Fight the good fight

One of tonight's readings (the standard lectionery) was 1 Timothy 6:11-16:

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time--he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

The gospel was the parable of the rich man who died and saw Lazarus with Abraham. So the theme was all about the afterlife, and what to expect. Given that tonight was announced as dedicated for my sister in law, it was certainly a theme much on my mind.

What was in store for her? We have such little idea what Heaven is. Artists can't paint it, without silly images of angels strumming harps on clouds. Writers, other than St. John who describes it so beautifully in the end of the Book of Revelation (21:1-5), seldom portray it with anything other than whimsy.

One of the few to do so in a way that seems real and genuine to me was a young woman I knew of who, well... I should not qualify what she wrote in any way, other than to commend it to you.

I certainly like to picture Heaven as that place. Perhaps it is different for everyone. :-)