Acting Up and Out ~ The Church Today

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”  Acts 3

A beautiful gate.
One that separated who would be let in and who was to keep out.
How could that be beautiful?
One that King Herod ordered artists to fill with images that delighted the eye and stirred the soul.
But still, it was a gate.
Yes, it distinguished and defined...and maybe today opens our eyes to the gates around us.
Gates that years ago proclaimed, "No Irish Need Apply" or "Whites only"
Gates that still today have realtors subtly try to steer certain people away from certain neighbors.
Gates that still today have men and women doing the same job, but cashing checks of differing amounts.
Gates of laws and legislative prejudice about whether LGBT can adopt or if businesses can refuse service.

Gates are not new.
Gates still let some people pass through with barely a second glance.
While others are stopped and frisked and asked, "What are you doing here??"
Gates that swing wide open for some and slam shut in the face of others.

Peter stood at the gate and asked the man there to look at him.
Might that be the call for the church today?
To go to the gates.
To see those who are shut out as beloved children of God.
To see those who struggle and are often invisible.
To see God's fingerprints upon those at the gates.

To do that might not be the Mona Lisa...
But it is beautiful.

May the traces of God's grace be with you in beautiful ways as you go to the gates that still exist in our world today.

Amen~~