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11/2/08: Festival of All Saints (Series “A”) Rev.

Karen S. Cook

I Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 5:1-12 (Pew Bible p.837)

WHAT IF HEAVEN STARTS NOW?

Do you ever wonder what heaven is like?
The Bible has many different visions of heaven. Ezekiel saw a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing continually inside of it. In the middle of the fire was something like gleaming amber. In the middle of that he saw something like four living creatures each with four faces and each with four wings. One face was human, one a lion, on an ox and one face an eagle’s. And for each of the living creatures, there was a wheel. And the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. Wild, huh? Sounds like a great Halloween costume!

There’s Isaiah’s vision of heaven. He saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of the Lord’s robe filled the temple. Huge seraph angels hovered above the Lord – each angel with six wings – 2 covered their faces, 2 covered their feet, and they flew with the 2 other wings. The seraphs spoke to each other saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” One of the seraphs flew to Isaiah and touched a burning piece of charcoal to Isaiah’s lips. Ouch! Then he heard God’s voice say, “Whom shall I send?” And Isaiah said, “Here I am, send me!”

Daniel’s vision of heaven was pretty wild too. In a dream, Daniel saw the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea. Heaven stirred up four great beasts. One like a lion with eagle’s wings. One like a bear. One like a leopard with four wings and four heads. And then there was one with 10 horns. But then came the one like the Son of Man who came with the clouds of heaven & He was the One who had the kingdom, the power & the glory forever. Sounds pretty scary to me! St. Paul’s vision of heaven from 1st Thessalonians has us getting caught up in the clouds with our ancestors as we meet Jesus, up close and in person.

I had a dream of heaven one night too. It was wonderful and bizarre. When I woke up, I knew that I had seen one of the mansions of heaven. The first thing that happened was that I died! And I live today to tell you that if you die in a dream, you might not always die right then & there. I don’t remember exactly how I died, but I do remember what happened right after that. Suddenly, I found myself spinning frantically – and for a very long time. Everything turned white, and when the spinning stopped, I couldn’t make out the difference between walls and floors and ceiling because everything was so white – like light. After some adjustment, I could finally see a corridor – but everything was still white – like light. It was hard to make out the corners it was such a bright white. Finally, I could see a staircase in front of me, a door behind me, a corridor with doors to my right and a long, open corridor to my left. There was a moment of choice. The stairway was where I was supposed to go. But because I am a willful child of God, I wandered down the corridor with the doors, just to check out my options. And some doors opened, but there wasn’t anything remarkable enough to even remember. So I went back to the staircase. After all that spinning, everything was in slow motion. It seemed to take forever to get back to the staircase. Then, it was almost impossible to get up to the first step. Then, it took another lifetime to get up to the second step, and again with the third. I got to a certain step where there was a landing, the staircase turned, and I could go no further. It was almost like there was an invisible wall preventing me from going up. I waited what seemed like several lifetimes on that one step. I was very uncomfortable – the want, the horror, the wondering where… And then I knew that I could not get up the next step alone. I needed help. I was not supposed to make this journey alone. And I reached out my hand breaking into the invisible white wall…and I couldn’t see anything, but then I felt a hand – a helping hand, an arm, an arm around me… It was my mother. And she brought me up around the corner to the top of the stairs. There were so many people there that I had known & did know & others that I knew I would know before I really got there. It was kind of like entering a lecture hall from the top with a door behind the podium going out into a golden field with rolling hills. And there, I was joined by someone I loved very much, but I’m still not sure who this was. I just know that I loved this person with all my heart and soul. And we walked, and talked, and caught up on everything that had happened to us since last we’d met. And then I asked what this heaven thing was all about. And my love said, “It’s all the same here, except there is nothing to stand in your way.” And then I woke up. I knew I had just gotten a glimpse of a mansion in heaven.

