“Heaven and
Hell”
Rev. Alison Longstaff, March 22, 2015
Bath Church of the New Jerusalem
Morning Has
Broken; God Is Love, Let Heaven Adore Him; Lord, Look Down From Heaven
Psalm 139:1-12, Luke 17: 20-21; HS 8153
After
I began this sermon, I quickly realized I had material for many, many sermons. There are so many possible points of
exploration when it comes to talking about heaven and hell; I could not possibly
discuss them all in one short (or even long-ish) sermon. I found myself sectioning off paragraph after
paragraph and setting them aside for other sermons so as to keep this one from being too long. Stay tuned for “Heaven and Hell, Part(s) Two,”
(and “Three,” and “Four….”).
This
morning we are going to explore the following three questions relating to
heaven and hell:
- What are heaven and hell like? (Harps, wings, and clouds vs. a lake of fire?)
- Where, or rather, when are they? (Happening right now, or coming sometime in the future?)
- Who is responsible regarding where we end up?
First
out of the gate, I must mention that Emanuel Swedenborg wrote an entire book on
Heaven and Hell. Heaven and Hell is far
and away one of his easier books to read. He wrote in Latin in the 1700s, and even in
translation, he is one of the least “sound-bite accessible” authors I know. A class on how to use Twitter could have
transformed his accessibility to today’s audience! Nevertheless it is a fascinating read, and
will certainly change how you explore this topic.
1. Meanwhile, today we ask, what are heaven and hell like?
We've
probably all seen the Philadelphia Cream Cheese commercial with the winged angel
(eating cream cheese) on the clouds. She’s perky and cute, and just lacks a
harp and blond hair to capture the perfect stereotype of an angel in heaven.
Hmm. Heaven will be sitting on a cloud, playing a
harp? Really? I ask you, do you think a brilliantly wise, loving,
and all powerful God would make our eternal existence break down to that? (Can I at least keep my cell phone?)
We have
also all probably seen images of the burning fires of hell, especially in
jokes. In one joke there are several
Canadians revelling in all the glorious
heat (after all their ice and snow and cold. “Mainers” could easily be
substituted for “Canadians” in that part of the joke). The devil keeps turning the heat up,
frustrated because the Canadians aren’t suffering enough. Everyone else is
moaning and wailing all the louder. But the Canadians just unzip their parkas
and grin, enjoying it even more. Finally,
the devil decides to turn the heat right off and turn up the freezer instead, thinking
that making it really cold is the way
to make the Canadians suffer. There are icicles hanging from the icicles and
frost even on the devil’s eyelashes when he comes to see how badly the
Canadians are suffering. Instead he finds them jumping up and down with
joy. “Bring on the beer!” they shout. He
stares at them in bewilderment. “Hell has frozen over! That means the Maple Leafs must have won the
Stanley Cup!”
(You
might have to be Canadian to truly appreciate that joke.)
In
any case, we see the stereotypes. Heaven
is all clouds and wings and smiles; hell is endless suffering, usually in a
lake of burning fire.
If you believe what Swedenborg says, heaven will be a lot like earth, except
without corruption, greed, stress, or lack, and with a lot of amazing beauty
and magic that we cannot imagine now.
Our days will be filled with learning and doing useful activities that
we love with people that we love.
Hell,
Swedenborg tells us, is the eternal suffering that comes from wanting to steal
from or harm others, of constantly wanting to have more than others, and of wanting to look down on others and control
everyone else. It is the hell of not being allowed to achieve any of those
things, at least not for very long, because they involve harming others. Those in hell are kept far away from those in
heaven, instead being grouped with others just like themselves. When we are in hell we spend our days scheming
how to cheat and steal from the others (who are just like us), plotting how to
control them and look down on them and harm them. Sometimes
we are allowed to succeed, and in those moments we feel a certain triumph or
joy. But because it is hell, and we are
stuck with people just like us, sooner or later the shoe is on the other foot,
and we are the ones being trampled and hurt, robbed and dominated. And we never seem to realize what a dead-end
we are in, which is why it is seen as eternal misery.
