Months ago, while I was still discerning whether God was calling me to Platt Park Church, I engaged in an exercise of prayerfully imagining who this community truly is. I scoured the website, copied the text of the church’s vision and values, and studied every picture I could find online. Then I prayed through each element, listening for what God might be saying to me.
What He showed me was beautiful—glimpses of a genuine and humble heart in this church, a leadership marked by joy and obedience, simply seeking to be who God has called us to be. As I began meeting with various groups, I encountered more and more remarkable people who lovingly call this place home.
Eventually, I found myself drawn to a central image of Platt Park Church: the blue doors. I didn’t know the story or history of the doors, but I paused and prayed, asking God what He might be saying through these inviting blue doors.
A few days later, while rereading one of my favorite books—The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer—I came across this line:
“The whole outlook of mankind [humankind] might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty, is eager to be friends with us.”
Could that be it? Could the blue doors simply be a symbol of that “friendly sky”? God’s heart toward us all? A quiet, humble invitation—an extension of peace, hope, and goodwill from God to humankind?
If I can, let’s get a little personal…
How does that land with you?
Do you believe that’s true—for you?
Can I believe it for me?
In my life as a pastor, I can be patient and kind to nearly anyone God places in my path, but the person in the mirror… allowing God’s love to be true for him? That’s a deep, ongoing work. It’s easy to affirm the theology of God’s love, but how does it settle into our story? Can you carry it into your everyday life—the woman or man in the mirror—again and again?
Friends, we dwell under a friendly sky, and the God of heaven is eager to be friends with us. What a glorious story we are actually living in!!
As we walk forward together, join with me in living out this mystery and the beautiful truth we sing each week in our benediction-
Father, Son, and Holy One,
may your loving grace.
Sweep us off to play with you,
within your strong embrace…
Peace and all blessing,
James