"Practice Heaven!" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 07/12/2018

Good morning friends,

This Sunday we will continue our sermon series, Kid Talk, what children can teach us about God, faith, and the church.  This Sunday the topic is heaven.  Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to children.  What do you think he meant?

So, to get ready for Sunday I have been thinking a lot about heaven.  I believe in heaven, but generally, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.  This week I have discovered a curious thing.  I am better off when I do think about heaven.  (Honestly, I have also discovered I spend too much time thinking about the stuff of hell—anxiousness, worrying, judging, not trusting God.)
 

So, I am giving you an assignment:  practice heaven.

For the next three days, I want you to practice living as though this is heaven.

What would the heaven around you look like?  Is it open and spacious?  Is it beautiful?

What happens there?  Is everyone accepted?  Is everything shared?  Are we reunited with everyone we ever loved?

What doesn’t happen there?  Are hatred and judgment prohibited?  Are we united with everyone we failed to love?

I want my heaven to be filled with friendly dogs and books and summer breezes.  I want to dance and sing in my heaven and act goofy from time to time for no reason at all.  I want evening campfires and early morning birdsong in my heaven.
 

There is a little problem with that.  It isn’t my heaven.  It can never be.  Heaven is completely and forever God’s domain.

Which means it is better than anything I might plan.

I think heaven is a place where we are immersed in love, so much so that love overflows from us to those around us and those beyond us.  Whatever keeps us from being fully loving now, falls away and we come fully into God’s presence and at the same time fully ourselves.

So for three days, practice heaven.  And I will practice too.  See you on Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Cindy

Pastor Cindy Hickman

West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Ave
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265

Visit us at wdmumc.org, or like us on Facebook and Instagram.

We worship at 8:30 and 11 every Sunday and you are invited.

This week at WDMUMC…

Heartland Youth Choir Concert Friday at 7 pm.  The youth have been practicing all week and filling our halls with song.  Come and enjoy the concert!

Vacation Bible School!  Begins Sunday evening at 6 pm. There is still time to sign up.  Visit wdmumc.org to register.

And ice cream!  This Sunday between services we will have ice cream and lemonade outside on the lawn.  If you worship at 11, come early to enjoy the ice cream!  (Who knows?  Maybe there is ice cream in heaven.)