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Today, I want to invite you to heaven – well, to talk about heaven, and learn about heaven, and maybe even experience heaven. Our church family has gone through a number of deaths this past week, so we’ve got heaven on our mind these days. And today is the Sunday after the Christian festival of the Ascension. If you have ever gone to the Holy Land, you no doubt visited the Church of the Ascension, which is a little cylinder-shaped chapel on the top of the Mount of Olives. The church is built on the very spot where Jesus is believed to have ascended into heaven as was described in today’s readings from the Book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke..

So lots of things call us to heaven today.

You know, I have some friends who say that the Christian Faith would be complete for them even if there were no heaven. They feel strongly that the spiritual values and social ethics and moral principals of the Christian Faith are more than sufficient to cause us to follow Christ. Those things stand on their own, with or without an afterlife, they say. And I won’t argue with that testimony to the power and validity of the Christian Way. But I think these friends are missing something. You see, I believe that heaven is crucial to our lives. And heaven is one of the best of all God’s gifts to humankind, not just for tomorrow, but for today!

So this morning, I want to invite you to come with me to heaven!

What exactly is heaven, we might ask?

Well, it is not just life after death. Life after death is something that goes on in heaven, but it is not heaven itself. I would say that the Bible describes heaven as a very real though unseen spiritual dimension of life. It is like the air around us. Heaven is present everywhere, but it is hidden from our eyes for the moment. And the presence of God inhabits heaven.

One of the most beautiful descriptions of the pervasiveness of heaven is found in Psalm 139. The psalmist says that God has us completely hemmed in! We can run from heaven, but we can never get away.  Listen:

 “If I go up to the stars, you are there. If I go down the place of the dead, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there, your hand will find me!”

Heaven is everywhere. Heaven is present here in this sanctuary. It is in your home, at the hospital, at work, in your car, at school, by the sickbed, even at the funeral home. Heaven is everywhere – here in America, and in Japan, and in the Middle East, and in Latin America. Heaven is all around us!

That’s why the first sermon that Jesus preached began with the words, “Turn around! The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And one of the most important messages of our faith is that heaven seeks to invade our world, and can be opened to us, and its power and special gifts made available to our lives.

One night long ago, our Jewish forefather Jacob fell asleep. While he was sleeping, Jacob had a dream. Or was it a dream?

Jacob saw a ladder set up between heaven and earth, and the angels of God were climbing up and down the ladder, traveling back and forth between heaven and earth. And do you know what the angels were doing? They were bringing God’s help to people like us. They were bearing the gifts of heaven to the needs of human beings.

And on another night, also long ago, Jesus took three of his disciples up onto a high mountain, and while they were there, something like a doorway between heaven and earth seemed to swing open, and suddenly, the light of heaven streamed onto that mountaintop and Jesus was bathed in radiant light! And in that moment, when that doorway between heaven and earth was opened, Elijah and Moses – two Old Testament prophets who’d been dead for decades – suddenly appeared and came to Jesus. And through that mysterious encounter Jesus was strengthened for the journey ahead. And Peter and James and John who witnessed that divine moment said they heard the voice of God!

Heaven is a spiritual dimension of life that pervades our world.

Let me repeat that.

Heaven is a spiritual dimension of life that pervades our world.

And heaven overflows with gifts and power and resources that God wants to share with us as we journey on through life! And there are people here today who will tell you about times in their own lives when that doorway between heaven and earth swung open, and they experienced the amazing glory of God.

Perhaps you have had such an experience.

But what about the afterlife?

The Bible teaches that life goes on after death in heaven. But heaven is first and foremost about here and now and today! Jesus came not just to show us a Way to live. Jesus came to open the door between heaven and earth and to make heaven accessible to us! And it is in walking with Christ that heaven opens to our lives – right here on earth while we live!

Someone once said that God’s hope is not to get us into heaven, but to get heaven into us!

As you go about your life this week, I hope you will become sensitive to the presence of heaven. Most often, it is in times of silence, and prayer, and seeking God that heaven breaks in upon us. I hope you will ask Christ to bring heaven to you!

Now, a second thing we need to learn about heaven is that heaven is not the permanent residence for those who die. Heaven is not a morgue.

You know, in the early Christian Church, the people believed very strongly that Christ would return any day, and set up his Kingdom on earth. But they had a concern about this. Some of their loved ones had already died, and they were afraid these loved ones would miss out on the show!

It was St. Paul who, inspired by the Spirit, taught them something special about heaven. Paul said that heaven is indeed the place where our loved ones of faith are safely kept when they die, but only until the day Christ comes back to earth. And then our loved ones will come with him! And we will be reunited, together in the Lord forever!

Having gone through several deaths in such a short period of time as we have, we are very painfully aware of how these dear friends have gone from us. Sometimes when we think of heaven, we think of it as a sort of one-way street. Heaven is a place you go TO.

But the Bible invites us to think larger than that! Think of our loved ones not only going TO heaven, but one day coming FROM heaven to be with us again. And it’s interesting to me that, in the book of Revelation, we are given a picture of this large company of people who God keeps safe for us, and the question they ask is wonderful.

 “How long, Lord?”

“How long until the Kingdom is established, and we can go home?” these departed saints ask.

