Over the last few weeks I have been dismantling my life, selling off books saved for prospective grandchildren, taking my mother’s antiques to an auction, sorting through worthless flotsam gathered for imaginary craft projects. Giving up dreams.
Meanwhile, Bruce is cleaning out his office at the church where he has preached for the last eleven years. He has hundreds of books, papers and souvenirs, most of which cannot come with us.
One of my most wrenching tasks, for a number of reasons, has been taking apart the guest room. After January, any future Bruce and I can imagine will be spent in two small rooms that will be hard pressed to accommodate overnight guests.
But the actuality of the situation is not as troubling as the symbolism. My guest room was the one room that was rarely out of order. When I felt overwhelmed, I could look in and see the perfectly made, antique twin bed, dressed in eyelet linens and a hand made quilt. Ruffled curtains trimmed in pink framed a sunny window. The antique floor lamp and small mirrored dresser reminded me of childhood and the comfort and peace of my grandmother’s house.
Now my entire house is topsy-turvy as I prepare for a moving sale on the seventeenth. Rugs are rolled and lying in corners, everything saleable is crowded into the front two rooms, family photos and my paintings are down from the walls.
I try to imagine the new apartment, arranged and decorated to serve our changed circumstances. I know we can live comfortably, but only if we rid ourselves of many, many things; things that, for inexplicable reasons, feel like necessities.
Too much of what I must get rid of feels like pieces of myself, bits of my history that someone, somewhere, should see and care about—old playbills from my “wicked” days on the stage; numberless resumes assembled for jobs that didn’t happen; barely used, outdated teaching certificates from six different states, and (vanity, vanity thy name is woman) letters and pictures from old beaus.
Can I live without it? I want to say, yes. Did any of it matter? Only God knows.
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
No Dogs or People "Go to Heaven"
I have made a life-long study of ancient prophecy, poetry, history and literature (specifically the 66 books of the Bible), and, though I’ve never had a “near-death experience” (The closest I’ve come is being knocked unconscious, coming-to as a Dr. stuck a long hypodermic in my nose, and thinking that dying might not be a bad alternative.), I have some semi-firm opinions about the afterlife.
First of all, no one is "going to Heaven.” According to the book of Revelation, the Devil and his angels have a dark place reserved for them away from God, and evil doers will suffer eternal destruction, but believers will inhabit a “new earth.”
That image is comforting. A new earth, prepared specifically as a home for the sanctified human race, could be very much like the Garden of Eden, which, after all, God prepared as a perfect environment for a man and a woman. Adam and Eve had work to do, ruled over the earth and worshiped by walking and talking with God.
Most of what the Bible says about the end of time and eternity is in the book of Revelation. Our typical descriptions of “Heaven”: pearly gates, streets of gold, etc., are actually the prophet John’s vision of the “New Jerusalem” (Christ's purified church) which will “come down from Heaven” to the earth. The heaven of the Bible, full of worshiping angels and indescribably foreign experiences is the realm where God dwells, now.
In eternity, God will be with his people.
Revelation 21: 1-4
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
First of all, no one is "going to Heaven.” According to the book of Revelation, the Devil and his angels have a dark place reserved for them away from God, and evil doers will suffer eternal destruction, but believers will inhabit a “new earth.”
That image is comforting. A new earth, prepared specifically as a home for the sanctified human race, could be very much like the Garden of Eden, which, after all, God prepared as a perfect environment for a man and a woman. Adam and Eve had work to do, ruled over the earth and worshiped by walking and talking with God.
Most of what the Bible says about the end of time and eternity is in the book of Revelation. Our typical descriptions of “Heaven”: pearly gates, streets of gold, etc., are actually the prophet John’s vision of the “New Jerusalem” (Christ's purified church) which will “come down from Heaven” to the earth. The heaven of the Bible, full of worshiping angels and indescribably foreign experiences is the realm where God dwells, now.
In eternity, God will be with his people.
Revelation 21: 1-4
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
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