Sermon – 11-03-24 – All Saints Sunday Cycle B
Scripture: Isaiah 25:6-9; using Psalm 34; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44
Sermon Title: “Where is Heaven?”

Heaven is up. Hell is down. There are many references in the Bible that indicate that heaven is up! Do we go to heaven or does heaven come to us?

Our Revelation 21 passage today says that God is coming to us. We will have a new heaven and a new earth it says. A new earth may be a very welcome adjustment. We read that the first heaven and the first earth will have passed away. AND, there will be no more sea. Of course, this is a vision that God gave to John on the island of Patmos where John, the disciple and the same John the writer of the gospel of John and the same John who wrote the three letters of John spent his last days. Be mindful that not all the thinkers about the Bible agree with me about the oneness of all these persons named John, but we will have this. God gave this revelation to whichever John this is and God told this John to write these things.

The letter of Revelation to seven churches is a writing of mystery and imagination. We know that God is a god of mystery. Faith is required to let our minds and hearts free to accept the mystery for what it is worth. And it is worth a lot! Even if we are the kind of person who needs facts and proof, the mystery of God finds us. How else could it be that God created the earth as we know it, and now we read that God is creating a new earth? What about the heavens? Where was God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – before our earth was created? Before the universe was created? Outer space, you may say. Outer, upper, beyond our ordinary thinking.

To further test our faith, we have the idea presented in the Bible and in our Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed that we don’t go to heaven immediately. We need to wait until Jesus comes again. Then he will separate us into heaven people or hell people. Many of us eliminate that idea by thinking of the words of Jesus on the cross to the believer hanging beside Jesus, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” Today, not years from now, not after people have said many prayers for your soul, TODAY! NOW!

So where is this garden of pleasure. As many of us were taught in our seminary classes that the Kingdom of God is already here among us on earth. It is just a work in progress. Guess who is supposed to be the workers! Yes, we are supposed to be the spreaders of the gospel – not gossip. We are after the truth! Well, to me the truth is that God is with me all the time sometimes giving me much pleasure, sometimes allowing embarrassment, pain, anguish about myself. Sometimes bursting my balloon. But there are times when I thank God over and over for the heavenly pleasures I am given in this earthly Kingdom of God, despite Satan’s presence and annoyances. Being with each of you is a heavenly pleasure, especially the mercy you give to me when I surely am not showing the best personality that is hiding somewhere within me. Your mercy is great toward me. Taking the first bite of a McDonald’s hamburger and the small serving of french fries is a touch of heaven to me. Seeing nature at its most beautiful in the orange day-lilies along the road. A smile from someone I pass. The congregational singing. The times I have been privileged to guide a dying person through the release of his or her earthly life into the realm of heaven. This is where heaven is for me on earth. Somewhere my friends and relatives and strangers are waiting to receive me, after I have been received in the arms of Jesus. Somewhere! Does it really matter where heaven is according to the dynamics of physics? Our faith gives us the assurance of our reception into heaven wherever that is. Amen

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Sermon – 11-03-24 – All Saints Sunday Cycle B
Scripture: Isaiah 25:6-9; using Psalm 34; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44
Sermon Title: “Where is Heaven?”

Heaven is up. Hell is down. That is how we picture Heaven and Hell. In our minds they need to be kept far apart. Or maybe they should be close together because a questionable soul might move from one to the other easily and quickly – something like sneaking into a different country. Sorry, another discussion for another day!

I searched the word “heaven” in the Bible. There are numerous verses of the Old Testament which refer to heaven being up and hell being down. But when I got to New Testament verses the symbolism seemed to change from heaven being up and hell being down to the partial kingdom of God on earth versus the completed kingdom of God when Jesus comes again and Satan is dispateched to the place of eternal fire, wherever that is. In our minds it is down.