Maybe this anxiety on the part of those who have gone into heaven is the reason why people who are in the process of dying sometimes seem to see family members and friends who’ve gone on before them. I have been with people who, in the last moments of their lives, suddenly seemed to look upwards and call out their names! No one else in the room can see them. But they are there! It’s almost as if God has let those loved ones cross the line for just a moment to come and gather the one they love. It is like a joyous homecoming celebration, and those who are in heaven seem so anxious to come and meet us again. Perhaps this is just a foretaste of what it will be like when the Kingdom comes!

I, for one, am looking forward to the day the saints come marching home!

An unseen spiritual dimension of life that seeks to reveal itself and its treasures to people of faith. A place of safety and new life for our loved ones until we either go to them, or they come to us. Those are two beautiful parts of heaven. Here is a third.

Heaven, I believe, is intended to be like a compass.

No matter where you are on earth, if you have a compass, you can find your way. A compass always points to the North, and if you can find North, you can figure out where East and West and South are, and so successfully navigate to your destination. In the same way, I think heaven is given to us as a kind of directional guide. When we are going through tough times, and it’s difficult to know how we ought to live and what we ought to do, we can always look at heaven, and how things are in heaven, to find our way.

Three men die and meet St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter says to the first one, “Let’s see, according to the report I have on you, you’ve led an outstanding life. You’ve never been in trouble with the law, you haven’t committed any major sins, and you’ve belonged to the Community Church. You can go right on into heaven.” 

The first man opens the gates and walks in.

St. Peter says to the second man, “It says here that you’ve basically led a good life. However, you were involved in some mischief as a young man, and fudged a little bit on your income taxes in 1998. You can go into heaven, but first you’ll have to spend a little time in purgatory to repent from your sins.” 

The man shuffles off to Purgatory, grateful because it could have been worse!

St. Peter says to the third man, “You have had a very troubled life … you broke into a convenience store, you stole a car, you got into a fistfight with your neighbor. Why, you’ve broken all 12 of the 10 commandments! I’m afraid I have no choice. You will have to go and suffer in hell.” 

The third man sadly walks off toward hell. Then, all of a sudden, St. Peter stops him.

“Hey, wait a second!” Peter says, “Isn’t that a Buffalo Bills jacket you’re wearing? You’re a Bills fan?”

“Yes, been one my whole life,” says the man.

“Forget it,” St. Peter says. “Come on into heaven. You’ve suffered enough already.”

You know, Jesus told many stories like that. Well, not EXACTLY like that, but stories about what heaven is like. And in all of Jesus’ stories about heaven, people are always amazed by the generosity of God’s grace. People are cut a lot of mercy! God finds a way to transform suffering into joy! I think when I look at heaven, I see a realm where ordinary human beings are seen for their suffering more than for their sin, for their value more than for their failures, for their dignity more than for their disgrace. In the kingdom of heaven, the lowly are lifted, the broken made whole, the despised are accepted, and the last are made first.

When I look at heaven, I see the immensity of God’s love bringing life from death, light from darkness, and hope from despair.

And heaven tells me to go and love the world likewise. The world, you see, is full of Buffalo Bills fans.

An invisible spiritual dimension of life… a safe haven for our loved ones until we are reunited…a spiritual compass to give us direction…and one more thing.

…Heaven is what keeps us grounded to earth.

Did you catch the humor in our reading from Acts 1? While the disciples were standing there, gawking up into the sky as Jesus went out of sight, two angels came and stood alongside.

“Yoo-hoo!” they sang. “Why are you standing looking into the sky?”

You see, they needed to remind the disciples that our faith is not about “up there.” Our faith is about “down here”!

Unfortunately, many people have a hard time keeping their noses out of the clouds.

I was somewhat shocked some time ago to find out that the two people who wrote the “Left Behind” series of books also established a “Left Behind Prophecy Club” web site. Those who joined the Club would receive access to what was described as “an insider’s view” and interpretation of current events as they relate to end-time prophecy. You can log in and find out answers to burning questions like:

• Are we living in the end times?
• Could the events of today signify that the rapture and tribulation may happen soon?
• Are ATM’s the way the one-world government will control economic activity?
• Is the United Nations a part of the Anti-Christ movement?

These and other questions about the second-coming woukd be biblically answered for Club Members – all for the low, low price of $44.95 – a month!

Well, subscriptions did not exactly take off, so the monthly cost was been reduced to $6.50.

“Why are you standing, looking up into the sky?” the angels asked. “And why are you paying a monthly fee to read the future?”

Oh, how much wiser it would be to take your $6.50 a month, and use it to support an orphaned child here on earth.

Or take your $44.95 a month, and support a whole orphanage!

If somehow, we could harness all the energy that is expended in the Church just looking up and trying to figure out when heaven’s going to come, and apply that energy as Christian service to the world, we would SEE heaven break out all over the place!

Because, you see, that is the ultimate plan! The Bible says that God has a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things, things in heaven, and things on earth!

Heaven!

Heaven is all around us! It is a safe place for our loved ones. It is a compass. And it is a calling to serve God on earth!

Heaven is one of God’s most beautiful gifts held out and offered to you!

I hope you’ll open your heart to heaven!