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today’s guest post is from callie newton of all things new.

“Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.’”  -John 7:37

photo credit: creative commons

I spent last weekend in New York City.  For a girl who grew up in Springfield, Missouri, walking through Times Square is quite a culture shock!  On the first day that we were there we walked a few blocks over from out hotel to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, historically one of the most famous Cathedrals in the United States.  It was certainly a sight to behold.  The building itself took up several city blocks, so the sheer massiveness of the Cathedral was awe inspiring.  The magnitude and detail of the décor, both inside and out was amazing as well.  The most fascinating thing about the Cathedral however, was not the building itself, but the people inside.

The diversity of those that were in the building was amazing to me.  Every nationality or race you could imagine was represented, as well as every different walk of life.  There were tourists, those just curious to take a glance at the building itself.  There were business men in suits and ties; there were single moms with three or four kids in tow; there were homeless people just trying to find a warm place to sit out of the rain; there were those their to worship and pray in a quiet place.  All the diversity of the world congregated under one roof.
I began to open my eyes and ears.  The building itself had lost my attention and it was quickly turned towards the people around me.  I watched as an obviously wealthy businessman knelt down to cry out to God in his three piece suit and wing tipped shoes.  He was visibly and audibly crying, bowing at the altar.  I observed four homeless men in a corner of the building that seemed reserved for them.  They laughed and talked like they were old friends who had made a habit of meeting in this corner of the Cathedral for years.  I noticed a mother praying over her three children and I also watched as hundreds of curious passerbys walked in and through the Cathedral, jaw dropped in amazement at its grandeur.
I could not get this Cathedral or the people I had seen in it out of my mind the rest of the trip.  If this building somehow represents a place where all can come, both the homeless and the high dollar, both the broken and the joyous, both the prayerful worshipper and the curious passerby…if these Cathedral doors are open to all of these no matter race or color…then how much more the heart of Christ?  If this Cathedral, built with the thought of Almighty God in mind, leaves its doors open to all who would come to it, then how much more open is the heart of Jesus to all who would come to Him?  Jesus said that ANYONE who was thirsty could come to Him and find a drink of water.  Was this Cathedral not just a visible example of that invisible Truth?
And, if this is the heart of Christ, that all may come to Him and find His heart open for them to sit and rest and drink, then how much more should our hearts be opened to these as well?