I had a dream. And in my dream, I was speaking before the
national gathering of my church’s leaders.
And I said, I had a dream about heaven!
(So, I had a dream about telling some
people about my dream about heaven. Are you with me so far?)
I said, heaven is this place where
everyone, from those who hunger and thirst for righteousness to those who are
persecuted for righteousness sake, are truly blessed.
Heaven is a place where everyone
has given up on anger. It’s a place
where everyone has come to see the futility of hatred and decided to love their
enemies. It’s a place where the instruments
of warfare have been converted into the implements of agriculture.
Heaven is a place where religious
posturing has fallen away and no one feels compelled to impress anyone with
their deep devotion or their high holiness.
Instead, everyone is fearlessly honest about their deep brokenness and
their failure to “get it right.”
Heaven is a place where the need
to climb the ladder of success has lost its appeal and no one worries about
financial security or owning stuff.
Everyone prays, “give us this day our daily bread,” and everyone shares
what has been given.
Heaven is a place where no one tries
to decide whether or not any of the other residents should be there. The need to judge others has long since passed
away. Christians have stopped judging
Muslims. Palestinians have stopped
judging Israelis. The poor have stopped
judging the rich. The right has stopped
judging the left. In Christ there are no
“judgy” people.
Heaven is a place where “the
Spirit and the bride say come,” and all who are thirsty gather to drink the
water of life. Because heaven is, after
all, the city whose gates never shut, where anyone who wants to enter,
can. Sure, there will be some who, like
the elder brother, refuse to go in. But
in the end, who can resist a party?
Heaven is a place where all kings
and nations have gathered under the tree of life to find healing in its shade.
Finally I said, would you like to go to heaven?
Slowly, reluctantly at first,
then more willingly and then more joyfully and fearfully, most of the religious
leaders agreed that going to heaven would be a good thing. So, we prayed together and we walked out the
doors of the place where we had gathered and we took our first tentative steps into the kingdom of heaven.
Then I woke from the heavenly
dream that is, according to Jesus, even now becoming a present reality.
