Heaven

Matthew 22:2 - "The kin-dom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son."

Well, this parable is starting out promising! Love and joy. Well, maybe. Weddings at this time were arranged by the parents of the couple; it was a strategic decision designed to either keep land in the family or cement relations with another family. I don't know how often the couple had a say, although Rebecca certainly did.

Today, the ceremony and the banquet usually happen all on the same day. One exception is destination weddings, where there might be a longer celebration. In first-century Palestine, however, wedding celebrations could go on for a week, which is why it was possible for the wine to run out at the wedding in Cana. That's a lot of celebrating! Therefore, heaven will be like such a party. This amuses me because culturally, when we think of heaven in America, we think of angels and harps, not wine and dancing. Jesus says, no, heaven is like a wedding banquet, a celebration of community.

Heck, that's an aspect of heaven we can experience now. Many of us find this sense of community at church, but others, like myself, tend to experience it when we are serving. The Night Ministry, for example. Or being part of Greater Cleveland Congregations. Don't get me wrong, this has nothing to do with the church I'm attending; they're just not my community, yet.

Where is your community? Where do you feel most like you're in heaven?