The manse gate and front fence was put up before we arrived in Auckland toward the end of 1999. We asked for it to be built as we were concerned about the safety of our three young girls playing near the road. Since then it has been open and closed thousands of time, for many different reasons. Keeping children and pets in safety. Opening in welcome as children wrote and drew their welcome in chalk on the driveway. Driving in and out on all those typical family tasks that occur. The gate reminds me of the balance between safety and rest and welcome and feeding. We go out to be sustained and nourished in so many ways. We stay in to find rest and recreation. Relationship is found differently in the going out and coming in. This balance has been changed dramatically over the past month. But over time, the scales will begin to balance again. And perhaps we will discover a new way of going in and out –a changed focus on what is important as we come and go. This Sunday I am preaching on John 10 that describes Jesus as the gate, and I ponder how Jesus enables our going out in order to be nourished, our welcoming in and our need to withdraw into safe places. How in these days, might we still be called to move out to seek nourishment, how we might offer a different form of welcome, and how we might retreat into our safe places without any sense of guilt. The juggle of life may be overwhelming, or the tedium may be unravelling –but however we experience lockdown, I suspect we need to retain movement out and in.