Wenesday 24 June 2020

Many have of us have childhood stories that our elders used to haul out every now and then as we were growing up. This would happen either when they were engaging in a bit of reminiscing or, more uncomfortably, when they wished to embarrass you in front of friends. One of my oft recounted tales is this. Apparently, when I was around 5 years old, I was asked if I wanted to go to heaven when I died. A strange question to ask a child, I know, but there you are. I seemingly replied, ‘No, I would rather go to Mauchline.’ Mauchline, as you may know, is a small town in East Ayrshire famed for its connections with Robert Burns and for its ‘Mauchline Ware’ – check out any episode of Bargain Hunt and you will find some of it on display. For me, its attraction lay in something else. For my choice of this town over the celestial delights of heaven was to do with the town’s toy shop. It was a veritable cornucopia of wonderous attractions for a small boy. Much preferable to heaven in my thinking. Like many, I preferred the pleasures of the known to that of the unknown.

I spent much of my early childhood, for reasons I will not go into here, in the company of, in my eyes, elderly ladies. They were all very kind, well-meaning, and conventionally devout in their Christian faith. This helps to understand the strange question I was asked. Looking back, it now seems clear that their understanding of their faith and, in particular, their conception of Heaven, reflected that which Thomas Merton criticised when he spoke of many Christians having what he called a ‘Personal Salvation Project.’ In this view, the Christian faith is primarily concerned with getting to heaven when you die. It is founded on the belief that if we do, say, and believe, the correct things, then God will reward us with allowing us into the Heavenly Paradise when we die. It is, therefore, a rewards-based system based on merit. All we have to is collect the requisite number of merit badges along the way and we are home and dry. I now realise that what was lying behind the question about going to heaven was a talk about how I would have to be a good boy etc. if I, indeed, wanted to go there. My negative response put a spanner in that particular works! As I said they were well-meaning and devout.

The truth is, though, that as we grow up, we all need structure, rules, limitations and a mixture of conditional and unconditional loving. It all serves to help us develop a sense of who we are, of personal identity and self-worth. Rules and limits help us develop impulse control and imbue us with the inner strength to delay the gratification of our endless wants and desires. It is a good and necessary beginning to life and part of the mix will be a God who rewards good behaviour. In many respects it is a reflection of the God of the immature faith who merely imitates the quid pro quo of much of human life.

St. Paul remind us that there comes a time when we have to lay aside childish things and see the world with different eyes. I believe Paul was referring to the eyes of grace and mercy. Mature faith comes to understand that grace, unconditional love, has been God’s default position from the beginning. God has always loved us with a perfect love, that is, a love which embraces and loves our brokenness. That is what makes it perfect!! The birth, life, death and rising of Jesus the Christ, was not to change God’s mind about humanity. It was to change humanity’s mind about God. The Incarnation, a posh term for the life of Jesus, did not occur in order for God to sort out some mistake. It was to save us from our false and harmful notions about God and ourselves. God has always loved us. God has always been with us and for us. God has always been the One in whom we live, and move, and have our very being. God is closer to us than our very breath. It was just that most of us, most of the time, either didn’t know that or didn’t care.

If I were asked now if I wanted to go to heaven when I died? I would say an emphatic yes. Yes, because we are all partakers in heaven now. The Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus said time and time again, is within us, around, before us and behind us. It is now, if we have eyes to see. Heaven, being in God’s presence, is a gracious free gift to all. We do not gain by own deeds, our merit or beliefs. The Christian faith is not a worthiness contest but an on-going encounter with, and participation in, the life of God. And it begins now. What we now know in part, we will know then in full. That’s Good News!!