GOOD SAM'S NEW LOOK :
Why the red doors?

The Rev. Bob Furniss
(from the Sauk Centre Herald, 10/28/97)

Have you noticed something new on Main Street? The Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan recently had their front doors painted red, following a common tradition in the Episcopal Church. The job was done by Ken Quinlan of Sauk Centre, whose father, as a good Episcopalian, expressed surprise that the doors were not already the "proper" color. Perhaps you, unlike Ken's father, find the red color surprising and wonder what is the significance of red doors on Episcopal Churches.

In the earlier days of the church it was understood that a soldier could not pursue an enemy that had entered through the red doors of a church. The red doors were a symbol of refuge and sanctuary for all people who entered. To all concerned the red on the doors signified the blood of Christ that had been shed so that all who came to him could be saved. Anyone who passed through those doors was safe as long as they stayed behind them.

Over time, Christian people began to see the red doors of the church as symbolizing not only physical refuge and safety, but spiritual refuge as well. The blood of Jesus, and of the Church's martyrs, that the red doors of the church symbolized, would protect you from evil, both physical and spiritual. The red doors spoke to the world of holy ground that existed inside those doors, space that had been purged and made clean by God's Holy Spirit. Today people choose to paint their church doors red for many of the same reasons that churches did centuries ago. The Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan, as I'm sure your church does (even if it doesn't have red doors), would like to be recognized as a place of peace, refuge and salvation for all people in our community.

In a world where change seems to happen at a pace that leaves us wondering and uncertain, we hope that our churches proclaim through Word, Sacrament, and Ministry the unchanging truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. In a world where our own sins, and the sinfulness of our human condition, leave us feeling broken, and separated from one another and from our loving God, we hope that our churches can be a place of forgiveness and reconciliation.

In a world where illness and disease abound, where relationships often seem broken beyond repair, where people feel that the cultural values of the day leave them spiritually wanting, we hope that our churches can be a place for physical, emotional and spiritual healing. In a world where domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and physical, emotional, and sexual abuses of all kinds abound, we hope that our churches can be places of safety, where every person's worth and dignity can be affirmed and protected.

It is our hope and prayer that the red doors of The Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan are a regular reminder to all people who pass by on Main Street, that this, and every other church in this community, is meant to be a place of refuge and safety from the physical and spiritual evils that we encounter each day.