The Symbolism of Doors and Prayer

These thoughts are triggered by Fr. Austin's photo of a heavenly door at A Concord Pastor Comments , a book that I got from the library this week by Joyce Rupp entitled OpenThe Door and this Sunday's scripture readings that focus on prayer which can be found here
 
Ths is the opening quotation from her book

"Open the door of your treasure today,
for tomorrow the key will not be in your hands ."
- SA'DI









Image source 
and the following extracts ....

"O Key of David  and Sceptre of the House of Israel who opens and no-one shuts,
who shuts and no-one opens:
come break down the prison walls of death
for those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death
deliver your captive people into freedom."
                                                                             
( From the O Antiphons)

"Doors are a potent symbol for spiritual growth with seemingly no end to the insights that the image can yield . Opening the door of the heart reveals the vast treasure of who we are and how the sacred is present to us and in us and they can lead us to fuller union with God."

Joyce Rupps book is designed as a six week process with a reflection for each day of the week so I will share some of these,  add some reflections of my own  and whatever else springs from it each day on my blog.  
Transcript of interview with Joyce Rupp here


INVITATION 


If anyone would like to contribute their own personal  thoughts around the symbolism of doors and faith it would be great.








 I'll start with a quote from Week 1 day 1 

A door is truly an amazing thing .
Closed, it is an agent of separation......
                                                      
But swing it open and it becomes an invitation,
Uniting what before was separate 
                                                       - Drew Leider
                      ...................................................................................................

We will not allow our gifts and talents to be hidden
We will enter heaven through the door marked "create"
We will encourage all to contribute. Our ideas are a gift offered to God
We will enter  heaven through the door marked "participate"
We will be hospitable and supportive to one another, to visitors and to the wider church. We will engage with everyday life and connect with culture:
We will enter heaven through the door marked "engage"
We will not be afraid to fail but will push at our boundaries and try new things:
We will enter heaven through the door marked "risk"
We will go throuh these doors by the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that Jesus has  gone through them all first.

As the door creaked open further today, I came across this beautiful video on Praying with Images from the artist Meinrad Craighead . The music accompanying it is sublime too.  More info here


Meinrad Craighead: Praying with Images Preview from Amy Kellum on Vimeo.

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