Amos 8:4-7,   1 Timothy 2:1-8,   Luke 16:1-13

"Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things Heavenly..."

Have you ever wondered about Heaven? Have you ever wondered about what goes on there? Have you ever wondered about who is there? Have you ever wondered about where Heaven might be? Have you ever wondered about how one gains entrance to this mysterious place? I have wondered about these things. Perhaps it is the same for you.

We were called to love Heavenly things in today's Collect when we heard these words, "Grant us, Lord not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things Heavenly..." So let us explore together some of the things that we have heard about Heaven.

For centuries the Church has taught us that Heaven is a place where one goes after death. A difficulty with this teaching, however, is that none of us who are alive today have ever been to this Heavenly place. We are dependent, therefore, on the words of Jesus, the Apostle John, the Apostle Paul and a few others to tell us what we know about Heaven.

First, let us look at some of the words of Jesus about Heaven. Jesus comforted his disciples as he prepared them for his death with these words. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. In my Father's house there are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go there and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am." In this way Jesus told us that there is a Heavenly place where we go after death, but he didn't give us details describing what Heaven is like other than that there are many rooms there.

The Apostle John in a vision saw and then described how Heaven appeared to him. John said, " After this I looked. And there before me was a door standing open to Heaven. And there before me was a throne with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne." John goes on in quite some detail in this passage from the 4th chapter of Revelations describing how Heaven appeared to him. For me, however, I'm not sure this is the kind of place where I would want to be. You might want to read this passage and see what you think about this Heaven that John describes.

Jesus also gave us another clue about Heaven as he was dying on the cross. One of the criminals who was being crucified beside Jesus said to Jesus. "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." So with these words Jesus assures us that there is a Heaven and that it will be a wonderful place-that is a paradise. But again we don't get any details about what this Heavenly paradise will be like.

The Apostle Paul told us about our Resurrection bodies. Paul said that these spiritual bodies will be imperishable and powerful. Perhaps these bodies will be able to do some of the marvelous and wondrous things that the resurrected Christ did in his resurrection appearances.

We are given some clues about what people do in Heaven, by the writer of the Prayers of the People, in our Rite I Holy Eucharist. There we hear these words, "And we also bless thy Holy name for all those servants departed this life in thy faith and fear, beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service; and to grant us grace so to follow the good examples of all thy saints, that with them we may be partakers of thy Heavenly Kingdom. I don't know about you, but this sounds pretty good to me-that is to be in a paradise where we continue to grow in our love and service to the Lord and to others. For me this seems somewhat like a Heavenly Postgraduate School following our lives as Christians here on earth. And in this Heaven we will be given ample opportunities for action and service to others using the new skills we learn there.

Having said all of this about Heaven, I propose for our reflection today a new possibility. And that possibility is that we do not have to wait until after we die to be in Heaven. I propose to you that we can experience Heaven every day of our lives here on earth. This can be especially true if we agree that we are in Heaven every time we feel the joy of being in the presence of God. This can be true if we agree that we are in Heaven when we see the Spirit of God acting through us and through others in the events of our lives each day. This can be true if we see the presence of God in the beautiful creation and creatures around us here on earth. This can be true if we see the presence of God in the sky, in the planets, and the universe beyond our earth. Perhaps Jesus was telling us about this new possibility when he said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is near at hand." Or put another way, we could say, "Life in our world can be the frontispiece to eternity in Heaven"?

In reflecting on these things, I thought about some of the special times in my life when I felt that the Spirit of God was especially present to me. I have spoken of some of these times to you previously. For example, I felt the wonderful presence of God on my Cursillo when I first recognized that the Holy Spirit was present in those other men there as we prayed on our knees in a prayer workshop. I felt the powerful presence of God as I was healed along with many others in a Kathryn Kuhlman evangelical service in Oakland. I felt the joy of the presence of the Holy Spirit on my first visit here to St. Thomas, as I was relieved from a heavy burden that I had been carrying for a long time.

In addition to these times, I have felt the marvelous presence of God as I listened to brilliant music such as in my favorite pieces; Beethoven's 5th Symphony or Samuel Barber's Adagio. I have felt the presence of God as I marvel at the God-given skills of great athletes as they perform feats of amazing complexity such as those we saw in the recent Olympics. I have felt the presence of God and the joy that comes with that presence when I have achieved some goal for which I have worked long and hard. These were times when I felt that I had completed some special work that God put me here on earth to do. I have felt the amazing joy of God's presence when giving and receiving love in the arms of my soul mate.

I suspect that each of you have your own examples of those times when the Spirit of God was especially present to you. As I have gotten older it seems to me that I am able to see the presence of God more clearly and more often in the events and vistas of my life each day. Perhaps it is the same for you. Do you think that this means we are being given an opportunity to enter deeper and deeper into Heaven as we live out our lives here on earth?

Many of these same thoughts are expressed wonderfully in a book I have been reading recently, entitled, "Waking Up In Heaven", written by Thomas Traherne. This book was a gift to me from Gage McKinney and I grateful to him for bringing this book to my attention. In the beginning of this book, Traherne invites us on a quest to discover Heaven on earth. He says, "If we are willing to go on this quest, the gate is open". This invitation seems exciting to me! Perhaps it is the same for you!

So where does this leave us? It leaves me with pretty fuzzy thoughts about Heaven in the hereafter. I believe Jesus when he says that it will be a paradise. I am hopeful that it will be a place where I can continue to grow in love and service to God and to others. I am not too keen about being in the place John describes in Revelations. I look forward to having the powerful spiritual body described by Paul. This eternal spiritual body will be one free of the limitations, aches and pains present in my aging earthly body. In the meantime, however, I am going to continue trying to discover and enter further into Heaven each day here on earth as was done and is proposed to us by Thomas Traherne. It would be marvelous to have each of you join us on this journey.

In closing I would like to share with you this poem given to me by Bambi Green, our ODB (Our Daily Bread) Coordinator. It gives us another refreshing view on this subject by an anonymous writer.

He was just a little boy, on a week's first day.
He was wandering home from Sunday school, and dawdling on the way.

He scuffed his shoes into the grass; he found a caterpillar.
He found a fluffy milkweed pod, and blew out all the "filler".

A bird's nest in a tree overhead, so wisely placed on high.
Was just a wonder that caught his eager eye.

A neighbor watched his zigzag course, and hailed him from the lawn;
Asked him where he'd been that day, and what was going on.

"I've been to Bible School," he said and turned a piece of sod.
He picked up a wiggly worm replying, "I've learned a lot about God."

"M'm very fine way," the neighbor said, "for a boy to spend his time."
"If you'll tell me where God is, I'll give you a brand new dime."

Quick as a flash the answer came! Nor were his accents faint.
"I'll give you a dollar, mister, if you can tell me where God ain't."

Amen