Swedenborg
says that the joy of heaven and the suffering of hell come from our own
patterns of seeing, believing, and behaving, even now, not just down the road. The harps and wings or lake of fire are metaphoric
images chosen by our collective imaginations to illustrate what these spiritual
realities feel like. We know what a heated argument feels
like. We already know what it is to burn
with anger and resentment and frustration.
And if you have ever had that feeling of being trapped in a hell from
which you thought you would never escape, you know just how eternal hell can
feel. Despair convinces us that our
suffering will never end. (Rather like some Maine winters….)
On
the other hand, haven't we all experienced “cloud nine”? Have you ever felt
like you were flying through your day with ease, or soaring on the wings of
good fortune? Have you ever felt so
happy you just wanted to sing? All these
metaphors exist because they describe how heaven feels. We aren’t supposed to
believe in a literal lake of fire any
more than we are to believe we will be up in the physical clouds after we die. We imagine angels to have “wings” because
they can get through and over anything—because they seem so much smarter and
“loftier” than we are—not because they actually
have wings. They don't need them.
Anyway,
heaven and hell are states of being, and we have been travelling in and out and
through them our whole lives, whether we realized it or not.
2. We
have already begun exploring where, or when is heaven or hell. Since
Emanuel Swedenborg teaches (as do many others) that we are spiritual beings in
physical bodies, it follows that heaven and hell are spiritual too, not
physical places. They aren’t located somewhere in the sky or under the earth;
they are states of mind or states of being.
They are inside us and with us all the time, not “out there”. We carry the potential to “be” in either one in
each moment.
Swedenborg
said, “Heaven is not ‘up there’ but where the Good of Love is; and the Good of
Love lives inside each person, wherever that person might be.” (Heavenly Secrets 8153) So perhaps when Jesus said, “The kingdom
of heaven is within you,” this is what he meant.
On
earth we experience both—times that feel hellish and times that feel heavenly—all
through life, and these experiences help us to choose who we want to be. Do we want to stay stuck in old, broken,
unconscious patterns of thought and behaviour, or do we want to do the work
that moves us into better, kinder, more conscious patterns (heaven)? We sometimes “choose” heaven and sometimes
“choose” hell alternately throughout our lives so that we have enough experience
to determine where we really want to stay.
Sadly,
we have probably all experienced or watched someone we love choose the (pretend
heaven but) actual hell of addiction.
Some people need to choose that hell again and again to become ready and
able to get out of that hell and stay out. Addictions are a perfect example of how hell
can masquerade as heaven. Addictions
cause increasing torment for the addict and often try to suck everyone with
whom the addict is in relationship into the suffering as well. It takes an especially strong kind of angel
to stay in relationship with an active addict without getting sucked into their
hell along with them. God always
provides a way out, but it can be agonizing to watch that someone we love struggle
to escape—the sick thinking and the lies can so thoroughly trap the one we
love—and to wait for them to choose differently can feel like an eternity of
suffering.
In
any case, if we believe Swedenborg, no one is ever “sent” anywhere we don’t
want to be; (not forever). You and I may
“send” ourselves (or be dragged into by others) some pretty dark places; but
ultimately we always have the choice to ask for Divine help and get out of even
the darkest hell. And the minute we
choose for heaven, our wish will always be granted, if not immediately, then as
soon as is possible while making sure we can handle the transition. Some extractions can be as complicated and lengthy
as the most elaborate extreme mountain rescue—but you can bet that the angels
on the job LOVE what they do, and they do it with focus, compassion, and God’s
guidance.
3. And
so finally, who is responsible for
whether we “end up” in heaven or hell?
The
answer is: We are each individually responsible for where we end up.
