There’s a place for us; somewhere a place for us.
Hold my hand and we’re halfway there; hold my hand, and I’ll take you there…
Somewhere. A place for us. In the musical version of Jesus’ last night with his disciples, maybe he’d break into song (actually, I’m reminded of a lot of pop songs in this passage… stay tuned this week.). He is trying to comfort his followers as they begin to grasp how soon he will be taken from them.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
If only we could believe it when people say they’re coming back for us. If small children could trust that mom’s not disappearing for good, they’d need fewer blankets and bears. If young women could trust that men really do just “want space” and aren’t taking a permanent hike, there’d be a lot less drama in social media – and bad love songs. We can’t believe what we can’t conceive – and how could Jesus’ friends conceive of a place “out there” with him and many dwelling places and plenty of room for everyone?
How can we? This passage is often read at funerals. Presumably it comforts the bereaved to know their loved one has a front-door key on a hook somewhere – although I doubt anyone who is enjoying pure being has much use for a zip code. We like to know where our people are, to imagine them somewhere. Maybe we like to imagine ourselves somewhere, so people have taken the few symbolic hints about heaven in the bible, and worked them into a whole city with golden streets and gem-encrusted gates.
I’m not quite old enough to be concerned about having real estate in the afterlife. I know that I can start living that life where I am now. We can access those heavenly places in all kinds of ways – in worship, prayer, intimate conversation, a walk on a fine day – anywhere, any time we feel connected to Jesus, in the presence and light and love of God.
What is your view of the afterlife – your afterlife?
Where and how do you best find yourself in touch with God in the here and how?
Is that anything like the heaven you imagine? In prayer today we might ask the Spirit to make us aware of the Somewhere God intends for us to dwell in - and to reveal it in our lives now. .
We are invited to live already as though we know that place, that Somewhere, where Jesus is, where God is. And when we live out that belief, that conviction, we bring it into being in the here and now. Then forgiveness and love and giving our stuff away to people who need it become a lot more natural – we’re living the life of heaven.
Somewhere. We'll find a new way of living, We'll find a way of forgiving... Somewhere …
Somewhere is here, my friends. Some time is already. May the Fourth be with you!
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