Creekside Church Sermon of April 10, 2005 "The Door Man" John 10:1-10	Rev. David Bibbee
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However, when the professor presented the project, I was frustrated. My expectations had to be scaled back because we weren't drawing a building, or a house, or a tool shed, or even a birdhouse. We drew doors… little scale drawings of doors and a chart to indicate where and when they would be installed. It was called a "door-hanging schedule." What was the challenge in drawing doors? Anyone could draw doors. It was just a rectangle with a window and a knob.

We didn't draw buildings until later in the course, but it helped me understand the fundamentals of architectural graphics. There would be no point designing a door-less, inaccessible building.

How many doors do you walk through in the course of a day? You don't give it much of a thought, unless they are locked. You could make a case for the front door being the most important part of a building. The door says something about what you can expect to find on the inside.

I remember my first visit to the dentist. It was on the upper floor of an old building. Footsteps echoed as people walked down the hall. The door to the dentist's office was a heavy wooden one. It had a large windowpane with the dentist's name painted on it in gold letters. The glass was Florentine, so you couldn't see through it. Was something going on that the dentist didn't want people to see, because if they did, they would bolt?

The dentist scared me to death. I was crying and afraid to open my mouth. This was in the days before pediatric dentistry. Back then dentistry schools didn't offer courses on how to be a calming, assuring presence when working with children. He slapped me on the leg and barked at me to sit still. I didn't go back to Dr. Frankenstein.

If you have ever seen a Gothic cathedral, you know how everything about it is on a grand scale. At the entrance there are often three sets of high, solid wood, double doors. They are several inches thick and hung with heavy, wrought iron hardware. Passing through the imposing doors is a prelude to awe when your eyes adjust to the dark inside, and you behold the enormity and majesty of the cathedral.

At the other extreme was the door to the outpost cabin where I spent two weeks in the Canadian wilderness. It was a little, one-room log cabin built back in the 1930's by an Ojibwa Indian-a very "short" Ojibwa Indian. By the time I left, I had knots on my forehead from hitting the lintel.

What doors are you reluctant to walk through? What doors are you glad to walk through? What are your thoughts and feelings when you go through the door into-the emergency room, a chocolate shop, the principal's office, the maternity ward, the dentist's office, the boss's office, your favorite restaurant, the funeral home, a nursing home, the Dairy Queen, a church where you have not worshiped before?

A retired Church of the Brethren pastor told me about a church he served years ago. The church had moved into an affluent, predominantly Catholic suburb. When he began his ministry, he shared his vision for growth, but the board told him they didn't want the Catholics in their church. He said that if that were their desire, they would have his resignation by morning. They begged him not to resign. They said he could reach out to the Catholics if he desired, but that he shouldn't expect any help from the church.

In the gospel of John is a collection of, "I am passages." Jesus used a variety of metaphors to show who he was. He said, "I am living bread, living water, the vine, the way, the truth, and the life." In today's text, Jesus starts out a shepherd and ends up "a door."

Someone called Jesus, "Good teacher." He answered, "No one is good except God." But in verse 11 he doesn't mind being called good. He said, "I am the good shepherd." There were shepherds who weren't so good. If a few lambs were lost, it was no big deal. But the good shepherd cared for every single one as he cared for them all. The good shepherd dropped everything and searched as long as it took to find the stray.

At night, sheep were herded into holding pens, which were nothing more than several rows of stacked stones shaped into a circle or square with one opening. There was no door or gate to open and close. To keep the sheep inside, the shepherd lay across the entrance.

But there were thieves who looked for ways to get in. If they tried the gate, the shepherd wouldn't let them in. Under the cover of night, the thieves snuck over the wall and grabbed a few head of sheep.

Think about the function of doors. From a size standpoint, doors are a small part of the whole house. But the door is absolutely necessary. It marks where outside ends, and inside begins. John the Baptist was a threshold. John wasn't the fulfillment of his message. It was through the door of John's ministry that Jesus appeared.

"I am the door," Jesus said. He is the door to God. He said that on this side of the door we will have tribulation. On God's side is a mansion with lots of rooms. On this side of the door, life is finite. On the other side it is infinite. On this side, joy is a fleeting. On the other side it is full. On this side of the door, we feel incomplete and discontent. But on the other side is abundance and fulfillment.

The crooks that crawl over the wall to wreck havoc have names-pessimism, cynicism, materialism, jealousy, apathy, conflict, brokenness, and the influence of what the "majority" believes. Any one, any thing, any belief, any outlook that doesn't make it past the door of the sheepfold will not benefit to us.

This is where it gets "touchy" for some of us. We are open-minded, inclusive people, but Jesus said things that make us squirm. "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father expect by me." This passage has been abused by those who trash any belief or religion different from their own. They forget that Jesus never criticized any religion… except his own.

Sometimes I hear people say, "There are many paths to God that are equally valid." There is much to be said for having an open mind and spandex attitudes, but Christianity has boundaries. People who try to shakel the Almighty within their flimsy beliefs are like those who try to sneak over or burrow under the wall to get to the sheep.

Much can learned about God by looking at the world around you. There are insights from other religions that we would do well to practice. Furthermore, I believe that people of other faiths have experiences of God and know something of the love of God. But to know God personally, meaningfully, intimately, and completely, we enter by the door named Jesus.

Without question, Pope John Paul II was the most recognized person in the world. The networks gave an uncommon amount of attention to his life and legacy. His funeral was seen by more people than any funeral in history. For several days the world was immersed in the mystery of life, death, and the faith. I was amazed that the commentators knew when to stop talking and let the moment speak for itself.

Pope John Paul's dwelling was behind the ancient doors of St. Peter's Basilica. But three-quarters of his papacy was spent on the other side of those doors, globetrotting-- telling the world about the man who called himself a door. He not only told them about the door, but he led them to it-that door which can be opened with the password, "Love."

There's a word for what the Pope did. It's called evangelism. It is sharing the good news without which we cease to be a church. Many here have opened the door, or should I say, have had it opened for them to look inside. They've met Jesus. In his face they've seen God's face. For them, nothing else will do.

We walk through the doors of this building every Sunday to worship and draw near God who in Jesus draws near to us. We're only here a little while, then we leave. There's nothing complicated about church growth. It takes belief embodied in your actions, and giving invitations to walk with you through the door and into the fold of God's people.

Samuel Shoemaker was an Episcopal priest. He is credited with being the spiritual founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. I want to share something he wrote that was based upon the verse from Psalm 84: "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God…"

I stay near the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world-
It is the door through which people walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside, and staying there,
While so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is a wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like they are blind,
With outstretched, groping hands.
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.

So I stay near the door.
The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for people to find that door-the door to God.
The most important thing any person can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
And to put it on the latch-that latch that only clicks
And opens to the person's own touch.
People die outside that door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter-
Die for want of what is within their grasp.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him…
So I stay near the door.

Go in great saints, go all the way in-
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics-
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms,
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.

Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
Sometimes venture in a little further,
But my place seems closer to the opening…
So I stay near the door.
I admire the people who go way in,
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door,
Or the people who want to run away again from God.

You can go in too deeply, and stay too long,
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him, and know He is there,
But not so far from people as not to hear them.
And remember they are there, too.
Where? Outside the door-
Thousands of them, millions of them.
But-- more important for me-
One of them, two of them, ten of them,
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.

So I shall stay by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
'I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God…'
So I stay near the door.

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