A taste of Heaven

I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb." Revelation 7:9-10 (NIV)

What is Heaven like? In the passage from Revelation, John tries to describe the vision of Heaven he was given – a great multitude from every nation, tribe and people standing round the throne of God, worshipping with joy and excitement.

John's vision was of the people of God, gathered in the presence of God, praising God.

A vision of Heaven but also, if you think about it, a vision of church on a Sunday morning: The people of God, gathered in the presence of God, praising God.

So in some ways, Heaven is like church for all eternity…

Excited yet? No? Didn't think so. Luckily, there's quite a big difference between Heaven and a church service. Church is a signpost to what's to follow and a sign can look pretty basic compared with the real thing. The silhouette of two children only gives a hint at the bustle and life of an approaching school. In the same way, lots of what happens at church only gives a hint of the wonder of Heaven.

Take the ceremony of communion as an example. Communion is a symbol and reminder of many things but one of those things is a feast – the feast to be celebrated by God and his people at the end of time when everything is made new.

Now there are lots of things we don't know about Heaven and that we really can't imagine. We are creatures of time and space and a world not of time and space is beyond our understanding.

Still, I think we can safely say that, in some form, a celebration feast laid on by God is going to be substantial, satisfying and delicious.

I don't know about you but the last time I took communion, I got a miniscule square of bread and a thimbleful of grape-juice. Substantial, satisfying and delicious? Not exactly.

It certainly wasn't a feast but there was thanksgiving, remembrance and togetherness – a taste of what it's going to be like sharing a meal together in full, unhindered communion with each other and with God.

Perhaps only the merest taste but still a sign of what's to come...

Heaven

When I was a teenager, before I became a Christian, I moved to a new school and, fairly early on, I was in a class where we had to share our ambitions. I didn't know anyone that well and so I didn't know what they would say. It was quite an eye-opener.

Some of the ambitions people had were pretty standard – to make lots of money or have a family, that kind of thing. Others were a bit more outlandish, involving such goals as winning an Oscar. Some were downright strange – such as an ambition to have a conversation with a dolphin. (But that was mine, so it doesn't really count.)

That wasn't the wackiest ambition, though. That came from a girl I respected and that I knew was talented and clever. Her ambition, bizarrely, was to get to Heaven.

To get to Heaven? I couldn't quite believe it. In my mind, Heaven was a concept on about the same level as Santa's Grotto – very white, full of niceness and presided over by an old man with a fluffy beard. It was a place you told children about at Christmas.

To want to go there, either my friend was mad or she had a very different concept of what Heaven was like.

She wasn't mad.

Let's face it, my image of Heaven was lifted straight from cartoons. Discussing what she thought and why it was so important to her, was one of the things which made me take Christianity seriously.

That was worth turning up to school for.

Statement of Faith

I believe an awful lot of things.
But what's important? Sometimes I don't know.
That there's more to the world than meets the eye?

Certainly.

That God became man?

Definitely.

He lived to show us how to live.
He died to set us free from our own lifelessness.
His resurrection brings us hope.

What else?

Does it matter apart from:

God in all and through all.
God before and God behind,
Above, below and by our sides.
To be loved with heart and strength and mind and soul.
To be loved through love of others.
To be loved.
Loved.

The River

Bob lived in a house by the river. It was a quiet life, just pottering about and sitting in the sun. Occasionally, he worried if there was some kind of purpose to things but there was usually a friend around to cheer him up and, for the most part, he enjoyed himself.

One day, Bob looked across the river and for the first time he really noticed the meadow on the other side. He was also rather startled to see a man sitting there, looking back at him. The man waved. Bob grinned nervously and then, with as much dignity as he could manage, he ran back into his house and hid. He didn't venture out again for several days. When he did, the stranger was still waving.

'Who are you?' yelled Bob, across the river.

Miracles

Bob: If God exists, then prove it.

Sam: What sort of thing were you thinking of?

Bob: I dunno. How about a miracle?

Sam: Miracles aren't very convincing.

Bob: What do you mean?

Sam: God's done all kinds of miracles - floods, plagues, parting the sea, making the sun stand still in the sky, bringing people back to life, the works. Hasn't convinced you yet, has it?

Bob: They don't sound very likely.

Sam: That's kind of the point. Miracles tend to be out of the ordinary.

Bob: But it makes them hard to believe if you weren't there.

Sam: So you'd be more likely to believe a miracle you hadn't seen if it was a bit less, well... miraculous.

Bob: Yes.

Sam: My headache went away last week when I prayed about it. If I tell you about that, will it help convince you of the existence of God.

Bob: Er... Probably not.

Sam: What will?

Bob: I think I'd need to see a miracle for myself.

Sam: How often?

Bob: Pardon?

Sam: Would one really big miracle do you a lifetime? Or would you need something less spectacular once a decade? How about a minor miracle every other Thursday?

Bob: How minor?

Sam: A vision perhaps. Or an improbable escape from a pack of hungry lions?

Bob: What? Every fortnight?

Sam: You might chalk it up as luck or coincidence the first few times.

Bob: Actually, I'm busy on Thursdays.

Sam: How about a paralysed man suddenly being able to walk?

Bob: Oh, seen that already.

Sam: What?

Bob: He was sitting there and then he started dancing around excitedly. Wasn't that much to see.

Sam: And you didn't find that convincing?

Bob: It's not like I actually knew the guy...

Sam (shakes head): What would convince you then?

Bob: Er... Now you come to mention it, I'm not entirely sure...

Sam (sighs): This really is going to take a miracle, isn't it?

Faith

'Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.' Hebrews 11:1

What does that mean?

For some people, faith is impossibly yielding. There's a vague sense of something spiritual to life and a belief that it will all work out in the end, but not much more. For other people, faith is impossibly unmoving and resistant to reason. For them, the way to live is set in stone.

Yet faith is more than that. Faith is strong but faith is dynamic. Faith and hope and love bind the marriage between the church and Christ, between humanity and God. A marriage requires more than a vague belief things will work out. There has to be a willingness to learn new things and to adapt to new situations. The husband and wife need faith in each other to keep the relationship alive. They need to trust in each others' loyalty and commitment.

In the same way, Christian faith is trust in God and loyalty to God born of experience of God's character.

'Faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.'

Faith is being certain that God will keep on carrying us even when we can't see his presence.

Faith is being certain of God's purpose to bring the whole world together in peace through his power and love.

Faith is being certain that we have our own part to play and that God still has faith in us, even when we are full of doubt.

And hope...? Hope is more than day-dreaming. It's keen anticipation of unhindered life with God in the world to come.

God with us

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Genesis 8-10 (NIV)

And God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? You have, haven't you? Oh, for crying out loud - I was only gone a few hours." And then the Lord rolled his eyes, sighed and muttered to himself. "Children..."

If God exists, why isn't his presence a little more obvious? After all, it would make things simpler. We'd know where we stood. If he was around a bit more, we could get to know him better, find out what he's planning, learn who we're meant to be and, I dunno, maybe drink a couple of beers and discuss exactly what he was thinking when he came up with the platypus. Prayer, the Bible and a very occasional miracle are all very well but having God around 'in the flesh' as it were would certainly increase his popularity. Church attendance would soar. Hey, who knows? With Almighty God looking over our shoulders the whole time, we might even have a shot at world peace and tackling climate change.

It'd be great. You know, just like in Eden with Adam and Eve. That went really well. Or with the Israelites when he led them out of Egypt and his glory took up residence on top of Mt Sinai. They were so impressed it was nearly six weeks before they started worshipping their own jewellery. And, of course, there was that incident a couple of thousand years ago - that...

Oh, hang on...