heaven

Last week I went to a worship night for the first time since..... well, I cant actually remember.   About 25 people gathered in a community hall sitting two meters apart and all wearing masks.  We were led by a young chap on a guitar and his wife on keyboard and we sang and prayed for a hour.  It felt like home.  Despite it being a bit ' covid wierd' it WAS home.  I was with people who loved me in an atmosphere of worship, singing words of truth, to a God who knows and fully accepts and delights in me.  Heaven.

The following day I was in the car listening to Radio 4 and the programme was about ' afterlife'   There was a playwright talking about a play he had written, the premise of which was that eternity could be chosen by each person before they die but it had to be entirely composed of one earthly memory.  This memory would then be lived in for eternity.   Of course the debate then ensued about which memory one might choose to live in forever.   Then there was an end-of-life care doctor who talked about being with people in their last moments and how those who were sure of an afterlife and those who were absolutely sure there was no afterlife died more peacefully than those who had an unsure or ' cosmetic' faith.  And there was a woman ( I think she was an author) who stated that she could think of nothing more boring than heaven and that hell seemed alot more appealing

I listened with sadness.  I am sad that so much of the world these days has NO concept of what heaven is about.  That has to be our fault - the church.  We are the custodians of the truth about heaven, so if the world doesnt know about it...... well that's on us isnt it?  One of the things that someone quoted on the radio show, was a statement that heaven would be somewhat like an eternal North Korea with everyone singing the corporate song in praise of the great ruler forever more.   Oh dear!  I think it is about time we started demonstrating heaven come down don't you?  After all, that is kind of what Jesus was all about.   

When I was thinking about my ' one memory' that I would choose to live for eternity I instantly went to my ' best moments with God in worship' memories.   There have been hundreds, and to be honest it wouldnt much matter which one I chose.  I sincerely do hope that heaven itself will be a gazillion times better than any experience I've had here on earth, but if I had to just live in one earthly moment forever Id be more than happy to live in that place of surrender and adoration and awe and love and truth and beauty and power and complete authenticity which is worship.  Unless you have had a glimpse of God in worship Im not sure that it is possible to even start to conceive what heaven might be like.  Once you have had that glimpse you are forever hungry to get there.  Church needs to be a people who worship in spirit and truth, with everything we are, throwing off fear and apathy so that the world can glimpse and experience heaven.  We need to be inviting people into our worship without putting constraints on them as to how they come in.  People dont need to change before they enter Gods presence - they will change once they are IN His presence.  They dont need to have their theology all right, or wear their Sunday best, or speak, sing or smell like we do.  They just need to come.  

 I know this because it happened to me.  I went into a church where people were worshipping in Spirit and Truth and it terrified me.  So I left.  But I was inexorably drawn back to find out the source of the power and truth and beauty and ' otherness' that I had witnessed.  Like the manna in the desert I asked ' what is it?'   And after a short time I found out.  It was the Holy Spirit.  It was a taste of heaven.

The very first church service I attended after lockdown was a super traditional anglican one with an organ playing traditional hymns and one chorister singing ( no congregational singing allowed at that time)  For me, there is nothing to beat the sound of a church organ belting out a hymn in the acoustic chamber of an ancient church building - even better when a few hundred voices join in and raise the roof with words which have been rehearsed for centuries and which I know so well they are automatic. No matter the type of worship, if people are engaging with Jesus with all their hearts and minds and souls and strength then heaven is near.  The world needs to know that heaven is real, and it is available.  It also needs to know that hell is real and equally available.  But thats a sermon for another day!  😀