From The Desk of Deacon Judy

Where the Grace Lives

As I prepare for my AFEDJ Board Retreat, my thoughts drift to the land of the Holy One.

The Reverend Timothy Dale Jones, deacon and poet extraordinaire, traveled on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His most recent book, Where the Grace Lives, reflects on the pilgrimage in prose and poetry.

His closing meditation – About Grace that Hinges Toward Open – muses about the ancient wooden doors on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Here pilgrims visit the place where Jesus was crucified.

Tim’s closing remarks about the massive cedar doors speak of the welcome Jesus wishes for all:

“…wide-open doors for all people. It’s a potent image of the open invitation that is central to the Christian faith, an enduring symbol of the welcome that Jesus offered throughout his life and ministry. Truly, that’s where the grace still lives.” (p. 156)

About Grace that Hinges Toward Open (p. 157)

Imagine how we would live if we knew the doors were always, open, if we could see clearly all that’s on the other side waiting to welcome us.

Imagine what we would do for each other, or stop doing to each other, if everyone could get in without illusions of control, if there were enough grace, love, food, blood, sacraments for everyone, if the brightness of God in everything right in front of us made us squint, almost blinding, so that all our differences appeared small, fragile, straw.

Imagine the quiet things we could learn to speak if we looked back at the world and saw more than ourselves, an epiphany of others siphoning off everything except companionship.

Imagine what holy medicine such open doors would be.

Eastertide Blessings,

Judy Q+