Lesson 9: More on Heaven
I was surprised when last week’s diversion brought even more comments about heaven. After sharing them in conversation with friends, I‘ve decided this is a bigger issue than I thought.
I was chided good-naturedly for not realizing there are plenty of Christians who do believe in a pre-Copernican concept of heaven. At least, they think of heaven as a place where God lives up there and we go after we die. Obliviously, they have to compartmentalize so they can think and practice their religion apart from the rest of their lives.
I was more concerned with those who suggested I was taking the problem too lightly. They spoke of being taught these first-century concepts in Sunday School when they were children and felt the Church was not very helpful in translating them into adult understandings. Some went beyond that, claiming the Church was not careful enough separating the eternal Gospel from first-century ideas.
It doesn’t take much thought to appreciate what they are saying. Celebrating the Ascension takes some explanation in modern times. If we avoid helping people get to the gist of what the biblical writers meant, we leave them with some silly ideas. We could start by simply noting that the Ascension only appears in Luke-Acts and ask what we think that writer was trying to get at.
We can also be very careful how we interpret passages about our future resurrections such as Mark 13 and I Corinthians 15. That probably again begins with asking for the basic meaning of the text and placing this in a 21st-century context. Many modern theologians do this by talking about time rather than place. They speak of Jesus being with God awaiting us in the future Kingdom of God instead of living in a place called heaven up there. I know what they write but honestly do not understand it. I can appreciate the promise of a future in which a peaceable kingdom, a just society, and a beloved community are established, but have no idea what someone coming to us from the future means.
Perhaps the best approach is simply to refrain from pretending to know answers to questions beyond our comprehension. Diana Butler Bass suggests we acknowledge the good news of Christianity is that God is with us. Emmanuel. She warns when we talk about God in heaven, we inevitably mean an old white man sitting on a throne looking down on us.
She counsels focusing on where God is available to us in our present world. The Bible points to many of these when Jesus promises to be with us always to the end of the age. He speaks of being present when two or three gather in his name. That might be in a church service or just two people walking down the road talking and acting as he taught us. He says we encounter him whenever we care for the lowest of our brothers or sisters. And he promises to be there when we remember him around the table. Again, that might be at the formal Communion meal in church or simply when we share food, conversation, and ourselves when eating with family and friends.
We could go on to Paul’s description of the Church as the Body of Christ or to his thoughts about the Risen Christ being born in our hearts. However, we want to be careful about placing limits on God’s availability. The Holy Spirit like the wind blows wherever she pleases.
This discussion leaves me wondering why the use of these concepts has not caused more trouble in the past. After all, Copernicus lived all the way back in the 16th century. Perhaps it is simply because the church until recently has been a close-knit community that had no trouble speaking a special church language when together. That no longer holds true. People leave now claiming the message they hear makes no sense. We have to pay more attention to what we say in the name of Christ.
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