Doorkeepers

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness. Ps. 84

When I was a child singing in the church choir this verse of Psalm 84 stuck in my head - it made sense straight away and every time it came up in the rotation of the Psalter I would let my mind linger on it - I would imagine what being a door keeper would be like, what living next to the door of God's house could mean - waking and sleeping in a place surrounded by the presence of God.

But think about the pivotal role of the doorkeeper- such a humble role but yet such a vital one. The doorkeeper lets in those who should come in and keeps out things which should not. The doorkeeper closes the door against attack and opens it again for business.

Being doorkeepers in the House of the Lord is both literal as we open up the doors of our Churches for people to come in and worship, and more nebulous as we ourselves are doorways to Christ through our lives and interactions.

A doorkeeper would be no good if one day they simply shut the door saying that this was the way that things should be, that the people inside were in and everyone else needed to figure something else out. A doorkeeper is overstepping their bounds if they decide arbitrarily that there are some people they are not going to let into the building for personal reasons. God's door is open to all.

The idea of dwelling in God's presence is an amazing one, but the idea of being a doorkeeper for Christ is a challenging one. What does being doors to Jesus mean - and how do we open ourselves to reveal the wonderful inside of God's holy presence.