On earth as in heaven

All through the Easter season, we have been reading from the Book of Acts and from the Book of Revelation. Imagine that we are kind of looking both backwards and forwards. No. Scratch that. As we’ve been following the lesson, we have watching as the Church—the community Christ’s followers—has unfolded right before our eyes!

In Acts, We have been hearing about the earliest church as the news of Jesus resurrection has spread throughout the known world.

At the same time, we have been hearing about a vision in our readings from Revelation, a vision of what the Church will be like when the ascended Jesus returns everything is wrapped up and completed. Put another way, as we come close to the end of Eastertide and get ready to celebrate the Ascension, we come to the final vision inside a book of visions. 

We Episcopalians, as with many Christians, try to avoid Revelation. Because unless it quotes the Book of Common Prayer or shows up in the Hymnal, it feels like kind of a big spiritual pothole on our spiritual journey. I mean it’s jarring and unexpected. And if we see it coming, we try to drive around it.

That’s because the imagery seems frightening or strange to us. And all too often, when we do hear from Revelation, it is usually from the lips of some television preacher, a paperback book—written either by a religious author or one that is skeptical of faith in any form. When we read it, is has the vibe of special effect filled movie that tells us that when God shows up, things will probably get very ugly very fast.

I don’t know about you, but I find it very odd that the people who most often talk about Christ’s triumphant reign often use startling images of disappearing Christians or present this triumph s a survivalist scenario of post-apocalyptic Christian guerrilla warriors or some such stuff.

I am here to tell you that these folks have Revelation all wrong.

In fact, the really wondrous thing about the book is what it promises, not what it threatens. What we have here is a vision of hope and promise because God is bringing heaven to earth, and we are a part of that!

Anglican Bishop and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright, says: “in Jesus, [God] bring[s] heaven and earth together at immense cost and with immense joy…, in and for the whole cosmos at last.”  

Every day what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer is in fact coming true: That God’s will is being done on earth just as it is done is heaven. Heaven comes to earth.

So, instead of the popular image of us going up in the air to meet Jesus in the sky, we see God’s reign coming down to us, where we live.

Imagine that. A world where God’s will is being perfectly followed where we live on earth, every bit as much as God’s will is perfectly done in heaven.

Too often, we confuse the Hope of the Gospel with a kind of rosy nostalgia for how things used to be.

But the vision in Revelation is not a mere appeal to new, improved past. It is a portrait of new and renewed creation.

For one thing, when heaven comes to earth there will be no need for an ideal temple, where God resides, sequestered from creation; instead, the vision says that God is present everywhere and illumines everything.  

And instead of only special people gathered in a closed temple, the vision tells us that all the people of the earth will be united as they are focused upon God's light and everyone will have access to God who comes to dwell with us.

We in our time often experience human power and authority as corrupt with greed and a thirst for power and control. But this is a vision of the old world which has passed away.  

In the new world we see and understand differently.  Here in the new earth, where heaven makes its home, we see that God has power and authority. All the powers and authorities of the world are not gone but rather are oriented at worshiping God and reflecting his light.  Power and authority, the kings, are transformed.

This is achieved by God's grace.  We are washed clean by the healing which is God's alone.  As Bishop Wright wrote, "God's drawing of the kings and nations to God's self, to the holy city, is no threat; the uncleanness that had led to oppression, violence, and evil will stay removed forever."

This vision is a vision of hope which is visible, even dimly, now in the world around us.  We as Christians and followers of Jesus, the Lamb of God, are invited to do this now.  We are invited to see our role in the world today. To know we are made clean by Christ.  That we are to attempt to unearth this heavenly city in the midst of our families and friendship circles.  We are to see the seeds already sprouting of this kingdom come to earth. 

In our care for the poor and of each other, we see the seeds of God’s kingdom come to earth.

In our sacramental living, we see the seeds of God’s kingdom come to earth.

In our life together and our renewed relationships, we see the seeds of God’s kingdom come to earth.

In our creativity, our art and our music, we see the seeds of God’s kingdom come to earth.

Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “Peace I leave with you.” His peace is not like human ideas of peace, and it is not temporary satisfaction, the numbing of feelings, or the ideal of being the winner. God’s peace, Christ’s peace, abides—it never ends and always grows. His peace comes from the Holy Spirit, who is sent from Jesus to teach us and show us Jesus’ ways.

And as we take on the gift of Christ’s peace, we cooperate with God and sow the seeds of God’s kingdom come to earth in every part of our living, every day.

The vision of the heavenly city that find its home on earth is our vision… our guide…our foundation! But it is not a mere feeling that comes and goes. It is an active change of our very being that is both a grace that comes under God’s power and life that we participate in.

The vision of the heavenly is our invitation to enter the gates of God’s reign with thanksgiving and is never ever closed.

Today, we are being nurtured and ushered into God’s court to praise and worship with all God’s people—of every race, gender, nation, and origin—in a baptized, eucharistic community gathered before our God who is not locked away in a temple, but who has in Christ has made his life in the world and through grace, faith, and baptism has made us his people.

And so, together, and every day we are given the power, the tools, and the possibility to live out the very vision that we pray every day: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” 

Amen and Amen!