Introduction
(reference to sketch) An alien who complains about too few open doors...
I don't know if there are aliens, I don't think it's unlikely, but I don't know.
I once saw a photo taken by the Saturn probe Cassini of the Earth from Saturn. The Earth was just a tiny dot, paler than many of the stars around it, a speck of dust in space.
You could start philosophising. Why is there so much pettiness here, why don't we see the big picture, why don't we all get together and solve the problems together?
I sometimes have thoughts like that too, but somehow humanity isn't a "we", at least we don't behave like one. The trend seems to be going in the other direction, with everyone isolating themselves even more in their bubble with like-minded people. At least that's how it seems to me.
Every now and then there is such an overarching awakening, where suddenly many people stick together and help each other. We were able to experience this here in Leichlingen after the tragic flood disaster, this mutual support and help was fantastic.
But with other topics, such as climate change, it somehow doesn't work.
People call each other names on social media because everyone else is stupid. I'm exaggerating a bit now, but even in a Leichlingen Facebook group - I'm older, Facebook - that I follow, the tone is sometimes pretty rough, especially when it comes to hot topics like climate change, migration, coronavirus, the war in Ukraine, etc.
Sometimes, or sometimes often, I also roll my eyes at statements and think, no, I don't need that right now.
I often don't want to say what I think about such exciting topics. It's not really important either. There is no party, no government that takes up my thoughts and says, whoopee, we'll do it the way you think is right. That probably wouldn't be good either.
I could join the huge crowd of forum commentators and twitterers and sometimes I write something in a forum, but I have resolved to only write things that I could say face to face. I'm still a learner, but I'm getting better.
Locked doors
Let's get back to open doors. Wouldn't it be better if the "we" also existed when the city wasn't under water?
In the Christmas story, as it is described in the Bible, it was already difficult with "we" (Luke 2, 1-7; HFA, abridged):
They had to go on a journey that they didn't want to go on, because who wants to go on a journey like that while heavily pregnant because of a census? But they had no choice and when they arrived, there was no room, no open door for them.
Perhaps the city was so full that all the rooms were already occupied by similarly needy people, but I rather suspect that from the locals' point of view these strangers, who were now travelling from everywhere because of these unpopular Roman tax lists, were not welcome anyway.
There was no "we", people preferred to keep to themselves and hoped that these strangers would soon disappear again.
They already had a lot in common, because hardly anyone liked the Roman occupiers. But, then as now, we prefer to stay in our familiar circle, in our familiar bubble.
Open doors
In the church at the time of the Bible, this was apparently also sometimes a problem.
There is a passage in the Bible where the right behaviour of people who live with Jesus Christ is first considered.
It's about discarding life at the expense of others, unrestrained behaviour, greed, uncontrolled outbursts of anger, lying to each other, etc. And it is possible to embark on such a path of change.
This section first leads into the sentence (Colossians 3:10; NT):
It's a process that doesn't work on its own but comes from God and I personally realise that I still have a long way to go.
And then come the open doors again (extract from Colossians 3:11; HFA):
It seems that people mainly stayed in their own cultural environment and had reservations and prejudices about others, just as many people today mainly stay in their own bubble.
For the church at the time, it was important that people left their narrow views behind and opened themselves up to other people with whom they might not otherwise have much to do. It doesn't matter where you come from, what your background is.
Perhaps we also need to change personally, similar to what was described earlier, in order to become open to other people. Of course, the familiar is always more comfortable, and it is naturally more comfortable in the comfort zone than outside it.
Jesus' open door
I personally can't do it on my own. And that is why I am travelling with Jesus Christ. He always has an open door and Jesus himself puts it this way in a Bible verse (Matthew 11: 28.29; NT):
This verse is not about the church, but about personal contact from Jesus Christ to man. This can be the start of a positive change.
As a child, he was pushed outside into the stable, but as the Risen One, he invites each and every one of us in. And I would like you to remember this when you hear about Jesus Christ at Christmas time.
Summary
Let me summarise:
- Unfortunately, we often live in our own environment and open ourselves little to others outside our bubble. This was apparently also the case at the time of Jesus' birth.
- In order to be able to open up to others, you also have to be prepared to change yourself.
- Jesus Christ invites us: