Good Morning and a Blessed Sunday to all! Man, I have a full day ahead yall! But it is full of the things that I love, the unmistakeable hallmarks of a precious and abundant life: worship, a shared meal with my community of faith (and no doubt shared laughter, as the Youth are putting on their Variety Show today), and good times with my best friends and their kiddos. For every good gift in my life, I give thanks to God with a sincerely grateful heart. First, a repeat of a disclaimer for these next few weeks: I am aware as I write these devotionals every week that I am speaking to people of diverse faith traditions. I love that Facebook gives me the opportunity to do that! Such a privilege indeed. And I think we find, week in and week out, that amidst our varying faith traditions, there is far more that unites us than divides us. Having said that, throughout this season of Lent and Easter, my devotionals are going to focus specifically on stories from the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, who is the God that I worship. If you differ from me on that, I pray that you may still find meaning and inspiration in these stories. I think you will. Thank you in advance for joining me on this journey. My mind this morning is on the subject of eternal life, the place that is widely known as Heaven. My mind goes there a lot, because both of my parents and all four of my grandparents are there. (Side note: Im currently leading a Bible Study on Heaven and learning quite a bit. I will report more on that in the weeks ahead). Additionally, my friends Angela and Carol both lost their mothers very suddenly last week. So again, thoughts of Heaven have abounded for me these last several days. I have believed in Heaven for as long as I can remember, even long before I found my faith. About 5 years into my Christian walk, when I was in college, Christian singer and composer Michael W. Smith came out with a song entitled I Hear Leesha. It was a tribute to a friends teenage daughter who had died in a car accident. The song is lyrically rich and deeply profound, but it is this simple line that I always loved the most: Life goes on even after life Thats what I believe Yeah...thats what I believe. Smiths lyrics resonated with me for their unapologetic certitude: This is what I believe. Yep. This is what I believe. There is a certain hopefulness in believing in something so strongly. What did Jesus say about Heaven? In the second chapter of the Gospel of John - one of four Gospels in the New Testament - Jesus speaks these words: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” In the 23rd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus hangs on the cross, dying between two thieves. One of them implores Jesus to remember him, to which Jesus replies, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. As I mentioned earlier, my friend Angies mother Kathy passed away just last week. This loss is particularly jarring for me, not only because I had known Kathy since I was a girl, but also because I just ran into her at a wedding in January. We spoke for a long time, and it was a really precious conversation. Little could I have known how precious. We talked at great length about my parents, about how much we both loved them, and about how deeply they are missed. And in the middle of this conversation, I thought to myself, One day, we wont have longing conversations like this anymore. Because one day, we will all be together. One day, there will be a great reunion. One day, there will be no more emptiness, no more missing, no more aching. Just peace. Light. Love. Forever. Im not sure this morning where you stand on this question of Heaven. It is a huge topic, and one Sunday morning devotional does not even begin to cover it. But consider these words from Christian singer and composer Nichole Nordeman from her song What If?: What if theres more? What if theres hope you never dreamed of hoping for? Ah. Hope beyond our dreams. Thats what I believe. Yeah...thats what I believe... Thanks be to God.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 13:40:52 +0000
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