Celtic Odyssey

Acts 2.1-21 (CEB; adapted): [1] 2.1 When Pentecost Day arrived, Jesus’ followers and their families (about one hundred twenty persons) were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. 5 There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. 7 They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans? 8 How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pam...

John 20:1-18: Early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.” Peter and the other disciple left to go to the tomb. They were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and was the first to arrive at the tomb. Bending down to take a look, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. Following him, Simon Peter entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. He also saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t with the other clothes but was folded up in its own place. Then the other disciple, the one who arrived at the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. They didn’t yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. Then the...

I have been thinking about your questions about heaven some more and I have some other things I want to say. First, as I have stated already, all of the language we have regarding ‘heaven’ is poetic imagery. It would be like trying to describe the sky to a person born blind. When people talk about ‘heaven’ and what ‘it will be like’ they are on the edge of words, on the very precipice of conversation. The problem comes, however, from those of us who, when reading those great poetic words, read them in a wooden literal way. That is, as I’m sure you have heard of the ‘streets of gold’, some people think that ‘heaven’ has literal, material streets made of gold. When the symbolism is more surely pointing to purity rather than the actual material of the streets. Second, some things need to be established before we can, with any kind of certainty, talk about ‘heaven’. In the biblical imagery, there are two different things going on that a lot of people lump up into one thing – the place of t...