Instructed by Gates

As many of you know, I am returning from a three-month renewal leave. Thank you for bearing with my absence, and with the necessary time to get on board again with the district ministries. Mary Lynn and I did a lot together this summer, but one key adventure was travelling to Scotland for the first time. We saw Glasgow, Edinburgh, the sacred island of Iona, Ben Nevis, Loch Ness, Saint Andrew's, and the Culloden battlefield, among other beautiful, historic, and mysterious places. We visited with wonderful people, many of whom we could barely understand! Our sons came along, too, so there was time to talk, hike, try haggis together, and go to the tiny villages in Fife County where the Oglesbee family originated, and the area from which Alexander Oglesbee emigrated to the Virginia colonies in America around 1750.

I titled this return post "Instructed by Gates" because we learned a lot from gates while we were in Scotland. One beautiful blue gate in front of a home at the seaside town of Oban said only, "Carpe Diem" ("seize the day"), and I realized I had been instructed by a lovely, small gate about life's callings to us. We really should seize the gate of the day, seeking the grace that awaits when we pass through! "Go through, go through the gates..." (Isaiah 62:10).

We also learned hospitality from gates, which if you think about it, seems contradictory to the purpose of gates. However, the national laws provide for anyone who wishes to do so to walk or hike over private property more or less at will. People may also camp on private property, more or less at will. The restrictions on this, especially out in the countryside, are that one does no damage, avoids stock animals, and stays out of the farms' living and work areas. Otherwise, you are free to wander.

We were deeply touched and affected by this, as we ourselves walked the paths and dirt roads. Property owners not only allow guests on their lands all the time, but they provide gates or stiles for easy passage over fences. Animals stay in, while travelers can conveniently pass through the fields and forests.

We could not help thinking again and again how differently private property is being viewed in Minnesota and in the US. We all know that most gates are intended to signal to others that the owners want no uninvited guests near the things that belong to them. These days, one risks being shot on sight for perceived offense. Yet in Scotland, that was not the case. The gates were signals of hospitality, which did not say, "Go away, suspicious person!", but instead, "Here is the way. Pass through here!"

This experience reminds one of the words spoken in the Gospel of John 10:9: "I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture." It was a very simple thing, but we were moved by it, and we are considering how the open gate signals grace and generosity in God's work through Jesus Christ, and we are wondering how to make the things we own, the property we have, and so on, something to be generously shared, rather than tightly guarded. I am considering getting a gate for my home, one without a fence at all, a gate that only serves to remind us to find the way to God--and to go through. Blessings to each of you!  --Clay