Against Nothingness

I read sermons regularly. I enjoy it and I fancy that it improves my own preaching, though I suppose I must leave that verdict with my congregants. Regardless, I have oft been instructed well by pastors past and wish, on this occasion, to pass on one such worthwhile specimen.  Here, then, I humbly present to thee, most esteemed reader of mine, a sermon. A sermon which comes at the conclusion of a series on heaven.  The Justice and the Joy of Heaven by John Donne Justice : As it is said of old cosmographers, that when they had said all that they knew of a country and yet much more was to be said, they said that the rest of those countries were possessed with giants or witches or spirits or wild beasts, so that they could pierce no farther into that country; so when we have traveled as far as we can with safety, that is, as far as ancient or modern expositors lead us in the discovery of these new heavens and new earth, yet we must say at last that it is a country i...

It's 3am and I can't sleep. I'm all alone. There's no one to call at this hour. And so, rising slowly and allowing blankets to slip to the floor, I head for my computer. With a half-desperate sigh I log on to my Facebook account. I hope for some activity, some contact with other people.  Nothing. I post a status update and wait. Click. Refresh. Click. Refresh. Nothing.  My brain side-slips reality and I imagine, for the briefest of moments, a different life.  I imagine being constantly tired but unable to sleep. The heaviness of my eyes growing with each passing moment but nary a moment of sleep. I imagine sitting for hours, days, and weeks with abundant tools of communication at my disposal but having no one to talk to. My lonely desperation growing with each passing moment but nary a moment of human contact.  Gripped by this image there is only one option. I turn the computer off and go to bed. And as I drift off  I wonder... ...

Edit: I haven't written much about heaven and hell myself; this post is merely pictures and questions. If and when I do so, I will link to it. In the meantime, you might check out these two good books on the subjects: Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church  by N.T. Wright The Great Divorce  by C.S. Lewis Edit 2: And here is my first, brief, thoughts on heaven: "Daddy, be a monster..." Apparently the news of Rob Bell's upcoming book  is causing even more of a stir than I realized.  Scott McKnight has some comments about it over at CT  and lots of others are blogging and commenting.  I think that part of what is going on here is simply that Bell has hit upon an important and controversial topic which people are interested in talking about: Heaven and Hell. You can certainly find some cool pictures of heaven and hell if you google that phrase :) I liked those two.  So, just to throw th...