John 14:2 and You shall ask by Nancy Wood
By Rev. Nicole M. Lamarche
October 15th, 2023
As I shared we are doing things slightly differently today and so you will get to hear from Becky in a minute. We are doing a series here in worship on questions and so this question has been posed to me regularly. I invite you now to take some deeper breaths in this unprecedented time we need to keep breathing, hoping the Spirit offers whatever we need for today.
God, may the words of all of our mouths and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Do you believe in heaven? Is the afterlife essential for those of us who identify as Jesus followers in 2023? What do we mean when we say that God has many rooms for us? What a fun thing to have the space to explore this together! Yay the afterlife.
A lot of us grew up with the idea that it was like a “cookie” that if you did it all right, you get the cookie. If you don’t do it right there’s something else waiting for you.
COMMUNAL REFLECTION: What was handed to you as the view of the afterlife?
Some scholars wonder and I wonder about this scripture is if it’s an invitation to see beyond this plain, in other words a place beyond this realm that might not necessarily be a conscience other realm.
Here’s what Richard Rohr, says about this, “The major point is that Jesus has not left the human sphere; he is revealing the goal, the fullness, and the purpose of humanity itself, which is “that we are able to share in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), here. That there is something accessible on this plain of reality. And he says that “our code word for that is heaven…”
One of the things that I hold is that people tell me all kinds of things because they know what I do and that I am probably not going to discount weird stories. And I can’t tell you the amount of stories I have heard where there is a similar thread of light and peace. So I think of it like what Art tells us. Energy can never be created or destroyed. It just changes form. IT doesn’t die. So maybe when we drop the body, there’s something that isn’t conscience, but I believe there is something…
COMMUNAL REFLECTION: What do we hold now? How does the afterlife fit into your spiritual framework?
Beloved of God what if Jesus is saying in another way, that wherever you find yourself, Love is there, there is a place for you? May it be so. Amen.