On Earth as it is in Heaven - shaping the day at hand

Many folks put heaven out there - in the future - in another time - in another place. It is so often the place to which people will go when we die. It is out there - that far. As we put ourselves into that kind of vision, heaven can easily become something that belongs to a reward system for folks who have lived and acted in a right way. Heaven, in many ways, is a way to connect folks to that which is not like the world in which we live right now. It will be better. It will be the place in which we will be able to reunited with those who have died before us. It is up there in the clouds somewhere - somewhere other than here. Therefore, it can easily become a game some folks hear as: If you do this and not that - if you live in this way and not that way - you will become a part of that promised adventure that will take place after you die. Heaven becomes that which we try to control - because folks really like to be in control of the whole story.

So, is today lived in order to be able to live in another place and time? Is today a testing ground? Is today a time in which we must meet up to some standards - laws - commands that have been deemed the highway to heaven. Get on board - do this and not that and your chances at a heavenly rendezvous greatly increase. Having said all that, there is another story line that promises to get you to heaven without being the perfect person some may expect. Instead, simply trust that God loves you and will want you to have a place in a heavenly eternity. No game playing - no fabricated morality that fits within the likes of our tribe or group - we simply get in. In this kind of storytelling, the outcome is still to be in another place and time. Out there somewhere - we will spend eternity that is not as life is here. 

As I was reading in preparation for a short stint of teaching at a local congregation I highlighted this thought. God is committed to heaven being a human story which will forever include the story of the human overcoming of death by Jesus. In the middle of our own storytelling, does heaven become our home - our life - our beginning and our ending. The eternal Reign of God - heaven as some may call it - is fully available even as we appear to be stuck within the intolerable spirals of death that we simply cannot shake. In the Jesus story, we can say that today is open to the ever-present power of God to make love - not death - the pattern of heaven on earth. This is a pattern of life - for now - for always.

When I think about heaven being a human story - the Reign of God at hand - the complexion of the moment changes - my vision changes - my actions may even change. For in this moment I am graced with the opportunity to imitate life within God's Reign - a heavenly life - even when no one is looking on to judge me. Since my bit of the human story resides in that which is not yet fully present, I need not worry about my next step - I can simply act as though heaven is at hand. That vision is what changes me. That reality changes me. That ceaseless power to establish peace and justice and wholeness and forgiveness and mercy changes me.

I think people long to be changed - in the twinkling of an eye. So why be duped into believing that heaven is a reward - a stop at the end of the tracks - a carrot dangling out at the end of a stick? I find that the stories of the very first followers of Jesus were attempts to help others see that now is the time -now is the fullness of God available - now is the point in which the doubts and fears that always pull us into the mud of despair lose their grip on us. And then, by some sort of miracle, we entertain a life full of unbounded grace and love that comes upon us and pulls us beyond fears and threats and the endless questions of our worthiness.

As we walk within the promise of heaven coming among us - even as there is no evidence of its arrival - we will experience moments of it glory. This will be glory as it shines in the ordinary life of self-giving love - open hearts leading to open minds - courage to lose at the games of power and control and deadly competition. These may only be in moments of the day. These may be moments that we see in the lives of others. These may be witnessed in those we often cast off as enemies. You see, heaven being a human story - is full of surprises so that we will never insist that we control the day and all the days to come. Each day is open to God's presence coming to life among us no matter how much we try to make gods of our own ways and opinions. Heaven is always a surprise to us as it unfolds with this day in a way that we can see - touch - enter.
TRRR