Now,
while we are each individually responsible for where we end up, we are only partially responsible for many of the times we
visit heaven or hell along the way. Other
people can “put us through hell,” the same way others can draw us into greater
peace and happiness while we walk this earth. But ultimately, we choose who and how we want
to be.
Into
every single one of our relationships and life experiences we bring our own
selves, with our own patterns of listening, interpreting, reacting, and
responding. We bring with us a great
deal of the heaven or hell we find in these relationships because of our own
patterns and habits of response. We are often far more responsible for the
problems in which we might find ourselves than we might realize.
Just
the same way that there are many dynamics in our culture, our families, and our
society that can be unhealthy, you and I can have internal perspectives and
habits that are unhealthy that we can’t even see. All of these things will remain invisible to
you and me until we realize them and learn different perspectives. Just watch a few episodes of Madmen for a
great metaphor of this process at work.
The characters in that show innocently and blindly chain smoke, litter,
drink while pregnant, suffer profound sexism, and many other things that would
shock us today. We see those things differently
now because of our growing and changing awareness of how they have been harmful. In this same way you and I can begin to see
in finer detail the way some of the personal dynamics and patterns of behaviour
that we learned as “normal” in our childhood are actually contributing to the problems
in our relationships today. And then we can begin to change them.
If
only “choosing to be in heaven right now” was as easy as it sounds. More often it is about as easy as, well, if I
were to choose to go complete a 5k run this afternoon, at my current level of
training and conditioning.
I could
“choose” it all I wanted, but I would be dreaming. I’m not remotely prepared for such an
ambitious goal. If I even tried, I can
guarantee it would not put me in heaven, (and would possibly be a fast track to
a personal hell). I simply couldn’t do
it. ("Hashtag: Epic Fail,” as they say
these days.)
No, I
would need to start with a commitment now, and then train and prepare for several
months to be able to make that “choice” a reality many months from now. “Choosing” would mean more than simply
flipping a mental switch. It would include “practice” and training to develop a
whole new set of strengths and abilities.
It would take time.
The
spiritual journey is a lot like that. It
takes commitment and focus too. It takes
discipline and intention. The practice isn’t always comfortable. But it is often deeply satisfying, and it is tremendously
worthwhile especially if you value a greater ease in managing your own inner happiness,
and especially if you value enhanced well-being in all your relationships. If you value those things enough, you will
persist in the spiritual disciplines necessary to run that spiritual race, and you
will keep returning to the practice because of the ongoing rewards, no matter
how many times you temporarily step off the path.
Day
by day, starting right now, you and I can choose to leave behind our not-so-heavenly
reactions and feelings. Taking baby steps and sometimes falling down, we can
repeatedly and persistently invite heaven to live within us. It already dwells
within the Goodness of Love within us from God.
May we be open to tapping into that and letting it work in and through
us with increasing strength right now, each day.
Jesus
Himself took this very human journey on Himself in solidarity with us and to
give us strength. He allowed Himself to
be betrayed and “put through hell” indeed when He let Himself be crucified. What better example could He have given us,
to show us that we can survive the hells we travel through on earth and survive
even death itself, because the point is something better and more lasting and
far more meaningful beyond?
My
question for you is, what do you think?
What do you feel? What system
of looking it these questions sits the most comfortably in your body? I invite you to use your rationality, your experience,
your intelligence, and your intuition
as you find your way through these very big questions for yourself. And I especially ask you to consider, what belief system makes you a kinder wiser,
more compassionate, open, and giving person? Because that is the path to
heaven.
Amen
The
Readings
Psalm
139: 1-12
You have searched me, Lord, and you
know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you
perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord,
know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you
lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too
lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can
I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if
I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I
settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your
right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the
night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Luke
17: 20-21
Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when
the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of
God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See
there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Secrets
of Heaven 8153
Heaven is not “up there” but where the Good
of Love is, and the Good of Love is found inside each person, wherever that
person might be.
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