Heaven
June 22nd, 2025 “Heaven” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Summer Sermon Series: Stump the Pastor
Isaiah 65:17-25 and John 14:1-7
This morning, we continue our summer sermon series, “Stump the Pastor” where you ask hard questions and I try to answer them. This morning’s question comes from one of the children in our congregation. She asks, “What do we know about heaven and hell? What will they be like? How do we know that heaven is a place that I’d actually want to be for eternity? That’s a very long time to be stuck somewhere.” This is definitely stump the pastor material!
While I don’t really know what happens to us when we die, I do know that we don’t need to be afraid. Every religion on earth has some story about what happens when we die, and while they have many things in common, they also have differences. Is heaven an actual place that we could visit? Is heaven a state of being while we are alive now? Is heaven a reward we get for good behavior in our life? These are all good questions. Let’s look to our scriptures to see if we can find any insight there.
I want to start with the reading from Isaiah. In that reading, heaven is offered as an image of hope for people who are suffering. The people of Israel are in exile in Babylon. God is promising a return to Jerusalem, and not only that, but a new life for all of the planet. In this vision of heaven, creation is restored. Rather than the idea that Christians will simply leave this planet and the mess we have made here, this heaven includes a cleaning up of the environment and a reclaiming of God’s good creation.
In this heaven there is peace between people and animals. There is economic justice as each person has housing and food. There is an end of illness and misery as each person is promised a long life. Like the picture we looked at for the kid’s sermon, all of the animals will live together in peace with all of the people. This is a global vision of hope for the entire world.
That’s nice, you might be thinking, but what about me as an individual. Do I simply sit and wait for God to re-create the earth? Our reading from the gospel of John offers a more personal vision of the afterlife.
This reading comes from Jesus’ last night with his friends before he dies. They are afraid and worried, and he comforts them by saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” That is how I would respond to you too, if you are worried about heaven and hell, or what happens to you after you die. “Do not let your heart be troubled, God’s got this!”
Jesus offers an image of heaven that is like a big house we all live in. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places . . . I go to prepare a place for you . . . so that where I am, you may be also.” Jesus seems to be telling us that the place he is going after he dies is a place that we will go to too. Jesus goes ahead of us and prepares a place for us to be there too, so that when we die, we can be with Jesus and God.
Part of this is always confusing and a mystery. We see that in this story where Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Thomas doesn’t understand yet that Jesus is going to die, but we know that that is what he is talking about.
If you have ever gone on a vacation or a trip, and made a reservation, this is a bit like that. You are going to a place, and they have prepared a room for you. When you get there, there is a spot saved just for you, and it is all nice and cozy. Or like visiting your grandparents’ house when you are a little kid. They are already there, they have gone ahead, and they are preparing a place just for you with all the things that you like.
Unlike a hotel or grandma’s house, this place Jesus prepares has room for lots of people. There are many dwelling places. God’s love is abundant so we don’t need to worry about earning a spot, or if there really will be a place for us. We don’t even need to make a reservation. Instead, there is already room there for us and all our friends and the whole world. We don’t need to let our hearts be troubled, we don’t need to worry, Jesus has this under control, and we can trust that.
Thinking about heaven is hard because we have to think about dying. Death is scary and it is sad when the pets and people that we love leave us. We miss them deeply. But we can be confident that nothing bad happens to them after they die. Everyone we know and love is with God when they die, and its Ok. We will be with God too.
No one has ever been to heaven and come back to tell us about it, but lots of people get close to death and they have what we call “near-death experiences”. One thing that is really interesting is that these people often don’t talk about being frightened or scared. Instead, they talk about seeing a light, feeling a deep sense of love and belonging, and even seeing family members who have already died.
This past year I read “In My Time of Dying” by Sebastian Junger who is a journalist. He is not a Christian, and did not have an assumed idea of heaven or an afterlife. But then he almost died. He tells the story of what happened in his book.
“Dr. Cornall, estimated that I was ten to fifteen minutes away from cardiac arrest and death. He was still working on my neck, to break up a clot, and I was feeling myself getting pulled more and more sternly into the darkness. And just when it seemed unavoidable, I became aware of something else: My father. He’d been dead eight years, but there he was, not so much floating as simply existing above me and slightly to my left. Everything that had to do with life was on the right side of my body and everything that had to do with this scary new place was on my left. My father exuded reassurance and seemed to be inviting me to go with him. “It’s okay, there’s nothing to be scared of,” he seemed to be saying. “Don’t fight it. I’ll take care of you.”
“I was enormously confused by his presence. My father had died at 89, and I loved him, but he had no business being here. Because I didn’t know I was dying, his invitation to join him seemed strange. He was dead, I was alive, and I wanted nothing to do with him – in fact, I wanted nothing to do with the entire left side of the room. And I didn’t understand why the Dr was taking so long to finish his work.”
“Doctor, you got to hurry,” I told him, “You’re losing me. I’m going right now.” And that was the last thing I remembered for a very long time.”
Younger spends the rest of his book wondering on this experience and reconsidering the idea of an afterlife. Later he muses that perhaps our understanding of reality is like a dog watching TV, we get it, but we don’t. He decides his experience was sacred and he opens himself up to a world beyond our current scientific understanding.
So, what happens when we die? I think we go to be with God. I think everyone we love is there and all of our pets too. I think it is good and warm and inviting and peaceful, and that we don’t need to be afraid. I don’t think we need to worry about hell, because I think that is a separation from God that we experience here. I don’t believe a loving God would punish us when we die. Instead, I imagine it like the story of the prodigal son. We will come home, God will open her loving arms and welcome us in, and we will be at peace. We don’t need to worry about it being a long time or being bored, because then it wouldn’t be heaven.
I hope this helps the child who asked this question, and the rest of us as well. We can’t truly know what happens when we die but we can trust what Jesus says. He goes to prepare a place for us. And I am confident it will be a good place full of love for all people. Amen.
