Gates and Doors

This topic could be about a famous man named Bill who lives in Redmond, Washington and about an American rock band. But actually, this topic is about the kind of gates and doors that open and shut and that you go through to get from one place to another.

First – let’s think about gates and doors on the physical level. What are some of the more memorable gates or doors you have known? It could be a door to a house, a gate to a yard or a door to a special place. What doors do you have keys to? What gates do you have access to?

Think of examples of doors or gates that are guarded. Why are they guarded? Do you know of any gates or doors that you would like to go through but that you cannot go through? Why can’t you go through them? How could you get access?

Second – let’s think about gates and doors as a metaphor. A person can be a gate – someone who introduces you to new hobbies, new work, new ideas or new feelings. A class at school can be a door to a new major or a new idea of your future career. A key exam can be a gate that keeps you out of a certain university or gets you in. If you pass the exam, it opens the gate and you can enter. What kind of gates and doors have you already gone through in your life (as metaphors for changes in life)? What kinds of gate or doors do you know that you will face in the future? How will you open the gates? Do you have the necessary key? Do you have to pay something to enter?

Third – what are some of the major gates that everyone goes through in life? What are the different ways that people open those gates of life? (Another way to think of this is as phases of life.)

Fourth – at some time in life, you may fall in love, or someone may fall in love with you. At that time, you or they may ask the question, “What is the door to my loved one’s heart?” Think of someone you love. What is the door to their heart? How about you? What opens the door into your heart?

Take a look at the following metaphor. What could the metaphor mean? Can you think of any people that you could call a “gate”?

Jesus said, “I am like a gate for the sheep. All those who ever came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. I’m like a gate. Anyone who enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out. And he will find plenty of food. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they might have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.”

- John 10