Excerpt from Psalm 84

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Living in the courts of the Holy is a great way to understand an ordinary day. We go in, we go out. Doors mark our time. We are not stuck anywhere. We are people on the move, from one holiness and one strength to another. We go from strength to strength.

Unfortunately we are habituated to living courtless lives. We find ourselves spending time in the tents of wickedness, whether we want to or not. We imagine that our 401K's ups and downs define our security. They do not. We imagine that having health insurance is the key to having health. It is not. We imagine that very little can be done to stop crime or properly reform criminals. Indeed, when we stand at the gate of the holy, we are filled with ideas for forgiveness, reparation, renewal of those, including us, who have "gone wrong." 

There is nothing permanent about the tents of wickedness for us or for criminals. What is permanent is the court of the holy. We can spend every day there.

When we imagine our lives as doorkeepers to the courts of the holy, we let go of what we think is the norm on behalf of a new normal. We live a different way, as people who "wake up and smell the possibility," in the great words of Alice Walker.

Prayer

Spirit of the Living God, tell us what it is that keeps us from being good doorkeepers. Give us detail. And then send us to the gates and there let us move in and out of holiness with joy and gratitude. Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church, New York, New York.

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