Sunday Sermons from Sell Chapel are written by Rev. Preston Van Deursen, Director of Pastoral Care at the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown.
A couple researchers drove more than 10,000 miles across the United States. All along the way they interviewed people about the meaning of life. They said that in their travels they may have discovered the most emotionally significant piece of real estate in the country. It is the few square feet right outside the gate of each airport terminal. On this patch of carpeted flooring, people greet loved ones who have just arrived. The excitement builds as they search the crowds, looking for the one face they have been missing. The researchers write, “If you ever want a glimpse of true joy, go hang out at the airport….You’ll see the celebration of a lifetime. And don’t be surprised if you hear a comment like, ‘I can’t believe you’ve been gone a whole week.’ You see, the sense of joy isn’t determined by how long you’ve been apart. It’s all about getting back together.”
A little girl asked her Mom, “Mom, when you die and go to heaven, every time you hear Gabriel blow his horn, are you going to look and see if it is me coming?”
Last year in a mining accident in West Virginia, twelve miners died. One of the miners, who died, Martin Toler, Jr., wrote a note in his last hours: “Tell all I’ll see them on the other side.”
One of the most thriving industries not only in the United States but in the world, is the industry to try and stay young forever. TO NOT AGE…..We have anti-aging cream, special diets and plastic surgery. You name it, we got it. Especially, a big case of denial.
Friends, today I want to give you the sure and certain way to stay young forever and you can quit wasting your money believing all of those other things…..The best and surest way to stay young forever is to MAKE SURE YOU ARE GOING TO HEAVEN!
Heaven! Where we will have new bodies…the deaf will hear, the blind will see and the lame will walk. The sick will be well.
Let’s talk for a moment about HEAVEN! The modern church probably does not address the subject of heaven enough. In fact there are more jokes about heaven than sermons.
Someone said that when her 9 year old granddaughter addressed a letter to God at the Pearly Gates, Heaven, it was returned.
Someone at the postal service had written across the envelope: “Nobody at the post office is headed that way. Sorry!”
And of course, there is this little poem:
I was shocked, confused, bewildered as I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all, by the lights or its décor.
But it was the folks in Heaven who made me sputter and gasp—
the thieves, the liars, the sinners, the alcoholics, the trash.
There stood the kid form the seventh grade who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought was rotting away in Hell,
was sitting pretty on cloud nine, looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal? I would love to hear your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here? God must have made a mistake.
And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber? Give me a clue.” “Hush, child,” said He.
“They’re all in shock. No one thought they’d see you.”
Investor’s Business Daily reports that a think tank in London has done a study and according to this study, more people are requesting to be buried with their cell phone. The trend began in South Africa and is spreading all over the world and is catching on now in America. The article doesn’t say whether people are afraid of being buried alive, or if somehow they think they will be able to make calls from within Heaven’s gates.
Sometime back Newsweek published a cover story about heaven. According to their research 76 percent of Americans believe in heaven. However, among those who believe there is much disagreement over what Heaven is like. 19 percent think Heaven looks like a garden, 13 percent say it looks like a city, and 17 percent don’t know. 75 percent of Americans believe that their actions on earth determine whether they’ll go to Heaven. Most people think that if they’re good, they’ll get in.
It’s an interesting study. What do you believe about Heaven? There is no wrong answer, at least none that can be given with any authority. The pictures we are given of Heaven in scripture, streets of gold, pearly gates, are attempts to describe the indescribable. The human brain is not capable of grasping the idea of a spiritual realm or of eternity. These are truly beyond our understanding. All we can do is use a simile, an analogy, a metaphor. “Heaven is like that little patch of carpet where people waiting in an airline terminal are reunited with their loved ones…Anything else is just speculation.
You and I are so wrapped up in staying as young as we can that we rarely think of Heaven. But you and I need to think about heaven from time to time. Note our scripture readings for today:
In John 17:24 Jesus prays, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” Revelation 22:14 read, “Blessed are those who wash their robes that they might have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”
Heaven is real. That is the first thing we need to see. It’s not wishful thinking. Heaven is real. Life makes no sense other wise.
A woman named Dee Dee Risher made what I think is the most beautiful analogy concerning life beyond the grave. It concerned the birth of her first child. She writes, “The morning my son Luke was born, I held his tiny body and considered the journey he had taken in the last twenty-four hours. I tried to imagine that change as he had experienced it—the pressure of muscles pushing him into some strange and completely unknown passage, his body at the mercy of larger forces bearing down on him.
“Overnight his body and world were radically altered. He must now breathe air, not water. He had to use his mouth for nourishment, no longer relying on a connection to my body. In his sleep, he flails his hands through the air, startled not to hit the solid, comforting wall of my body. After living only in warm darkness, he experiences light, coolness, and the touch of other skin on his own. Nothing can prepare him for this new life which must be, quite simply, unimaginable.
