Spirituality and Doors

This is the homily I gave yesterday.  Enjoy! 

The week before last I was in Virginia at an Episcopal retreat center called Roslyn, where I attended my first Episcopal Armed Forces Chaplains conference.   There I met many Episcopal priest chaplains, some active duty USAF, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and some Reserves and Guard. 

One night, we all gathered in the dining hall for dinner, but I was not very hungry, as the whole conference they fed us very well, too well.   I sat at the table anyway, just so I could visit with the others.  One of the chaplains said to me,  "Aren’t you going to eat dinner?”    I told him I was not very hungry.  He responded, “What does hunger have to do with eating?”   

It made me laugh…and remember my grandfather, who said the same thing…he spoke with a heavy Italian accent, as he was from Italy and immigrated here when he was a young man.  When I was a kid, I would visit my grandparents…and one evening dinner I was not very hungry and had a small helping of pasta on my plate.  He looked at me across the table with this perturbed look over his dish piled high with pasta and said with his heavy Italian accent, “Lauda, you eatah like a bird!  Monja!!” I told him I was not very hungry.  He said, “What does-ah hunger haff a to a do with eating?”

My grandfather would tell me stories of when he was kid growing up in Italy, his service in the Italian Navy and his transition to living here in the USA.  Man, it must have been hard for him… Never seeing his family again after he left Italy.  Learning a new language, starting totally over.  For 50 or so years, he lived here, making the USA his new home.   Can you imagine?  A door closed behind him as he left Italy…but a new one, a new life opened for him here in the USA.    

These things came to mind as I contemplated our gospel reading for today  (John 10:1-10) especially the passage where Jesus says, “I am the gate”,  (Gate is also translated as “door”.)  

And so this week, I have been thinking about doors and gates.   

This specific passage, Jesus as a gate, is usually overlooked as in the next paragraph in John’s gospel, Jesus says ‘I am the good shepherd’, a passage and image of Jesus we are all very familiar with.   We are not so familiar with Jesus as a gate or a door!

So, what can we learn spiritually in contemplating and exploring Jesus as the door or a gate?  What could Jesus have meant by this?   What are doors symbolically? 

Yes….hope, opportunity, a passage, change, transformation, entrance into new life…. 

As we know, there are many famous doors and gates around the world on many great buildings, structures, cathedrals, temples, and so forth.   What are some famous gates and doors?     […The Golden Gate…the gateway to America from the Pacific…..Torii gates in Japan….interestingly, they are red.]

Have you ever noticed that many Episcopal Churches have red doors? Many ancient houses going back to Biblical times also painted their doors red.    Why?  [It symbolizes safety, protection, sanctuary, leaving the ordinary, secular world and entering a sacred and holy place…]

Interestingly, in Scotland, if someone paints their front door red, in means they have paid off their mortgage! 

And references to gates and doors also are all over the Bible…in Matthew…”Enter thru the narrow gate, for the gate is wide that leads to destruction..”.  And in Luke, “ask and it shall be given, knock, and the door will be opened for you..”  In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says “I am standing at the door, knocking, if you hear my voice, open the door.”

Who has not at times prayed to God to open a door in our lives?..., such as a new opportunity to come our way, …or a new job?

Doors, gates…symbols of passage, transitions, changes…

Spiritual teacher Joyce Rupp  says a door can symbolize the human heart of our deepest self.  Do we dare go within? 

Yes opening the door to our heart can leave us vulnerable…. We can get hurt…. But it is also a way to spiritual growth, living in love, not fear….it is the way to God.

What doors have you opened in your life that brought you closer to God?  What life circumstances may have pushed you into a door that was perhaps very difficult…but led to much growth?  What doors may still need to be opened?  What doors, need to be closed? 

Yes....when we walk through that open door… we must also close the one behind us. 

There are many doors in our lives….many transitions, phases, chapters and seasons of life.  At each of these transitions, a gate or a doorway we go through. 

