During the 2011-2012 congregational year, our minister Rev. Scott Alexander will be preaching a year-long, twelve-installment sermon series, in the hope that the series will lend some thoughtful consistency to our worship year together.

The image around which this sermon series is built is both ancient and spiritual. In the Book of Revelation, the final book found in the collection of Christian writings known as the New Testament, the author sees a vision of the New Jerusalem, the Holy City that God shall build when the world is finally set right in perfection, wholeness and peace. I quote from the book of Revelation:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth…and I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven…and [it] had a wall great and high, [and]…twelve gates…On the east three gates, on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates…and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon…for the glory of God did lighten it…and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there…and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

Here are the lyrics to a modern version of the old African American Spiritual, Oh What a Beautiful City, Hallelujah! based on this biblical image:

Three gates in the east
Three gates in the west
Three gates in the north
Three gates in the south
That makes twelve gates to the city, Hallelujah

Oh what a beautiful city
Oh what a beautiful city
Oh what a beautiful city
There’s twelve gates to the city, Hallelujah
Walk right in, you’re welcome to the city
Step right up, welcome to the city
Walk right through those gates to the city
There are twelve gates to the city, Hallelujah

Rich and poor, welcome to the city
Young and old, welcome to the city
Weak and the strong, welcome to the city
There are twelve gates to the city, Hallelujah

This sermon series will focus on Twelve Gates of the Human Spirit—twelve pathways or stances of the heart, if you will—that can help you to arrive at The Holy City of your own life. The twelve gates to the city allow for Divine Traffic between you, the world and others…or, put another, less traditionally theological way, the twelve gates to the city lead us to Right Relationship -- right relationship with self, right relationship with others, and right relationship with this glorious creation we find ourselves in. Over the course of this year, about once a month, we will together explore the structure and power of a different gate to the Holy City.

The three gates on the East are of the HEART:

Enthusiasm
Hope
Gratitude

The three gates on the West are of the MIND:

Mindfulness
Discernment
Stoicism

The three gates on the North are of the HANDS:

Justice
Generosity
Compassion

The three gates on the South are of the FEET:

Balance
Resistance
Fitness