Strange as it may seem coming from Christians, the most common idea of Heaven is of a boring place. If you ever ask someone if they are looking forward to going there the most usual response is "Oh yes, but not yet!" or an awkward silence.

When did the hope of heaven become the 'drag' of heaven? Could it be that we don't know God well enough to long to spend time with Him?; Or could it be a deep-seated honesty that knows we are not ready for heaven? So, what are we doing about it? If there is anything sure about life it is that we are on a journey to one of two destinations. We certainly don't want to go to hell. Heaven is the only alternative. But what a terrible way to think of it! I don't know where the idea of sitting on clouds and playing harps came from, but if that is all we know about heaven, then I would'nt want to go there either.

But have you ever wondered why the Bible is so reticent on the subject? The best description (if you could call it that) is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 but Paul does sound excited about it all.

"no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9 NIV)

The Old Testament descriptions are unashamedly physical

"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goad, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them .... They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" ;(Is.10:8-9 NIV)

What made start thinking along these lines was that I found a very good article by Richard Foster at Renovare. And I found myself agreeing with what he writes. Certainly, his descriptions of heaven are not boring at all. ....

"Now, on to Heaven. And am I glad. It is the topic I have been really wanting to work on from the beginning for heaven is, I believe, the heart's deepest longing! First, let me remind you of our touchstone concept: We are unceasing spiritual beings with an eternal destiny in God's great universe.

The Absolute Realities ... Some day in some obscure magazine you will read that I have died. But, of course, nothing will be further from the truth. At that moment I will be more alive than ever. To be sure, my physical body that is so much a part of who I am right now will die it will have served its purpose. But my spirit will live on . . . forever. This is the reality of who I am as an unceasing spiritual being. This is what is true about me. You too. Ten thousand years from now we will continue living. You better get accustomed to the fact that you cannot cease to exist. So, deal with it. And plan for it. Let's get beyond our petty one-year . . . five-year . . . ten-year plan for life and start working on our ten-thousand-year plan. God and life in the kingdom of God are the absolute realities that we can bank on. Really. Nothing in our universe is more real, more absolute, more certain. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the signpost of our future. And the indwelling and empowering Holy Spirit is ;the earnest of our inheritance, to use the phrase of St. Paul (Eph. 1:14). We have the down payment now of the life that is coming in its fullness in heaven. And even here on earth heaven has its outposts, preeminently in the presence of the living Christ in the Eucharist. Life in the kingdom of God then begins here, now, and continues in completed form in the age to come. Hence, what we call death is, for the disciple of Jesus, merely a minor transition from this life to greater LIFE. John the Beloved writes, "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3).

Eternal life is knowing by experience the triune God, and so eternal life begins here, now. We can know God right where we are and enter into life in the kingdom of God. Here. Now. Through Jesus. ..... What we are engaged in here and now is a disciplined training. ..... I hope you immediately recognize what a stark contrast this vision of heaven is to the other major world-view contenders.

The Resurrection Body .... We will not be unrecognizable, disembodied spirits. Nor will we go through an endless series of reincarnations which obliterate our personhood. No, there will be a personal and individual continuation of ourselves after death. This is the incarnational reality of the resurrection body. .... This resurrection body will be recognizable and consistent with who we are here and now, just as Jesus' resurrection body was recognizable and consistent with who he was in the flesh.

Heaven Proper ...... I will make a few educated guesses.....Heaven will be brimming full of interesting people and landscape and creatures of many kinds.; Learning and working and developing all manner of skills will be part of the joy of heaven. ;Boring will be the domain and experience of hell, not heaven. ;Fellowship; and community; will be experienced realities in heaven which will take on multi-dimensional meanings and ever richer complexity. We will learn to receive and give love in ways unimaginable to us right now. As Jonathan Edwards put it, 'They shall see every thing in God that gratifies love. They shall see in him all that love desires. . . . God will make ineffable manifestations of his love to them. They shall see as much love in God towards them as they desire; they neither will nor can crave any more." The 'beatific vision' will be both wonderfully approachable and all-consuming.

To borrow the words of Carol Zaleski commenting on Dante's vision of paradise; "what we have . . . is a complex trinitarian dance of lights, a luminous and effervescent assembly, rather than a single searing radiance." ;

See you in heaven! ;Peace and joy, Richard J. Foster