Recently I heard a talk by a minister in which he challenged everyone present to open our hearts and our churches to the "door people." "Door people," he said, are those who are standing in the doorway of our life or the doorway of our community, not really outside but not fully inside.

They stay near the door, literally or figuratively on the edge of our community. They might be people who are deciding whether to come in or stay out. They might also be people who are trying to come into the community, but no one gives them the invitation they need.

Sometimes we are so busy being a community or a family that we become a closed group. It is not just children who exclude. None of us wants to be a door person and none of us intends or decides to exclude. But it be can more comfortable, can’t it, staying with people who look like we look or think like we think? Christ deliberately reached out to the "door people" such as Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, the convict on the cross by him, and the leper. When we live the gospel by reaching out, as Jesus did, our own hearts are expanded and our lives are truly enriched as well. Look around. Do you see any "door people" in your life?

Jean Marie Hiesberger