How to get to heaven

The message of Christianity can be misconstrued as, "Be good and you will go to heaven, do wrong and you will be punished". It's actually more like, "We all get things wrong but God loves us anyway. He accepts us with all our faults so we should love God and be kinder and gentler with other people." This doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to be good but behaving well is a response to God's love for us. If getting into heaven (however we define that place) were dependent on our own efforts none of us would make it.

The 'be good and you will go to heaven' assumption about Christianity's message can have two consequences; non- believers can see the label Christian as a signal that the bearers think themselves better than and look down on other people. They can see Christians as self righteous, judgmental and unforgiving. And Christians, if they are not careful, can unwittingly become all of those things.

The parable of the prodigal son Luke 15: 11-32 is great if you are the prodigal who has wasted all the good things his father gave him but is welcomed back with open arms and a big party; but if you are the elder brother in the story who has stayed at home, done everything his father wanted, laboured in the fields and done all the hard work it's a harder message to take.

Time and again Jesus' parables contrast the 'good' person who keeps all the rules but is lacking in compassion with the sinner who accepts his fallen nature and is compassionate to others. It's the outsider, the Samaritan who comes to the aid of the man attacked on the road. The religious people pass by on the other side - more interested in maintaining their observances and their state of ritual holiness. It's the prayer of the sinner 'Lord have mercy on me a sinner that Jesus holds up as the example rather than the Pharisees prayer,"Thank God that I am not like other men." Luke 18:11

Jesus saves the woman condemned for adultery saying 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'  Our sins are forgiven 'as we forgive other peoples'. 'We are counselled to, Judge not that you be not judged.'

The trouble is that if you keep all the rules and live a good life it can be very difficult not to resent people who break the rules and seem to get away with it. There is a difficult line between upholding what is right and becoming judgmental and condemnatory of others. The better behaved we are the harder it can become to show compassion for others and forgive them their faults. "Whoever is forgiven little loves little" - Luke 7:47

Worse still we can become preoccupied with other people's minor misdemeanors and overlook huge errors on our own part failing to deal with the huge plank (beam) in our own eye before dealing with the speck in someone elses. Matthew 7.3

Heaven isn't a reward to be earned by being 'holier than thou' it's a free gift to be received with gratitude and shared freely with others. It can be easier to understand and accept this message if you have got things badly wrong than if you have lived a largely blameless life. That's not an encouragement to mess up just a sad fact. It is right that as individuals and institutions Christians should uphold the highest standards of conduct and be a bulwark against moral erosion but the church can seem to be less compassionate than the world around it lagging behind others in understanding and tolerance. The Christian message isn't about condemnation its about love, compassion and forgiveness.

The way you get to heaven is to accept that God loves and cares for you despite your faults and to try and love and forgive other people as he loves and forgives you.

Some seed fell among the thorns

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred,sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Parable of the Sower- Matthew 13)

The last two weeks have been hectic thanks to the day job, a hectic social round, a gorgeous new grand daughter and two allotment plots. My seed just now is in strong danger of being choked by weeds or to put that in the plain language I try to use here there has been a strong danger of God getting crowded out. 

On the other hand I believe in a down to earth God and that our lives have meaning so I try to find inspiration in every day life and working on the allotment there is plenty of time for reflection if not for sitting in quiet contemplation. The agricultural stories run through my mind of course; the parable of the sower and the farmer who lets the crop and the weeds together for fear of destroying the crop as he tries to eliminate the weeds. We are taming a second plot that is beset with bind weed so I have had a lot of time to reflect on weeds.

I hope you understand by now that I am not a special person bestowing wisdom on you but a very ordinary and flawed person whose message is that God can work with us as ordinary as we are and that somewhere in each of us there is the seed of something very special indeed that God wants to flourish and come to fruition. 

Unfortunately we live in a fallen world. It's not a terrific growing environment - more like our new and over-grown allotment. A lot of seed falls on stony unwelcoming ground among people who don't want to know; or whose interest is fleeting, so that the seeds that are planted look like they are going to grow and then just wither but even the seed that should be on good ground can be beset with weeds; whether they be our own wayward nature or the curse of busyness that afflicts modern life.

God has planted the seed but we need to work on the ground. Christ through his death and resurrection has opened up a new possibility of relationship with God. The Spirit is at work in us even when we ignore him. My take on the Holy Spirit is a Quaker inspired one, " Take heed dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in our hearts. Trust them as the leadings of God whose Light shows our darkness and brings us to new life."

God seeks us out, gives us glimpses of the better people we can be. His Spirit is at work in the world helping us to encourage and inspire each other to keep the weeds at bay and build God's Kingdom; the territory under his cultivation where the soil is good and crops can flourish.

I have to hit the road now. This has been a short post but hopefully one that will get me back on track. There is more to share. I look forward to seeing you on the road.