Think of all the seasons and phases of your lives…your childhood…. high school, college...marriage…careers….each chapter of life, and between each season… a doorway of transition.  In our lives, we walk thru so many doors.  These transitions are usually marked with ceremonies and rituals. 

And like I said, when we have that open door that beckons, we also must close a door behind us.  This really hit home with me yesterday…as I received a letter in the mail….and it had great impact on me.  Oh, I knew it was coming…but nevertheless, a door had officially closed.    It was from the United Church of Christ, the denomination I have been ordained with and endorsed for military chaplaincy for 12 or so years…plus more before I was ordained.  The letter was my official notification that I am no longer endorsed by the UCC…and basically, no longer affiliated with them any more.  Sigh.   

It really hit me.   My title now is “Transitional Deacon”…meaning I am in transition…soon to be an Episcopal Priest.  A new door I will walk through…

Yes in all our lives, many doors, many seasons, many gateways and doorways we pass thru. 

And Jesus said, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved… I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly…..I am standing at the door, knocking, if you hear my voice, open the door.”

Plane Rides $7

A conversation I had earlier today made me remember my days of flying as a private pilot.   A joy and excitement I have not thought of in a while.  I think of flying and to this day, I still get an energy rush, stronger than the strongest pot of coffee!

Funny, because it all started here in Sedona long ago.  Right where I am now....but now is all these years later.    Back then, I was in college and I played music on the weekends.  It was a great way to earn money while in school.  We (the band I played in) had a gig up here in Sedona, and we stayed the night.

The next day driving around, we saw a sign that said, "Plane Rides $7".  Our curiosity was peaked.  So we headed up airport mesa and took a ride.

My little plane, Cessna 24518, the plane I learned to fly in

The pilot was a young woman, a student at Embry Riddle.  She took us up and I sat in the co -pilot's seat.  We breezed above Sedona.  She let me take the yoke (the wheel), and I felt the wind as I turned the plane.

I was hooked.  I had to learn how to fly!

And so I did.  I took lessons in a little Cessna plane, a 152.  I still remember the tail n number, 24518.  In this plane, I learned to fly and earned my private pilot's license.

I wonder where that little plane is today...if it even still exists. But I found this old photo... 

And now, I have not flown as a pilot for over 20 years.  After I stopped flying, I wondered why, why I had learned to fly.  All those hours, the cost...and I did not become a professional pilot.  Oh well, it was fun anyway.  It was thrilling.  Great memories.   And I had a few spiritual lessons up there...

But years later I realized why.

Years later in life, I was (am) a chaplain in the military, the USAF.  Was it any wonder I wound up in the USAF?  Was it any wonder why I still love to be around aviation, and the people of aviation?  I know the lango of aviation.   It was/is great to serve the people of aviation.

Well, I may have never become a professional pilot...but there is a reason for everything in life.

We never know what the future may hold...in the things we do, the experiences we have, why we do them, the people we meet...

Or how taking a little plane ride for $7 can impact your life!

More Stories from the Edge of the Earth...Doing Shabbat in Antarctica

A recent talk I gave made me think about my adventures in Antarctica.   I did not write about all of them when I was down there. I just did not have enough time!  OK, so here is one more.  Read and enjoy. 


One day sitting in my office in the Chapel at McMurdo Station last October, a lady came in and asked me, "Are you the chaplain here?"   I told her that I was.  She asked, "I am Jewish, when am I supposed to do Shabbat?  The sun never sets here!"

Well, that was a stumper.  I had never been asked that one before!  And they don't write about these things in the textbooks.   Of course, I had never been to Antarctica before either.  She was right, it was  the Antarctic Springtime, the austral spring - summer and the sun went round and round in the sky, 24 hour sunlight!

I told her I would get back with her right away.

I emailed a colleague I know who is a rabbi and a chaplain in the New Zealand Navy.  I asked her, when should she do Shabbat?  The sun doesn't set here!

She wrote back, "Have her do Shabbat when the sun sets at the closest land mass to Antarctica".

And that would be New Zealand.

So I told the lady to practice Shabbat by following the sun set times for Christchurch, New Zealand!

And all were happy.