I know that heaven is not a place so much as it is an attitude. I know that in some real theological sense speculation about heaven is a foolish and wasteful exercise, and yet, despite the best efforts of the modern scientific age, I continue to be fascinated by the idea of heaven, and I suspect that I am not alone. To go “out there,” to think of “up there,” to recover an imagination beyond the paltry “realities” of this life – all of that is stimulated when one uses this language of spiritual geography. Is it real? Is it a place?
You may recall the story that circulated upon the death of Professor Paul Tillich. Some of his friends called Karl Barth with the sad news that Paul Tillich had at last died, and Barth’s immediate response, we are told, was “Well, now he knows.” The knowledge of heaven is not for us, at least not yet, and that is why we have been given the idea and the imagery, and the vivid descriptions, and that is why on Ascension Day we must give some thought to the idea, for that is where we are told Jesus now is.
–Peter Gomes, “Ascension: The Absent and Present Christ,” Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1998), pp. 93-94.
Gomes writes:
“I know that heaven is not a place so much as it is an attitude.”
Heaven a solipsistic excercise?
Heaven help us.
I vastly prefer C.S. Lewis’s image of heaven as the ultimate place, a place where the solar system feels like an indoor affair (see “the Great Divorce”), as being better rooted in both Scripture and the Christian tradition.
A chorus from my youth:
Heaven is a wonderful place!
Full of Glory and Grace!
I want to see my Saviour’s face!
Heaven is a wonderful place!
There’s the right “attitude” and relationship to heaven, whatever the physical particulars shall be in “all things appertaining to the manhood” of each citizen thereof.
St Paul has said that the mind of man has not imagined what is in store but that we shall be as Christ is. Enough to thrill the heart and blow the imagination and then we shall move on from glory to glory.
Amen. Maranatha! Jesus!
Paging Dr. Wright to the pulpit, Dr. N.T Wright to the pulpit….
Ah, Gomes, this is why I never attended Memorial Chapel when I was at Harvard. He has such an intellect, and usually comes 70% of the way to his destination, but then in the last 30% veers all over the road.