2014 Lenten Devotional

March 14, 2014

By Ron Hutchison

“THY will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  What could this mean? As a child I remember images of the Throne of God. In pictures there was this white-bearded white man sitting on what appeared to be a throne. I also remember there were sayings like “the Pearly Gates” and “streets of gold.”  There were stories of there never being any problems and reuniting with all our loved ones in bodies like we remembered them.  Heaven was the perfect place where GOD lived and all GOOD people joined “HIM” when they died. Sometimes even good pets were there. When I was young the pictures of heaven only had “white” people in them and I knew somehow non-Christians were not welcome. At the same time I was taught the words to the LORD’S PRAYER. At that time I was not at all troubled by the inconsistency.

In my teens I began to question this Heaven and Hell stuff. By that time in my life I has decided that I was going to go into the ministry and was active in my church and youth group, as well as the Regional youth program in the Capital Area. It was also the time when the Civil Rights Movement and the War in Vietnam were political issues. I was thinking that Heaven had to be different from how it was presented. Another thought I struggled with was if the only reason one should be good was to get to Heaven, then something was missing. I had begun to question the Hell issue as well, but that is another discussion. Something I also noticed was that Jesus seemed to me to be saying the “Kingdom of GOD,” which I think of as synonymous with heaven, was emanate or present and he was not talking about being dead to know/experience it. So, to be honest, I have been considering the issue of Heaven for decades.

Jesus teaches humankind many lessons of how we should treat each other. These lessons—I have understood--are to bring us closer to GOD and Jesus indicates that by being closer to each other we can achieve closeness with GOD. Living peacefully in community with equality and justice is what pleases GOD, according to Jesus. That is the way I understand. By doing this we bring GOD’s Kingdom to earth. Thus we have “Heaven on earth.”  I am fully aware how difficult that is to do personally, but Jesus says we must “just do it.”

Recently I have been thinking of the thought of “heaven on earth “ and have realized that there has been a reversal planted in our minds. Instead we have tried to put our earthly standards of comfort into heaven. Heaven is the reward for “being good.”  It is where we get away from being poor, in pain, or confused. We get to hang out with those whom we loved and they are how we want to remember them, perfectly loving. Heaven is the end of all struggles and we do not have to work anymore. In college I researched and submitted a term paper in my Sociology of Religion class titled “The Use of Religion to Control Slaves in America.”  The primary proposal was that being a good slave would have earned their reward in Heaven. For them, Heaven became all those good things their owners would not give them on earth.

My understanding of Heaven now is that Jesus teaches that all the riches we need to know will result just by being one with GOD. Jesus gives us a list of “Blessed” behaviors enumerated in the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes are a better description than the “streets of gold” or the “pearly gates” of old. As I think about Christ’s last days on earth and how desperately he wanted humankind to learn the lessons that would bring us eternal life. He was so concerned that he wept for us. I am encouraged by that hope he had for our joy. There is great joy to be had by bringing the kind of LOVE and PEACE Christ showed us. The kind of joy that he believed worth his suffering and physical death so that we can learn about GOD’s will on earth as in Heaven. We are LOVED by GOD and blessed by a savior who teaches even today what is truly important. By the GRACE we receive we are forgiven our failures and encouraged to try again each new day to bring  “The Kingdom of GOD” to earth.