I wonder if we will ever go back to church meetings as they were, before lockdown? You know, when there was a Church Council, and it was dark and rainy, or thick fog and ice, and your first thought was that the sofa in your lounge looked a lot more inviting than a hard chair in a draughty church hall! Zoom meetings, whilst not being an ideal way of communicating with our church fellowship, and subject to poor internet connections, do have compensations, like not having to wrap up warm and get the car out on a winter’s night. Maybe virtual meetings will become seasonal! Whether we like them or not, we have got more used to virtual meetings and are becoming adept at joining them and hosting them. If you are the host, you command a lot of power because you choose when to admit someone to the Zoom room.
To admit someone means to allow them to enter. When we go to an event, we usually pay an admission, but sometimes a door will say, ‘No admittance’, on it, and you know that you are not allowed through it.
Jesus says that he is the Door or the Gate, depending on which version of the Bible you are reading, and he says whoever enters by him will be saved, and can go in and out and find pasture. No mention of ‘No admittance’ on that door. He also says (Revelation 3: 20) that he is standing at the door, knocking, and if we hear him, and open the door, he will come in and eat with us, and we with him. So, we are not dependent on someone else to admit us, but we have the will and the power to welcome and admit Jesus into our lives, ourselves.
Of course, there are two meanings to the word, ‘admit’, but in a way they both mean being open. If we admit that we have been wrong, or admit to doing wrong, then we are open to the truth, and we are told that the truth sets us free. When we admit to God our wrong doing, that is, to confess, then we are free indeed.
A Prayer
We are sorry for the times, Lord, when we wield our own power to admit, or to prevent, those who want to join our fellowship, our group or our friendship circle, because we think that they are not like us, or think like us, or act like us. Help us to be gracious, and respectful of other’s opinions or beliefs. Teach us not to be condescending or arrogant, but to embrace your promise that all are loved, and all are welcome through Jesus, the Door.
Help us to be honest with you, and with others; to acknowledge when we have messed up; to admit that we are not always right, and to be thankful, that in Jesus, we are forgiven, and can live in his truth.
Amen.