“Had there been a companion watching my child’s journey from the womb side, he would certainly have seen that process as death, not life. Only when viewed from this side do we recognize it and name it as birth. The transformation my son has experienced can only be matched by that other great passage in our lives—our death. Death must be this same complete, unimaginable change of Physical state….We see death from this side—and it is terrifying. But our faith allows us to claim the promise: What appears to be death is a portal to a life transformed.”
That makes so much sense and is so beautiful. Life beyond the tomb is no greater mystery than life beyond the womb. It’s all a mystery. And surely God’s justice as well as His love demands it. If this world is all there is, then God owes an apology to so many who have suffered greatly in this world. The only thing that makes their suffering, our suffering, bearable is that on the other side there is no suffering, no heartache, no tears…only peace and joy. Heaven is real!
And Heaven is a gift. Mark Twain once put it, “Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” Scripture is very clear on this. No one has earned the right to dwell for eternity with God. “All have sinned and fallen short of his glory.” Heaven does not depend upon our merit but upon God’s love and God’s grace. Because God loves us he makes it possible for us to enjoy His presence forever.
Did you know that it is politically incorrect to preach about Heaven? The cultural referees say it is escapist or hopelessly sentimental. Hollywood and the media generally teaches that this world is all there is. According to their version, you better get all you can now, because your death is just like that of cats and dogs. It reminds me of the story I heard about the four year old little boy:
He was walking on the beach with his mother and they came upon a dead sea gull. The little boy asked, “Mommy, what happened to him?” She said, “He died and went to heaven.” The little boy pondered that for a few moments and then asked, “And did God just throw him back down?”
The secular humanist suggest that we try to avoid even thinking about death. Just keep on having plastic surgery and denying every sign of aging. If you really want to mess up a cocktail
party next time you are at one ask this question, “Have any of you given any thought to your up coming death?” You probably won’t be the hit of the party.
In Revelation this is how John describes it. He called it the City of God. He was stressed to find adjectives that were awesome enough. He wrote of streets of solid gold, city walls adorned with every kind of precious stone, twelve gates of pearls. The place was radiant with the glory of God. Compared to Heaven, Tiffany’s resembles a K-Mart blue-light special.
However, if we are completely honest, some of us would admit that John’s descriptions of heaven don’t exactly ring our bell. It sounds pretty gaudy to me. I have no idea what streets of gold, pearly gates and jasper towers would look like.
Let me try to describe heaven in different terms:
Imagine a place where no one is ever sick.
Each person is valued and makes a contribution.
Every child is loved and affirmed.
Not a single person is addicted or prejudiced or greedy.
Imagine a place where there is plenty of food and living space for everybody,
and nobody grumbles about the food or décor.
You get up each morning eager to be busy doing right. Every day is spent helping others,
And it is great fun.
The glory of God is so pervasive that you can hardly restrain a song, and even when I leave my microphone on, I will have a glorious baritone voice.
Banished form this paradise are worry and grief and jealousy and frustration and lust and anger.
You go to bed thinking that life can’t get any better than this.
But in the morning it is!
Now if some cynic tells you that thinking about heaven is hopelessly sentimental, tell that person this: Only when I have my long-term future secured can I live fully in the present. If I don’t know my final destination, I’ll be might confused along the way. The most significant thing we can do on earth is to try and make this world look mere like Heaven!
Let me close with this beautiful story from a book entitled ”Moments for Mothers.”
The Rodgers family was a strong Christian unit. Mr. Rodgers took seriously his role as spiritual leader. Often at supper the family would have Bible quizzes or discuss some spiritual truth. One evening the family was discussing what Heaven will be like. 7-year-old Jimmy grabbed the subject and ran with it; he had a very creative imagination.
Jimmy said, “When we get to heaven, the big angel will call the roll. He will come to the Rogers family and say, “Daddy Rogers” and Daddy will say ‘Here”. Then the angel will call
out, “Mommy Rodgers,” and Mommy will say, “Here!” and then the same for Susie and Mavis. And then the angel will call my name, “Jimmy Rogers’ and because I’m little and don’t want to be missed, I will jump up and shout real loud, “Here!”
Just a few days later, there was a tragic accident. A car struck down Jimmy as he made his way to the school bus. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The family gathered round his bed and kept a prayerful vigil through the night. The doctors told them that he had suffered severe brain damage and could not recover.
Just before dawn, Jimmy seemed to be stirring a bit. The family saw his lips move; just one word was all he uttered before he passed form this life. But oh what comfort and hope that word gave for his grieving family and for us. In a voice clear enough for everybody in the room to hear, Jimmy said, “Here!” and then he was gone, to another world, to a better world, where a big angel was calling the roll.
Friends, may we be young forever, as he calls your name and mine… Amen
