Where is God? Where is heaven?
Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 13, 2021
Mark 4:26-34
Where is God? Where is heaven? As an elementary and middle school teacher, I have had to come up with intelligible ways of discussing these questions with children. Jesus may have felt that he was doing something similar in using parables to teach the crowds around him. Stories or parables are a beloved method of teaching a lesson in virtually every culture or religion that I have ever studied.
So, this summer we are going to hear several passages about the Kingdom of Heaven, alternatively translated as the Reign of God. I think it could also be said as “the mystery of God’s presence.” So, that leads me to my focus today: we are surrounded by the Divine presence and God surprises us in a myriad of experiences and people.
When you see a rainbow, I don’t know about you, but it’s always a bit magical or numinous to me. About a year ago I saw a double rainbow. It was shortly after we had started lockdown and that sight gave me hope and a sense of God’s presence.
People often are the vessels by which we experience God. I have been very moved this past school year by a couple notes that students wrote me. One said that I taught her to pray; another said I had taught her to be kind. It only takes one or two of those kind of comments during a year to help me remember how I love teaching. But it also is clearly a way that God touches us.
The kingdom of heaven, the reign of God is not just a place after death or a description of the Lord’s dominion. It is also within us, closer than our heartbeat or the air we breathe. If we can only open our eyes, our hearts, our imaginations we can touch the Divine. It’s seems almost trite to say that our senses are clogged by the noise and busy-ness of our daily lives. During the pandemic, the amount of anxiety has certainly made it harder to open to the joy and peace of God’s ever-present love. Yet, there have been unforeseen blessings even during the craziness of the past fifteen months. Several folks that I knew as acquaintances have become very close friends, indeed family. All of us have been struck with gratitude for first responders, grocery workers, teachers and many more. These have been windows through which God’s reign or “the Kingdom” has shown into our lives.
More obvious ways that the Divine Presence is present in our days include the quiet inner joy that comes from receiving holy communion or savoring a favorite scripture verse or poem.
One of my favorite quotes in poetry comes from Francis Thompson’s poem “In No Strange Land,” and includes this stanza which seems a fitting conclusion for our reflection today.
The angels keep their ancient places,
Turn but a stone and start a wing;
Tis ye, tis your estranged faces
That miss the many-splendored thing.