"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them; they will be the people of God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more;mourning and crying will be no more, the the first things have passed away." Revelation 21:1-4

Heaven….what comes to mind when you hear this word? A magical city in the sky with castle -like buildings rising out of white, puffy clouds? A green and colorful meadow with clear streams and a peace that is palpable? The view from a mountain top with a view that goes beyond anything you’ve ever seen before? A grove of trees creating a womb of root and leaf while cool, fresh breezes flow sweetly in the space around?

Anyone who has the true vision of heaven might want to give filmmaker Peter Jackson a call. He is creating a film version of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and has halted production on the film. Why, you ask? Because he and his art director can not agree on what heaven looks like. I, for one, am glad to move this disagreement outside the church walls and allow these artists in on the age-old argument.

I have to admit to not giving much thought to what heaven ‘looks like’. Instead, believing that heaven is more experience than place, I have spent much time trying to make sure I notice and honor it when it comes near. Throughout the scriptures and in literature, writers-storytellers-artists- have tried to paint with brush or word the beauty of what heaven might look like given their own experience, their own landscape, their own experience of the Holy. In truth, it is all any of us can do. When the Holy One brushes by in the guise of human or flower or animal or bird, we simply try to use inadequate tools to tell the story and pass it on. As those stories are told over time we tend to want to set them in stone, make them the ‘truth’ rather than a reflection of that truth.

And so filmmaker and artist halt their work, based on the story of a murdered young woman who observes from a place beyond the grief that remains after her death, because they can’t agree what heaven looks like. Perhaps one of the points of the book, of the story itself, is how heaven was right there on earth….in the love of parents and family, in the relationship of family and friends, in the beauty all around.  It is something to ponder.

This past Sunday was what we have named in the Christian church, Ascension Sunday. It is the Sunday when we read the story from the book of Acts of Jesus’ being taken up into heaven. In this story the apostles are impatiently grilling Jesus about when the ‘kingdom of God’ will arrive. His words to them:" It is not for you to know. That’s God’s business." He goes on to tell them that the Spirit will lead them in what they need to know and and how they are to live. When he disappears into the clouds, they heard these words:"People of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?"

Why, indeed? May this day, this weekend, find us looking, not toward the sky but into the eyes and hearts of all those we meet,offering ourselves to the Love that moves and breathes and has meaning among us. Call it what you want. I’ll call it heaven.

Have a blessed weekend……………