One window, one view, one reality.

Sometimes that's all we think there is, until someone opens the door, and we realize the house we've been living in is bigger than we imagined, more rooms, more windows, more truth. The world outside is larger than we imagined.

In this episode, we step into the story of windows and reality.

What it means to see more of God's world, more of God's love and more grace than we once thought possible.

I'm your host, Jeremy Johnson, and you're listening to Slutty Grace.

Suppose I live in one room of a house my entire life. I never leave this room, and this room has only one window looking outside.

To me, this window view, the trees, the hills, the sky, is all I have ever known, it is my reality.

It is my truth.

If someone were to ask me, Jeremy, tell me what the great outdoors looks like.

"The great outdoors? It has 3 trees, some grass, a tire swing, and an old dumpster." I would describe and most likely defend what I see from my window.

And why shouldn't I? It's all I've ever known.

But one day I hear a tap at my door.

Expecting it to be locked like all the other times. I try it, and to my surprise, it opens.

There is a kind, old woman. (There's always an old woman in great stories, isn't there?) She's standing in a hallway I've never seen. She greets me and leads me to another door down the hall.

I tepidly follow her.

She slowly opens the door, revealing another room.

I step in cautiously.

I am floored.

This new room is very different from mine. It too has a window. I approach it, drawing back the curtain, and for the 1st time I see a new view of the outside world. There's a house, a road. Look, there's a dog I've never seen, but they were there all along, simply out of view from my old window.

My outside world just changed before my eyes, bringing both excitement and a bit of unease. Reality as I knew it, shifted.

And the old woman smiles at the gift she has given me.

But she's not done. 

She takes my hand.

She leads me to another room and another and another. Each a bit different, each with a new window, each revealing more of the world.

After a few rooms, I start to realize the outside world in this house is much bigger and more vibrant than I ever imagined. What I once feared, or really just didn't know, change difference, newness, now brings joy and curiosity. I actually begin to anticipate what each new room and window will show me.

Finally, the old woman sits me down in the living room, a room I haven't been in yet, and she tells me this. The house, her house is mine to explore. All the rooms and windows are available to me.

Much like a home makeover show, she invites me to discover each corner, each view, and I do running from room to room, delighting in every new perspective, each window, a gift of a new reality.

After some time, she finds me and takes my hand once more. I'm tired from running around, but she leads me to yet another door. She opens it, and fresh air rushes into my lungs. The sunlight is blinding and spectacular on my warm skin.

Glass no longer separates me from the outdoors.

She leads me outside.

And suddenly, I experience the world in full.

Its scents.

It sounds. Its breeze.

It explodes with life.

Once again, my reality shatters, and her reality emerges.

She lets go of my hand and runs ahead, turns back and calls, "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

I snap out of my trance and I run, skipping, laughing, into the great outdoors.

I want to ask, what does this story mean to you? How does this story speak to you?

Can I share mine?

For me, it's an analogy of my personal journey and walking with different expressions of the Christian faith. Evangelical Baptist, non-denominational, Pentecostal, vineyard, Presbyterian, Episcopal. Each expression, a community that I walked with, offered new insight, new windows in a gods full of reality.

Not any one of them had a full handle on the truth, though some might argue differently. But taken together, the Christian faith, and I would argue some aspects of all faiths reveal more of God's truth than any single expression.

And this is the beauty of the body of Christ. What Paul described as eyes, noses, arms, feet. Each part is needed, each part valuable.

May we learn to embrace each expression, rather than argue against it and expel it. Because one day we will see God's full reality, and we'll realize that as finite humans, we were all a little wrong, in some way, in some degree.

In the end, I'd be amazed if I even got 7% of God's truth, correct?

And that is the joy of discovery.

Each room, each window, each perspective leading us towards the fullness of what has always been there.

This is the gift of exploration. The gift of seeing, of learning, and ultimately, of stepping fully into God's reality.

As we've seen, each new window is a gift, an invitation to see more of what has always been there. And one day, the glass itself will fall away, and we will step outside completely into the fullness of God's reality.

Until then, let's keep exploring together.

Maybe treasure each view that we're given.

May we embrace the beauty in every room. 

And may we honor the perspective in every person because in the end, grace is bigger than any single window.

So thanks for listening. 

Until next time, live in grace. And if you can, share that grace.