Access

Over the past weekend I had the privilege of being a part of the medical team to provide support at the V8 supercars event on the Gold Coast. I'll admit, motorsports are not really a big interest for me, but it was great fun working with a skilled team (my wife included), soaking in the atmosphere of excitement, loud (very loud) noise and meeting people that I normally wouldn't cross paths with in my day to day life. As pictured above, it was a ticketed event that required a pass to be able to enter the event space; either as a patron or as staff/contractors. As with many events, a valid ticket is needed to be presented on entry to allow access to the area and all the perks that are afforded within.

Access as a concept itself automatically creates a boundary that arises between those who are included within vs those who are excluded. Reasons for creating this divide can vary depending on the scenario: it could be economic (paying customers vs those who aren't), privacy (when I work at the hospital I wear an ID to access staff only areas and patient details and information), security (I previously required and up to date ID with adequate security clearance to enter a military base) as examples from my own life, but there are many others.

Access can often give the feeling of being special/important to those that can get behind the veil. The exclusion of others gives some kind of excitement and the more people that are excluded, the greater the dopamine hit for the privileged few. As an example; at this race on the weekend, I and the majority of the team had a pass like that pictured above. This pass would allow us to access the vast majority of the event, however as you can see we could not access the grid. An even more rare and exclusive pass was required for this (and perhaps there were other levels beyond this!)

Sadly this kind of boundary can cause great issues too - animosity between groups, people excluded who are unable to access basic needs (refugees in a war-torn country or people from rural areas with less available healthcare options as examples). Getting access to a race is obviously not that important in the grand scheme of things, but access to food, water, shelter, love (thinking of those foster kids we mentioned in encouragement) is clearly necessary for a healthy life - and in some parts of the world (including parts of our own nation) these are hard to come by. A part of that basic need (and probably more important) is the need for hope. The hope of access to something greater can spur people on and push through adversity to get there.

I remember as a young person being invited to parties that required an invite to be presented, or having your name "on the list" to get through the door. Often times there were security personnel at the door to make sure only the invited few were able to enter. The invitation was key - those who were invited had an opportunity at access to the party. If they had there invite with them, or the name was there to be checked off all that was needed was to make the effort to attend. Biblically, this is similar to how access works for being welcomed to heaven. We don't need to have special security clearance, have superhuman skills, stack up volumes of good deeds or pay large sums. This has all been taken care of (thank goodness!). All are invited and thus all can have access. Here though as in the invite-only parties, the only requirement is for us to accept this invite. For the access to be granted we have to at least show up. Something to think about (and hope for) while the invitation is still available...

"For through him we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access to the Father" Eph 2 v 18