The Buddhist monks not only walked through Charlotte today, but one of them handed my friend a flower as they passed her house. She was holding her baby wearing a bear suit. A glimpse of heaven.
Before someone makes a snide comment about a Christian (me) imagining that Heaven and Buddhist could be mentioned in the same sentence, please remember that God works through all kinds of people and respecting the faith of others is a holy thing. I doubt that my Christian friend becomes a Buddhist just because of her special one-on-one moment with a monk.
(I remember touring Istanbul years ago and someone in our Christian group refused to walk into the Hagia Sophia for fear either 1) Jesus would condemn them or 2) she might be persuaded to become Muslim. ) Was her faith actually that flimsy?
News flash: Jesus died for the world. We are all trying to figure this out.
We are in the throes of some ugly realities in our nation and beyond. The Russians have turned on the heat in terms of attacking Ukraine and they have literally turned off the heat on this winter day in Kiev. Renee Good is still dead and there are reports that her widow might be investigated for opposing ICE activity. This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of global injustice and insanity in these January days.
And yet, I am seeing glimpses of heaven. A friend who lives in Minneapolis is taking food to her terrified neighbors and others from across the country are pitching in. Another friend is promoting a Go Fund Me account for a Muslim family who’d been saving for IVF until the husband’s job was terminated by DOGE last year. And yet another friend was saved over the weekend – pulled from a burning car – by an undocumented neighbor.
We have to look for them – those glimpses of heaven – but there are all around us because God is working everywhere. I highly recommend this article: The Big Inshallah for other glimpses and full views of heaven on earth.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Some of us pray that prayer every Sunday. And there is evidence of it’s reality every day of the week.
A Church for Starving Artists 