Door Keepers

We stand by the door. We neither go too far in, nor stay too far out, the door is the most important door in the world - it is the door through which men and women walk when they find God.

There is no use in our going way inside, and staying there, when so many are still outside and they, as much as we, crave to know where the door is. And all that so many ever find is only the wall where the door ought to be. They creep along the wall like blind beggars, with outstretched, groping hands . . . feeling for a door, knowing that there must be a door, yet they never find it, so we stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world is for men and women to find that door - the door to God. And the most important thing any person can do is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands and put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks and opens to one's own touch. So many die outside that door, as starving beggars die on cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter - die for what is within their grasp. Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it, and open it, and walk in, and find God . . . So we stand by the door.

Go in, great saints, go all the way in - go way down into the cavernous cellar, and way up into the spacious attic - it is a vast and roomy house where God is. Go into the deepest hidden casements, of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood. Some must inhabit those inner rooms and know the depth and heights of God and call out to the rest of us how wonderful it is. Sometimes we take a deeper look in, sometimes venture in a little further; but our place seems closer to the opening . . . so we stand by the door.

We admire the people who go way in. But we wish they would not forget how it was before they got in. Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even found the door. You can go in too deeply, and stay too long, and forget the people outside the door.

As for us, we shall take our old accustomed place, near enough to God to hear him and know he is there, but not so far from men and women as not to hear them and remember that they are there, too.

Where? Outside the door - thousands of them, millions of them. But more important for us - one of them, two of them, ten of them, whose hands we intend to put on the latch. So we shall stand by the door and wait for those who seek it. We'd rather be doorkeepers ... So we stand by the door. We stand by the door.

These words, written by Samuel Moor Shoemaker, are dedicated to those who devote their time and energy to serve as door keepers at The Peace Abbey.