church of the open door, Philadelphia

Philadelphia. Were these 1st century folks bitter and did their chariots look like Camaros?

"Look I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut." 3:8

Philly, 1st century Philly I mean, is hte church that gets the most praise and it is the church that is under the most strain. It is the most persecuted church. However, the promise is that Jesus opens a door that will no longer be able to be shut.

I think that is a hope for all of us at times. We hope that when we are unjustly persecuted that God will settle the score. We can't settle the score, but one day and on that day God will settle the score. I think that is part of Christian hope. I recall in 1991 meeting with a group of women who were on strike in a sewing sweatshop. They had shutdown the sweatshop and freed women of bad working conditions. Only in 1991, NAFTA was on the drawing board. As we talked, we knew that the work would move from this side of the border to a Maquiledora in Mexico. The whole industry left by the mid 90's and then in a couple of more years all of the work went to China. A door that will never shut, when I meditate on that I imagine a world where all that mess is made right. Instead of that door sending jobs away where folks are exploited but where the door of justice is open. But for that to happen...I got to be comfortable paying more for a shirt. I am not sure in this advent if the Good News of Jesus making the world right is good news for my lifestyle. But, it has to be good news for my soul.

joy,
RevGuid