Daily Archives: January 10, 2015

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 2:03 pm on January 10, 2015  

To Know This Life Was Good – Rev. David J. Schreffler

Are we free?
Are we slaves to things others convince us we need?
In our world even the most coveted things are worthless
without the ones who covet them – value is assigned by those
who have no value except in assigning…

I sit holding the thing I didn’t know I needed yesterday,
but today’s voices warned me I couldn’t live without it – will it
buy me one more day in my unknown tomorrows?

I can’t know every life; I wish I could.
I wish I could know all people, the unknown and the great lives alike –
in one great knowing.  How can we live with one foot in the past and one
in the now?   But what is now?  And the past – it is not interpreted until it
no longer means what it meant.

I want to know one life. To know this life was good.
To know the life of Jesus – he is life.
Know life? If so, then you will be a slave to no thing.
Know this life?
Good.

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 1:51 pm on January 10, 2015  

I Am The Door – Rev. David J. Schreffler

January 10, 2015

“I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
John 10:7ff

Jesus uses images in his teaching that are easily understood: vines, planting, sowing, harvesting, and of course, shepherding. For those listening to his teaching, these images were easily brought to mind. Now, living in the 21st century, it is not as easy to conjure up some of these images, and yet they are still within the minds capacity to find some usable images. For example, in the above mentioned text, Jesus uses the image of a door. Everywhere we go, unless it is in the woods, the mountains, or fields, we will find doors. Doors are usually not complicated – you either push, pull, turn the knob or try to traverse the revolving door. Most likely in your every day walk about life you have entered and exited so many, many doors you didn’t even think about it today. The actress Cher once said, “I’ve been up and down so many times that I feel as if I’m in a revolving door.” Now that is an example of a mixed up metaphor. But Jesus wasn’t mixed up in what he was saying.

To understand this metaphor, we must first understand a Middle Eastern sheepfold. We picture a corral or a barn but that’s not an accurate comparison to an ancient sheepfold. The sheepfold was a walled enclosure. It had no roof and was always open to the wind. The sheep didn’t climb the walls. There was only one entry, just one door to go in and out. The door was simply an opening in the wall. It was never a gate or even a door on hinges. It was just an opening. The shepherd, as the door, would lie down across the threshold and no sheep could get out except over his body, and no wild animal could get in over him. That picture helps us understand what Jesus is saying when He says, “I am the door.”

My friends, it is as simple as this. If you are outside in the bitter cold, or if you are running scared, nothing is as inviting and welcoming as a door to a warm, protected house, coffee shop, or even work place. Jesus is waiting for you and me – inviting us into a relationship with him, welcoming anyone who is drawn in by his warm embrace. Will you enter this door?

Pastor Dave