Did you hear me say, “. . . when Jesus comes again?” Jesus is coming to us. We are not going to Jesus. Our revelation passage uses the term “God” saying God is coming to us. God will be among his people. This New Jerusalem will come to us fresh and new – a perfected city. Not the old Jerusalem the physical city, that saw so much anguish. If only Ezra and Nehemiah knew that God would eventually send a new Jerusalem while they labored to reconstruct the old Jerusalem after the Babylonians destroyed it. Would Ezra and Nehemiah have sat back and enjoyed life and waited? Well, they would have had a long wait. We are still waiting for the New Jerusalem! We are still waiting for Jesus to come again! When will Jesus come from his secure place in heaven to face our world? Will we quickly sweep all of the hatred under the rug and behind closed doors as we do when company comes to our houses? Alas, I have this fervent desire to clean my house. Do you suppose God is waiting for me to clean my house? The world world is waiting for me to clean my house so Jesus will finally come.? Have mercy on me, a sinner!

The kingdom of God is on earth but it is not complete. Satan has not lost his power yet. Why does God allow Satan to function? Satan is still alive and well. What is God waiting for us to do? Could God be waiting for us to take Satan out of business by ignoring him? Or Is God waiting for us to convert every soul on earth to belief in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Heaven is not a physical or geographical place. Then is it not real? It is as real as God is! And to me, God is very real. He lets me hurt to the bone when I have been unkind or very hurtful. But, God restores my soul. I feel like heaven is surrounding me and dwelling in me. Heaven dwelling in me? Just enough so I know it is real. Think about yourselves. Has heaven touched your soul? Have you felt the peace that only God can give?

Heaven is real when we help other people, when we share our time and possessions. Heaven is in our hearts when we love unselfishly; when we succumb to the glorious charisma that is Jesus and surrender to the Heaven within us. We thank God for these many people who are now truly saints because in God’s holy presence we are transformed into truly peaceful souls.
May it be so. Amen

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Sermon – 11-03-24 – All Saints Sunday Cycle B
Scripture: Isaiah 25:6-9; using Psalm 34; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44
Sermon Title: “Where is Heaven?”

Where are these departed saints at this moment? Where is heaven? I picture heaven as being a special cloud in the sky where the saints from Adam and Eve all the way to Jack Abel are having the time of their lives – no arguing, no stealing, no gossiping – just genuine love for each other and for Jesus and the Father while the Holy Spirit keeps us going on earth. Wait! Are you still stuck on Adama and Eve and why am I saying that they were accepted into heaven? We tend to blame a lot of our problems on Adam and Eve. Well, I am a firm believer in the mercy of God.

But let us leave that as a subject for another day. Meanwhile, your mother or father or sister or brother or spouse or your child is somewhere and some of us are asking where is it that they are waiting for us or better still having the time of their lives..

God is a mysterious God! He is not a buddy god. I believe that God loves us immensely but he knows how to keep secrets. So the location of heaven is one of those secrets. But we have faith! God gave it to us as a tiny kernel in our souls. We are blessed if our seed of faith grew and is still growing. The theme of the UCC of Robesonia float in the parade this afternoon is “Grow With Us!” Our faith is alive. We belive! We believe there is a place where our loved ones are waiting for us. Great! Even greater is the belief that the Father and the Son, Jesus, are in that place. It is the ultimate place of fellowship.

My faith is alive because God reveals himself to me every day in different ways. A relationship is healed. God puts a McDonald’s in my path. A problem with my body is healed. Someone I know who needed a job got a job. It actually rains after a dry spell. The mercy of God waters our faith. A flower springs forth from a bulb which had waited all winter to burst forth!

Interestingly enough, we have this scripture today that says that heaven is coming to us. A new heaven into a new earth! Is our faith big enough to believe this? We expect heaven to stay where it is and we will go there when we die. Sometimes it feels like heaven is around us but sometimes it feels like Satan is still here. Well, Satan is still here. We get tempted from all sides. We see the ugliness where Satan resides – he dwells in the hearts of people. Their hearts are empty because they don’t have Jesus in their hearts. Referring to our Revelation 21 reading, we eagerly look forward to Jesus coming again and dwelling in all of our hearts. Satan will be banished! This will be the true kingdom of God.! This will be heaven. The living and the dead will be together. Meanwhile, God is expecting us to prepare ourselves and to gradually improve the kingdom of earth. We are to pray without ceasing for each other, for our earth, and for our own relationship with God. [We are to obey God’s commandments as our gospel lesson and our Psalm reading announced rather forcefully.]

One day we can expect to be IN Heaven. We won’t need to care where it is. It will BE HEAVEN! Praise God! Amen