Sometimes the notion of hell looks like the world as we know it - Willimon.
Was the psalmist celebrating or perhaps complaining when he sang these verses:
Where can I go from you spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. (Psalm 139:7-8)
Something in us does not want the God who wants us. The rich man when offered eternal life, walked in the other direction, finding his stuff more loveable than Jesus. Thus hell remains a real, but nevertheless inexplicable, possibility, a failure not of the resourceful love of God, but rather of our own disordered desire. Hell is getting what you think you really want. In Dantes "Inferno" those whose main pleasure was lust are allowed to burn forever and gluttons are doomed to unending engorgement. The heaven we craved is the hell we got.
Our own "disordered desire" really becomes something other than the heaven we are promised. Recently someone was talking about how they would like to change our country. Many ideas were given. I'm sure it sounded like heaven to him. I could only see it turning into a relentless hell. I'm sure we all have ways of turning heaven into hell. Thus there is the need for critical discussion with one another. We are always in need of the voice of our God to question our choices. In that questioning is the inspiring word that helps us to see the kind of hell we crave as we push forward toward our own vision of heaven. It is not always an easy word to hear....but it is necessary.
Connection: What is the hell we often choose to walk in rather than walk within the Reign of our God that is eternal available for us?
You promise to be with us, O God. That is a promise that sticks through those times when we would rather not have you with us or near by. Remind us that your promise of life has no end and will not be left for others when turn and walk away. In many ways, we need to be grasped by your love as we long for other things. Amen.
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