I also think we can get visions of heaven from those whom we love who are already there. There is something that happens when someone we love a lot crosses over into that glorious unknown. Actually, it’s not totally unknown & that’s because of what sometimes happens when people we love die. Sometimes, you get this experience of being connected to heaven right after someone dies. I’ve had this experience several times now. You’re in the twilight zone of grief & BAM! It hits you over the head & grabs your heart – there is a very thin veil between this life and the next. It’s so thin you think you can reach through it – and sometimes maybe you do. I can still see Walter Reynolds working in the Memorial Garden & I’ll guess that you do too. I can still feel Walter & John Lang standing around this Lord’s Table every Sunday at 8:30am & I’ll guess that you do too. I can still hear Alice Dickinson saying that God loves me & she does too. I can still hear her saying those words to Cecile Satton, Bernice Johnson & Louise Wheeler. Maybe you still hear words like that too. And today, I also see Dorothy Rider walking slowly into the church and sitting in one of the chairs in the back. Maybe you still do too. I believe in what I feel from the Communion of Saints. I believe that they are also here communing with us; now; still.

I still get whiffs of my mom’s perfume. Mom’s favorite tree – the sassafras – miraculously started growing in the middle of my rose garden in 2005. Mom taught me how to grow roses – so it shouldn’t be a surprise that a sassafras would pop up there – or the ageratum that ate Wallingford has spontaneously sprouted in another bed – a favorite flower of both of us & it has resprouted 3 years in a row. I remember my mom saying her grandmother always “planted” flowers in our flowerbed. I’ll see a sunset through the eyes of my best friend, Mark Bogaczyk. Or someone will request one of Rev. Mark Anderson’s favorite hymns or Trudy will play one before the service like she did last week. I’ll hear my friend, Sixto Ortiz, laugh with a sick kind of delight when an ice skater or balance beam gymnast crashes and burns. He really loved those “agony of defeat” moments. Or I’ll hear a late Beethoven quartet on the birthday of my dearest friend, David Hyde who introduced me to those quartets. I’ll be fishing on a stream and hear my Grandma Charlotte say to cast the line just “down the stream a piece” – and sure enough, the big one is always there. I’ll be cleaning the Revere Ware and hear Grandma Mary tell me to scrub the copper on the bottom every time… And the shed behind the parsonage smells just like my great-grandpa’s house. And then there are those most blessed moments when I hear my mom whisper to me how very proud she is of me & the blessing of how connected we are still. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with Walter this year! And I don’t just think I’m making it up in my head! It is our belief in the Communion of Saints that has kept me connected to Christianity when there were other things that would pull me away. It is the movement of the Holy Spirit between this life and the next that keeps me near to the heart of God. It is the hands and feet of Christ in all His disciples – living now & living still – that keeps me safe in Christ’s gentle grip. There are angels all around us. I wish we saw them more, but maybe that would scare us to death! But it is nice to be touched every once in a while.

This beautiful chapter in this morning’s Gospel lesson by Matthew, is called “The Beatitudes.” Some people have called them the Be–Attitudes. Jesus explains His hope for this world. It’s not a vision of what might happen someday – it’s a vision of what Jesus hopes our world can become NOW. The important word here is “hope.” Hope creates a new way. Hope begins the process of change because we have a vision of the future. And eventually, the future becomes the present – and the present is based on our hopes of the past. Heaven started in days gone by & heaven also starts now.

A Christian writer & preacher named Thomas Long suggests that we look at the subtle use of the present and future in today’s lesson. Each beatitude begins in the present tense: “Blessed are…” In other words, those who are blessed are joyful now – in the present. In six of the Beatitudes, the specific reason why they are blessed lies not in the present, but in the future – for they will inherit the earth, for they will be filled, for they will receive mercy, for they will see God, for they will be called children of God. Long suggests that the Church, the community of Christ, has reason to be a joyful people. But the source of their joy is not that they live easy lives in a happy world, or even that things are getting better every day, but that the body of Christ trusts in God’s Overlap of earth and heaven. Christians believe that God’s home is expanding on the earth. It’s not just something to hope for in the future, but something that has the possibility to begin NOW! When we look back through the lens of our ancestors, we realize that God’s home has been expanding; the Overlap gets the opportunity to overlap just a little bit more every time we remember how everything and everyone is related & mingled & called into relationships that are as deep as the oceans & as high as the nearest starship & as wide as the arms of God. For that is where we always are – all of us – those who’ve lived, those who are alive, those who are yet to live – all of us in a wondrous dance of light in the midst of the arms of God.

Listen! I will tell you a Mystery. We shall not all die. We shall be changed. Our finite lives will become infinite. Our mortal lives will become immortal. Death always gets swallowed up in victory! God is always working to make all things new! God is doing it now, God always has & God always will.

Amen.