.

Communication breakdown

Usually when going out I have my mobile phone on me, but for the simple reason that one just has to pop downstairs the preparedness for an outing is slightly lackadaisical and the consequences can be dire.

On getting to the African shop, it was closed for holidays so I decided to walk back home rather than take the tram and hope that by the time I got home I would have thought up something fantastic to determine when my neighbours will return by paying an unannounced visit to a friend.

Finding me and seeing them

When I got back, I was let in by another resident of my apartment block; my neighbours had not returned and I considered how to while away the time.

In the lobby, I leafed through the new telephone directory to find myself, no success with any of my neighbours and even my friend who had passed on a good 7 months ago.

As I stepped out to do something useful the garage door had just closed and wheeling their bikes up to their parking space were my neighbours – I am back home again.

What an ordeal it could have been.