PrintMost of the “Star Wars” movies begin with that scrolling introduction that talks about events taking place in a “galaxy far, far away”. I think there are many of us for whom those words describe what we think about heaven. It’s in a galaxy far, far away.
It’s a long way from here. Some who have had what we call a ‘near death experience’ would say that you get there through a tunnel with a bright light at the end.
Jesus taught us to pray, “May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.(Matthew 6:10 (NLT)
Heaven is the realm or dimension where the will of God, the Father, is done perfectly. Jesus is praying for this earth to become like His heaven – where the Father’s Will prevails.
Maybe it’s because the amount of data theology of heaven comes from the hymns of the Church. Pearly gates, streets of gold…rolls being called up yonder etc. There are those who genuinely accept such descriptions quite literally.
I can’t think of heaven as a place – a physical, visible, measureable piece of cosmic real estate that is “way over there”, “way out there” or “way up there”.
As I try to wrap my mind around the concept of heaven, I find that I am a prisoner to the present and to the categories of three dimensional thinking and experience. I don’t have the vocabulary to adequately describe or explain my limited understanding of heaven. I have been content over the years to live with the tension of believing in the concept or reality of heaven but not being able to describe it well.
But with the death of my wife, I am no longer willing to live with that tension. I feel constrained to at least make some attempt to examine my theology of heaven even if that attempt proves to be a return trip back to where I am at the moment.
Where to start?
(I’ll pick that up next time)
