Friday, March 01, 2024

The Village ILWIDIot

Walt Wiltschek

“They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in.” —Luke 24:2-3a, The Message

Perhaps some of you have seen “Monsters, Inc.,” the Pixar film in which fictional monsters use colorful doors to enter the rooms of children as they sleep. A door is selected, put in place, and opens a passage between the two worlds, which otherwise never come into contact. And, of course, all sorts of adventures ensue.

Doors can open the way to new and unexpected places and experiences. When we first turn the knob or lever or watch the panel slide aside, we never know what might greet us on the other side.

I once heard education described as a “process of door-opening,” which I rather like. As we learn new things or come to eye-opening moments, it changes the way we see things. Few things are better than watching a child as their face lights up with some fresh understanding. Life is best lived when we continually seek and embrace those sorts of moments. We, too, enter a new world, in a sense.

For some, doors open through travel to unfamiliar places. For some, it’s through reading books or watching good movies. For some, it’s through conversations with those who bring different life experiences or unique perspectives. For some, it’s through taking a course or workshop or webinar. Or it could be through any number of other things.

Over the next few weeks, we will approach and celebrate again one of history’s greatest door-openings. As we remember the stone rolling away to reveal an empty tomb, heralding Jesus’ resurrection, we are reminded that an impossibly open doorway changed the world in ways that still reverberate. “He is not here! He is risen!”

But it’s not enough to read the story or celebrate it in church. We, too, like those early disciples need to step across the threshold, daring to discover what might be on the other side as we seek new life, new hope, and new understanding. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that “A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” The same should be true of our spiritual selves as the reality of resurrection bursts upon us.

As the world around us seems increasingly unhinged, what new doors might you open today?