Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 18, 2025
Revelation 21:1-6

Way up in the high desert of California there’s a little creek that runs down from the mountain. That water has been running through the veins of my family for four generations. My great-grandfather, my grandfather, my father, my uncle had all camped and fished there, way up in the high desert of California. And then, it was my turn to go, when I turned twelve, my rite of passage. To go with my father and my uncle to that special place. I had grown up in the big cities of Los Angeles, and Dallas, and what I remember the most about those fishing trips, was the sky and the sound. To stand there at night, in the sheer darkness of the desert and to stare up into space and to see stars. Thousands and thousands of them. And to stand there at night, and to not hear a thing. No cars, no tv, just sheer silence. Way out there, away from the traffic, away from the lights, away from the noise, away from the city, away from the people.

Of course, this is not special to me. Many of us love to get away from it all; we have our little place in the country; we go on “retreats” away from the city; it’s our little slice of heaven. 

And that concept, that’s how we’ve come to think of heaven. An eternal place that is away from the traffic, away from the lights, away from the noise, away from the people, away from the city – a sort of country retreat that lasts forever. Like that high desert valley with the cold water creek, the dry air, and the rainbow trout that never run out. Sounds like heaven.

The problem is, well, the problem is what the Bible has to say about heaven. It was in our reading from Revelation. There’s a man named John, he’s a follower of Jesus, and he’s been imprisoned for his faith. John has a vision. He sees “the new heaven and a new earth.” “The holy city, the new Jerusalem” comes down out of heaven from God. And the voice says, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:1-3).

This is stunning. For John, for Revelation, in the Bible, heaven is not a place you escape to; it’s not a retreat from the world; it’s not a quiet retreat in the country after a life well lived. No. Heaven comes to earth. The new Jerusalem. John will go on later in Revelation to describe this city’s walls, its streets, its gates, its people. Heaven is not the countryside. Heaven is a city.

That’s the upside down, inside out, and fresh vision that we are given today. God does not take people away from each other at the end. We don’t all go off to our own little “slices of heaven.” That would be isolation. And if anything, isolation is a punishment, not a reward. Solitary confinement is about the worst thing we humans could experience. No, the reward, the heavenly life, the life with God is a life teeming with people, and relationships, and community, and connections. It’s a bustling, heaving city. That, is a slice of heaven.

And that, is who God is. See God doesn’t escape from the hardness of human life, God engages. We know this. At Christmas, our Lord Jesus Christ is born to a human mother. All throughout his ministry, Jesus is hanging around people. He feeds them, heals them, he is with them. Jesus draws together all sorts of different people – large crowds, small groups, and even that goofy little band he calls his disciples. Even when Jesus does go off to pray by himself, he only does that so that he can engage again. The Lord God is with people, not apart from them. 

And while we may treasure the sound of silence, that is not what John hears, it’s not what we heard in the reading. There is a volume to this vision. As heaven is descending to earth as the heavenly city, the Lord God speaks. It’s a loud loud voice, a voice from the throne. “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 1:5). Heaven is not a quiet place, it is booming with the sound of God’s blessing.

And that, Lauren and Kelley, is what we pray that little Grace hears this morning. As the waters are being poured over her, as we seal her with holy oil, we pray that she hears those words. That she is made new, that she is loved. The Lord God is not taking her away from anything. No, we pray that the Lord God would draw her closer. “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.” God himself will be with Grace. I pray that Grace looks around and sees this whole church, a beloved community, who loves her as a daughter and as a sister. A church that is promising to be here for her as she grows into the full stature of Christ. Grace, and truly none of us, will ever know the full majesty of God apart by ourselves. We will know the Lord Jesus as the Lord Jesus was known to us – in the fullness of humanity. With people. 

And today, as we are all gathered here, as we witness this thing take place, as we look each other in the eyes and as we share the Peace and have bread and wine – this, this is our little slice of heaven. You see it, don’t you? What we do here on Sunday mornings is a glimpse of what God has in mind for all of us at the end. This is a vision of the heavenly city, with the temple at its center with the Lamb as its throne. To be with each other, in community, caring and supporting and loving each other in the name of Christ. Because we have all been made new by God. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Heaven is a life with other people, fully alive to the love of God. What a blessing, then, that we welcome Grace into this, this little slice of heaven.

This is also a call upon the Church. If this is heaven, then we need to act like how we pray. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” To mimic the Lord God, in the best way, and to engage. Not to escape. This world needs us. It does not need us to run, to get away from it all, this world needs people like you, and people like Grace to show up, to be present, and to love. This is the call we each received at baptism. People who have been made new, can in turn make the world new.

And not even this world, but even just this city. Again, God’s vision for the last things is a city, full of sound and people. So, we, the people of this Church, are called to engage whatever city in which we live. To be salt and light and yeast for the whole batch. And goodness, this city needs us. We know that acrimony is the newspaper headline every day. We know, that families and yes, even churches, are divided over the basic questions of human identity and God’s good creation. We know that twenty percent of us, live in poverty. This city needs good Christians of faith to lead, to engage, and not to escape. In whatever you do. That’s the vision – that every single person works together in their city to make it more like the city of God. God does not promise to take us away. No, God promises to show up and make a difference. So show up, and make a difference. Because heaven is a city.

So tonight, when I’m at home, I’ll stand outside and I won’t see many stars, for the lights are too bright in the city. It won’t be quiet, I’ll hear planes, trains, boats, cars, and sirens – for somehow I manage to live near an airport, a rail yard, a port, a highway, and a hospital all at the same time. What a city this is. But I will pray that each of us throw ourselves into the people around us, as it will be in that city of God. And tonight I’ll pray that voice calls us to engage. And I will pray for little Grace, that she joins us on this mission, to love the people, and the city, around us in the name of Christ.

Because, “the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”