Pictures of Eternity

God is good. We caught glimpses of the beauty of eternity this past Sunday as we celebrated the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. If you want to learn more about seeing heaven in the world, I’d encourage you to download the sermon God is good. We caught glimpses of the beauty of eternity this past Sunday as we celebrated the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. If you want to learn more about seeing heaven in the world, I’d encourage you to download the sermon or read the text below.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/onlzqhjjite/Pictures of Eternity.mp3

DEEPEN THOUGHT

From the congregational response to baptism in the hymnal p. 38: “We give thanks for all that God has already given you and we welcome you in Christian love. As members together with you in the body of Christ and in this congregation of the United Methodist Church, we renew our covenant faithfully to participate in the ministries of the church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness, that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” How does the sacred act of baptism point us towards heaven?

“Pictures of Eternity”
Brimfield Faith UMC
May 2, 2010

Revelation 21:1-8

INTRO
“When I Get Where I am Going” really is a beautiful song dealing with the difficult issue of death, but more importantly the issue of life after death. Although the song never uses the word heaven, it is clearly talking about heaven. I appreciate the ways in which it discusses the issue, because the topic of heaven is a complex one. Heaven is the desired final destination for virtually everyone in the world. And yet, we seemingly know little about it. There are some many unanswered questions when it comes to heaven: Where heaven is? What does heaven look like? What do we do in heaven? Will we have bodies? Will we have jobs? Will we recognize our loved ones? What will God be like? The questions are endless and seemingly leave us unable to say anything definite about heaven.
Over the past several weeks we have “Gone Country” with Jesus we have been trying to find Christ in the culture and to talk about spiritual issues with non-spiritual language. Week 1 we learned to see God in our everyday life. Week 2 we learned to see God in the difficult times. Last week we learned to see God in the extraordinary times, in God moments. This week we will hopefully learn to see heaven in the culture as we use non-spiritual language to talk about it.
When I think about what heaven, my head begins to spin and religious clichés don’t help in the least. I cannot seem to get my mind around the concept and it becomes tempting to simply ignore it all together. While acknowledging the challenges of the topic, the first verse of the song helps us engage it: “When I get where I’m going on the far side of the sky. The first thing that I’m gonna do is spread my wings and fly.” Interestingly, the song leaves out a direct reference to heaven and it also touches on the question, where is heaven? The song suggests that heaven is on the far side of the sky. We typically picture it in the sky somewhere beyond this earth. As you study astronomy, this romanticized view doesn’t work quite as well. The ambiguity of place begins our challenge in talking about heaven.
After doing some reading this week, I discovered the primary reason we struggle with the topic of heaven is because we lack the language to express it. Heaven is as C.S. Lewis says, “too definite for language.” Although we lack the language, this doesn’t mean we can’t catch helpful glimpses of heaven. We actually experience more of heaven everyday than we realize. Peter Kreeft in his book Heaven suggests that, “The earth is haunted by heaven.” The earth is filled with reflections, shadows and glimpses of heaven. The earth is like a two-dimensional picture that represents a three-dimensional place called heaven. There are therefore things in the world that act as signs which point us towards the realities of heaven. It is through these signs that we are able to discover insights into the fullness of heaven.
Like a picture, the earth is much smaller than heaven itself. Kreeft suggests that “Heaven includes earth as the soul includes the body.” Heaven is so large and vast that it is able to contain heaven within it. When we get to heaven, it will be much richer, larger, full, and with more dimensions than we could ever imagine. As a result, heaven is too big to actually understand with great clarity. Yet, if we can learn to read the signs of the world, we can catch greater and greater glimpses of heaven.

#1. The first sign that points us towards heaven is Scripture.
Interestingly enough, the Bible doesn’t spend inordinate amounts of time talking about heaven. In fact, the Old Testament spends virtually no time at all talking about heaven. The longest glimpse of it comes in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 21:3-4 it gives us a glimpse: “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
The chorus of the song captures this same glimpse. “When I get where I’m going, there’ll be only happy tears. I will shed the sins and struggles. I have carried all these years. And I’ll leave my heart wide open. I will love and have no fear…” In the second chorus it continues, “But when I get where I’m going, and I see my makers face. I’ll stand forever in the light of his amazing grace…” This glimpse of heaven doesn’t answer a lot of questions. There is one thing we know for sure about heaven: God will be there. In his full, majestic glory God will be present.
Scripture doesn’t paint definite pictures but helps us to recognize some of the other signs in the world that point us towards heaven. As we look at the different signs that point us to heaven, we must remember that they don’t contain the fullness of the real thing. They show us the shadows and reflections of heaven. They help us look in the right direction to see haven.

#2. The second sign that points us towards heaven is loving relationships.
In the third verse of the song it sings: “I’m gonna walk with my granddaddy, and he’ll match me step for step. And I’ll tell him how I missed him every minute since he left. Then I’ll hug his neck.” Genuine, loving relationships are a powerful sign of heaven. As we give and receive love, we are pointed towards the realities of heaven. When we experience the emotions of love, joy, peace and hope through relationship, we are actually experience a glimpse of heaven. These emotions are not the fullness of what will be experienced in heaven but only a taste.

#3. The third sign that points us towards heaven is the human face.
The human face provides a glimpse into heaven. It reflects the emotions and the old adage, “the eyes are the window to the soul,” proves true. Proof that the human face is haunted can be found in the fact that infants recognize human face and its expressions. A baby knows the meaning of a smile and a frown. Through the face we can detect the spirit and subsequently catch a glimpse of heaven.

#4. The fourth sign that points us towards heaven is art.
There is something powerful about art. Vanessa was sharing at our Faith Explorations class this week and she talked about how music can open up a person to the Holy Spirit. All of the arts: music, poetry, pictures, and stories, have an ability to open our spirits up to God’s Spirit. As we are opened up, we are able to see heaven through a new lens.
Great art has the ability not only to move you but to transport you to another place. When we read a good book, we find ourselves wrapped up in the world that has been created within the pages. C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series helped me understand certain things about God and heaven that a theological treatise never could. This is one of the reasons we incorporate so much music and visual art via the screen during worship. We want people to see and experience God and we believe that art can help get them to that place.

#5. The fifth sign that points us towards heaven is the sacraments of baptism and communion.
As we conclude this morning, we need to learn to read the signs in the world and in the culture if we are going to catch glimpses of heaven. I hope you realize that there is no limit to the places you can see signs of heaven. They are everywhere if we will simply learn to stop looking directly at them and look along them. Too many of us are like the dog who sniffs the persons finger as they point where the dog should look. When we look along the signs, we will see that which our soul longs for.
The final sign is one that we experienced this morning. Both baptism and communion are sign-acts that help focus our eyes towards heaven. In baptism we are unconditionally welcomed into God’s family. An infant that has done nothing, is welcomed into a community of people who promise to care for and look after the child. This points us towards the love and acceptance that is found in heaven. Similarly, the act of communion points us toward the unconditional love and sacrifice of Jesus. Both sign-acts go much deeper than the physical bread, wine and water. They point us towards the beauty and majesty of heaven and the God who resides there.
If we want to see heaven, we need to look along the signs the world offers us so that we might catch a glimpse of heaven on earth. Heaven haunts us if we can just look to look…
Let’s pray and then turn our eyes upon heaven and Jesus.