“FLING WIDE
THE GATES”
|
|
A sermon preached Readings Psalm
24, Isa 40:1-11,
Mk 1:1-8 |
“Fling
wide the gates. Open the ancient
doors.
And the King of glory will come in” (Psalm 24:7)
Traquair House is one of the great
baronial houses Scottish Borders -.
If you have ever been there,
you’ll know that in front of the House
there is a great tree lined avenue
leading to a great pair of gates -
gates which are kept firmly shut and permanently locked.
Now back in the Autumn of 1745
Bonnie Prince Charlie visitied Traquair
in the course of his ill fated Jacobite rebellion
against George II.
So the story goes, as Charles Stewart left the House,
the Earl of Traquair wished him well on his journey
and,
closing the gates after him,
promised that should not be opened again
until a Stuart should sit on the throne of Britain.
And of course Charles was defeated at Culloden,
escaped over the sea to Skye,
and never regained the British
throne.
And so for 260 yrs, the gates of Traquair
have remained locked,
often overgrown with weeds -
as a later poet put it,
“The wind through the rusted iron sings
The
sun on the self sown tangle burns
But
never a hoof on the roadway rings
The
gate is shut till the King returns”
It is in
many ways a sad story of a house
which gave up looking for the King to return
and allowed the rust and the weeds to proclaim
that he was no longer expected.
How
different from our Scripture Passages today –
full of Advent hope and expectation –
our Lord and God is coming –
get ready for his imminent arrival!
Make
straight the way of the Lord! (Isa 40)
Fling wide the gates! (Psalm 24).
So this
Advent the question we need to ask
of our lives, our Church, our world, is this –
Are we
ready and waiting the arrival of the King?
Are we
making straight the way,
throwing open the gates to let God into our lives?
Those of you who know Stainer’s Crucifixion
will know there is a very long chorus in the middle
entitled “Fling wide the gates” –
in the course of which that phrase is repeated
over and over and over again.
I remember my grandfather going to a village chapel
to hear a choir attempt (with only very limited success)
to sing the piece.
What did you think of it? I asked afterwards.
Well, he said – I reckon they did as best they could –
they kept on trying to get them there gates flung open,
but it was a hard job -
I reckon they could have done with a bit more oil on hinges”.
Have we
allowed the gates to rust up?
Do we
really expect the King to come into our lives, our world???
·
Have
we allowed our twisted relationships and sins
to grow up around the gateway?
·
Have
we neglected the upkeep of the road
through indifference or thoughtlessness?
·
Or
have we maybe specially padlocked and barred the gate
the better to protect our most fiercely guarded secret sins?
Here is
an Advent spiritual exercise.
Look at your life –
Ask
yourself: Am I welcoming God in –
or are there bolts and bars on the gate?
If so
what are they?
What is
it in my life that keeps God out?
And never
forget the Advent message –
The King of Glory has not given up on us,
He has not fled over the sea to Skye -
He is coming back at the end of time
and he comes here and now, seeking entry into our lives.
All the time we bar the door,
Christ stands there with his lantern, saying [Rev 3:20]
“Look, I stand at the door and knock -
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come into his house and eat with him and he with me”
And will
you pull back the rusting bolts
and pull open the gates of your heart?
Or are
you frightened what God may demand once he is within?
The great
19th Century preacher Charles H Spurgeon
ministered to a huge congregation
of poor working people in South London.
The story
is told of one of his congregation
an old lady who could not afford to pay the rent.
She was frightened the bailiffs
and the rent collector would come and give her a hard time.
Spurgeon
knew of her problem,
and so took some money and went to he little flat to hand it over.
He went back to the flat 3 times and knocked on the door -
but got no reply.
Sadly he went away, the gift still in his pocket.
Next Sunday he met the lady at Church.
I came and knocked, but you did not answer, he said.
Oh I dared not open the door, she said -
I thought you were the rent collector,
so I kept the door locked.
So comes
Christ to knock on the door of our lives -
we may think he comes to judge and destroy -
no he comes to set us free!
Whoever,
whatever we are, however dark the night.
This week Anthony Walker’s mother spoke to the press
about the men who had killed her son in Liverpool.
How easy it would have been for her
to shut herself away in darkness and despair.
But no – she came out and said of the killers:
“I forgive them”
The editor of the Sun said she was wrong –
but she wasn’t wrong -
She was following the way of the Saints –
who in their darkest hour
somehow still manage to open their lives to God
and find that in so doing the light of his love lights their darkness –
and however narrow the crack in the door,
it is dark no more.
It is
years ago now that I last visited the closed gates of Traquair.
Afterwards we travelled on north and west into the highlands,
until finally we reached one of my favourite spots –
the
Isle of Iona.
Imagine
if you will a summer’s evening on the Island of Iona,
the sun sinking low over the sea, -
pilgrims gathered together from many different places -
all types and conditions of folk -
gathering in the Abbey for prayer.
And as
night falls outside,
the pilgrims hear together the words of the simple Iona evening liturgy –
maybe you know the words -
When the lights are on
And the house is full
And laughter is easy
And all is well,
Behold I stand at the door and knock.
When the lights are low
And the house is still
And the talk is intense
And the air is full of wondering,
Behold I stand at the door and knock.
When the lights are off
And the house is sad
And the voice is troubled
And nothing seems right,
Behold I stand at the door and knock.
And tonight, always tonight,
As if there were
no other house,
no other people,
No other door,
Behold I stand at the door and
knock.
That is
how the great Lord of Hosts comes
to each and every one of
us
this
Advent-tide.
How will
we respond?
Fling wide the gates!
Open the ancient doors!
And the king of
glory shall come in!!