I was graduating from college in 1971 when John Lennon’s “Imagine” hit the airwaves.

“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky…”

I hated the song. Did I mention that I was graduating from college that year and going on to seminary to become the next Savior of the world?

No heaven? No hell? What would Christianity be like without the hope of heaven or the threat of hell? There’d be no reason for people to convert! I’d be out of a job! This was a song laden with heresy, atheism, spiritual scabies, psoriasis, and probably even sickle cell anemia! Who could fathom the horrible results of that song getting into the hearts and minds of people?

Imagine!

“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too…”

Well, it took a little time for me to warm up to Lennon’s “Imagine.” But today, I think I’m starting to understand. After leading churches for almost 40 years, I find myself using my imagination more than ever before. The years have taught me the need to rethink a lot of things I once took as absolute established truth.

“Heaven” being one of them.

Today I’m trying to be less an adherent to the Christian religion and more a follower of Jesus Christ. And there’s a difference between the two – especially when it comes to matters of “heaven” and “hell.”

The Christian religion as it is practiced in many quarters thinks about heaven as an otherworldly Paradise somewhere “up there” where people go when they die – and IF they are deserving of it. The deserving part is different from place-to-place. Sometimes it means “being good enough”. Often it means “believing” something about God, Jesus, the Bible and a whole host of other theological constructs. And for many, heaven is the place we will go to escape this wicked world.

But this “heaven” of the Christian religion is not the heaven of Jesus.

Jesus taught that heaven is the reign of God on earth. It is the world as God created it to be,  where God’s will is done, where people love God and each other. Heaven is the world at peace when people put God and others first, loving their neighbors as themselves. Heaven is that state of life where people share their blessings with each other and work together to ensure that no one goes hungry, poverty is eradicated, and no one is left out of life’s goodness. Heaven – for Jesus – is not pie-in-the-sky for a few, but a banquet table of life’s richness around which all people gather together as the beloved family of God.

“Heaven” is not a place individuals “escape to.”

“Heaven” is a new world of justice, love and peace we build together.

That’s why the very first words of the very first sermon Jesus preached were, “The time has come! The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Turn around, and believe the Good News!”

Imagine!