Sunday After All Saints’ Day                                                Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10, 13-14
November 5, 2006                                                              Psalm 149
St. Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church                          Revelation:7:2-4, 9-17
The Rev. Linda McCloud                                                     Matthew 5:1-12 

Glimpses of Heaven 

Do you remember the old song that says “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die?  That seems to be the theme of our scriptures for today.  We take comfort in the words of Jesus that tell us we will have great reward in heaven if we are persecuted on earth for his sake.  But who wants to be persecuted to receive a reward?  Certainly we don’t seek such, but even as we speak, many Christians around the world are being persecuted for their faith.  We pray for them to recognize God’s strength to endure.   

Every now and then we get a little glimpse of what we think heaven might be like.  And from time to time, some think they are in heaven right here on earth.  For others, heaven might be anything other than what they are experiencing here on earth.  Cartoonists are good at picturing heaven.  They usually give us depictions of a couple of angels sitting on a cloud playing a harp and making ironic comments about the inhabitants of earth.   

For Katharine Jefferts Shori, the events of yesterday and today might afford a glimpse of heaven.  Yesterday her investiture ceremony was held and today she is being installed as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA at our National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.  Those ceremonies surely are a glorious event for her and for all in attendance.  In such experiences, the only way heaven could be better would be for heaven to last forever.  Our reading from Revelation assures us that heaven does indeed last forever.  It also gives us a glimpse of the baptized (those robed in white, the baptismal garment) worshipping God forever.  This would be heaven.  To prepare for that on earth, we worship God in all the light we have from scripture, tradition and reason. 

On this Sunday after All Saints’ Day, we are more likely to think about those faithful Christians who have preceded us in death and wonder what their lives are like now.  We think of those people as being in the nearer presence of God forever and ever. Some of those people are known to us through history or scripture, but most will never be known to us while we are on this earth.  We give thanks for them and for their witness to Jesus Christ in their own generations.  We think of them as growing in holiness and love and finally understanding why their life on earth was what it was.  We hope that they now see everything clearly, as St. Paul hoped he would do.  We hope that the mysteries of life are now open to them like a flower.  We hope that we too can appear before God robed in pure white, having our sins forever gone, with no possibility of committing any more sins.  We know that in that place with God we will have no more earthly cares, worries or temptations.  This is because evil does not dwell there.  Just think what it would be like to live in a situation where there was no poverty, no crime, no war or daily body count, nor any cringing when we see a newspaper or other media.  That would be bliss. 

Whatever heaven is like, it is where God dwells forever with angels, and archangels and all the company of those who have been disposed to love God in their generations.  It is the place where all the faithful receive their ultimate reward.  The Book of Revelation, which we have been reading in Morning Prayer and which we have been studying in Pastor’s class for several weeks, describes heaven as an actual place.  In Christian thought, it is the place that Jesus went to prepare for us when he ascended back to his Father.  It is the place where we can finally glorify God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and enjoy God’s company forever.  It would take us that long and even longer to get to understand God’s love for us.  

An old priest once asked me, “Do you know how much God loves you?”  Before I could reply, he said, “Of course not.  If you knew how much God loved you, you would die.”  Maybe that is why we have to wait until we get to heaven to be in the nearer presence of God.  We seem to get glimpses of God as we are able to bear them. A full view of God at this point would prove too much.  This is why we need faith in God in the here and now and eternity to be with him.   

This is why life on earth is a preparation for our lives heaven.  Such recognition that heaven is our destiny makes us more keenly aware of the shortness of our lives on earth.  When we worship God on a regular basis, we feel more of an awareness of his presence to us here on earth.  This should make our hearts yearn to please him and to be with him for all eternity.  That too would be bliss. 

One of the ways I can feel that I am in heaven on earth is to be in the company of other believers engaged in the worship of almighty God.  When I am in such company I realize that there are millions of others in the world who also share our sentiments and are probably worshipping God in much the same way at the same time.  In addition, there is the “communion of saints” that we mention in the creeds.  They have already entered into the nearer presence of God, and as God is near us when we worship, and they are with God, then by sheer deduction we know that in some way they are with us as we worship.  Someday we shall be with them and people on earth will think the same thing about us. Our worship always consists of more than what we see or experience in this present place.  But when we worship God, we get a glimpse of heaven in the depths of our souls.  This causes us to hunger and thirst after God, and to be merciful as God is merciful.   

This is God’s promise to us:  eternal live with all the blessed.  We are blessed as we purify our hearts through our worship of God. As we do this, we will see God in others and eventually see God as he is, where he is.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.