The current issue of Time
magazine has a feature article by Jon Meacham about the evolving understanding
of heaven in our culture. (I’m sorry that I can’t link directly to the article.
You have to be a subscriber. Time/Warner hasn’t fully escaped the 20th
century yet.) It is a well-researched and written piece that summarizes the
cultural trends in thinking about heaven. If you can get your hands on a copy I
highly recommend taking time to read it.
Basically the change in the way we think about heaven can be
summed up with two questions in a sidebar to the article: What if Christianity is not about enduring this sinful, fallen world in
search of a reward of eternal rest? What if God brings together heaven and
earth in a wholly new, wholly redeemed creation?
Yes.
These are the questions that have been rattling around in my
thoughts and prayers and sermons for the past few years. It’s a bit humbling to
see it put so succinctly in an article printed in a major news magazine. But
these questions lead to others and the lot of them have been causing some
significant anxiety and stress within my mortal frame. Why? Because a faith
that is built on enduring this world in the hopes of one day escaping to a safe
reward feels a lot different than one where we are working together to bring
God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”
I am coming to believe (and will write about this more in
future posts) that this is not an issue of right and wrong. I firmly believe
that it has to do with the culture changes happening around us. Both ways of
imagining heaven encourage people to live altruistically in this life as a
response to God’s goodness, grace and forgiveness. (Never mind that it isn’t
always successful.) It’s just that the former way of imagining and talking
about God’s kingdom (or heaven) isn’t connecting with people in the emerging
culture. So if we want to continue to proclaim the gospel of God’s love then we
need to reimagine heaven and find new ways of thinking about God’s kingdom that
will connect.
The stress and anxiety come from a place inside that recognizes
that there are wonderful, caring and loving people in my congregation that exist
on both sides of this issue. Because the idea that Jesus brings heaven and
earth together in a wholly redeemed creation is connecting with me I feel
compelled to preach and teach in these terms. The scriptures are opening up in
front of me in brilliant and exciting new ways as I revisit passages that I
thought I understood before.
But I am also aware of the legacy that brought me to this
point. And I am aware that there are many people who have spent a lifetime
developing a faith based on the thought that heaven is a place we go after we
die. It would be both wrong and arrogant for me to just write that off and say, “I’m
sorry you committed your life to what turns out to be a mistaken notion of what
this life is all about.”
So where do we go from here? Is it possible for a faith
community/congregation make the transition from one concept of heaven to
another? Or are we talking about two different ways of believing? Is there an
even more basic core concept of what it means to be a Christian that unites us
and will allow us to have two visions of God’s kingdom? Or are we destined to
see an new expression of faith emerge similar to the way Christianity emerged
from Judaism 2000 years ago?
Anyone interested in helping me think about this?
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