Heaven kissing earth

from Helen

Today is a feast day, it is the feast of St.Michael and all angels. I have to say for exciting feast days today is the day. Last week Robert and I discussed me arriving with a sword and dressing up like the Archangel Michael, who was in a battle that we heard about in our reading from Revelation (12:7-12). This battle was a battle in heaven that was part of the vision that the apostle John had of heaven which he wrote down.

Today is a day then when we could think about the almighty battle that was between good and evil. The moment when good won the day. The passage describes for us in the most amazing language and picture, which could be a film, the time when through the death and resurrection of Jesus, good won. There would be life eternal and this life eternal means that we can all have a part of this.

There are times when things seem so good we can never imagine that there could

be anything bad. We all believe and know that God has won but sometimes it is so hard for us to believe. I get quite frustrated when people say, “oh, I know all about ....” or worst still, “I can’t believe you don’t know...” the reason for this is I don’t like to feel in the dark about anything.

Knowledge is great, and being in possession of some great piece of knowledge is even better, that’s probably why even when we say we won’t listen - we can’t help but listen out for gossip.

Anyway, thinking about knowledge one of my favourite TV programmes is Gavin and Stacey. In this programme Stacey and her family and friends are from Barry and Gavin and his family and friends are from Billericay. In one episode one of Stacey’s friends Ness is getting married to Dave. There is a great moment when Dave says to Ness, “I said, I love you and you said I knows.” Dave then says, “ I thought that meant you loved me too. I now know that when you said, I knows you meant I knows.”

In our gospel reading (John 1:47-51)  Nathanael was perhaps overawed at Jesus knowing him before they met.  It is good to think back in time a bit here. In the gospel before the reading that we heard, Philip had seen Jesus and been convinced about who He was and so he called out to his friend Nathanael, saying that that he should Come and see Jesus. Philip was excited and so he wanted Nathanael to know Jesus.

Nathanael was none to complimentary about Jesus, not really believing that anyone from Nazareth could have been good. Of course then Jesus surprised Nathanael by knowing him. Nathanael responded in amazement and surprise. I don’t think that he was put off by Jesus’ knowledge but then Jesus told Nathanael that he would see even more amazing things. 

Jesus then gave Nathanael a vision of heaven that might have either confused or convinced him even more of how important Jesus was.

The bit that is perhaps the most amazing is that Jesus as He talked of angels ascending and descending describes heavenly life in a way that may not make the most sense to us. A little like the reading from Revelation it seems removed from our everyday life.

In our own country at the moment the picture we might have of heaven as a place of peace doesn’t seem to be showing itself in the way that people are living. I can’t help thinking though of the fact that Jesus showed Nathanael that he would get a glimpse into heaven.

In the 1990’s  a film came out called the Truman show in which a man was living 

his life. What he didn’t know was that it was made up and his life was in fact a TV show with people watching in on his life for entertainment.

When we heard of the great cosmic battle in Revelation it is was if we were on the Truman show being watched in our daily lives while something much bigger is going on. 

Then in the promise of Jesus to Nathanael we had the sense that Nathanael by walking with Jesus would see more.

The early Celtic Christians, are said to have had a view of heaven and earth touching. This they held was a thin line between our world and heaven. This line they saw as between the sea and the sky. The closeness of heaven and the sea meant that when they wanted to go to a new place they would get in a boat and wherever they ended up that was where God wanted them to be as they brought heaven to earth. This is why there are quite so many monasteries and Christian communities by the sea.

Back to the thin line. I like to think of that as heaven kissing earth. This is how close the goodness of God and His triumph is. It is as if we have insights, pictures of heaven and all the amazing things that God has done and keeps doing for us that it help us to see the idea of heaven kissing earth.

This is how we can believe and make sense of the world around us and our lives. Heaven kisses earth, God has come amongst us. In heaven there is protection and a safe space. That is why the idea of a battle like the one we heard of in Revelation surprises us so much. The point is though that this battle is actually a way to describe what good defeating evil might have looked like if we were to picture it.

The most important bit is that good has won, the triumph belongs to God and this is how we live day by day. Jesus promised Nathanael that he would see greater things.  These greater things included seeing heaven kissing earth, that thin line when we feel so close to God. That thin line which calls on us to bring heaven to earth in the way that we live.

If we want to know the way that we will bring heaven to earth – it is by being more and more like Jesus and we will only know Him more and more by the way that we spend time reading our Bibles and praying. May we bring heaven to earth day by day, and may we know that God is for us and so nothing can be against us. AMEN