Imagine there's no heaven? I don't think so!

The Lectionary of the Episcopal Church lists the bible readings to be used each day.  Today the Gospel was John 14:1-14, in which, shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus comforts the disciples, telling that He is going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house where there are “many dwelling places.”  So there were probably a lot of sermons and a lot of thoughts about Heaven.  And I wonder how many people agreed with the ideas presented in the sermon. 

When I decided to start a blog, I bought a copy of Blogging for Dummies, which suggested doing a trial blog to learn the techniques.  So I created a fiction family sitcom, Meet the McDonalds, a blog written by Charlotte (Charlie) McDonald, a thirty-something wife, mother, librarian, Episcopalian and recovering Unitarian.  Also prominent are Charlie’s girlfriends Karen and Nicole.  In the post “Reflective Discussion with the Girls, Mrs. Fields, and Ben and Jerry,” after the murder of another friend of Charlie’s, they share their ideas of the next world:

Karen, Nikki and I got together at Nikki’s house for girls’ night in (after we’d gotten dinner for the troops at home; you know how it is.) . . .  After the second glass of wine, we started talking about heaven.  We decided that:

1.        You get to know anything you wanted. We all decided we wanted to know the truth about the Kennedy assassination.  I said I wanted to know if Elizabeth the First was really a virgin and they said I was naïve.

2.       You can eat anything you want and not get fat.  If you are fat when you die, you will become your perfect weight.  You will never have a bad hair day.

3.       You can meet famous people and they will be gracious. You may even become friends with them.  Nikki, who is not religious, said that some people, like Elvis, wouldn’t have time.  I explained that should we be there ten thousand years there would be no less days to schmooze than when we’d first begun.  I’m the only church goer (or, as Nikki says, church lady) among us.  Karen is spiritual, but not religious.

4.       You can drink and abuse drugs, but it won’t hurt you.

5.       We didn’t get to discussing sex in heaven until the third glass.  And since I’m a church lady, I’m too embarrassed to tell you what was said.
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Frankly, I like this Heaven better than anything I’ve heard about in church.  And I don’t think that’s a problem.  We are told that we can’t imagine Heaven.  That used to bother me.  But I’ve decided that since I’m not a pastor or theologian I can imagine whatever I want and not get in trouble on Earth.  I’m sure that if I’m wrong I’m not going to get in trouble in Heaven.

So if you’ve been feeling guilty or unsophisticated because you don’t understand what you’re hearing in church, don’t worry about it.  Imagine the best Heaven you can.  How much can it hurt?