During my last year of college back in 2008, I was asked to preach one Sunday at the Methodist campus ministry I was part of, the FSU Wesley Foundation. The broad theme for the semester was “Joy”, but besides that my pastor told me that I could choose any topic to preach on.
I decided to teach on “The Joy of Heaven”, a topic that is familiar to many, but profoundly misunderstand. I wanted to redeem the cheesy, seraphic, infantile view of heaven, the view that pictures eternity as timeless boredom, joylessness, and harp-playing. Unfortunately, most people mistake the imagery of heaven for heaven itself, and–rightfully so–are not terribly excited by their idea of it.
In response, I wanted to gaze beyond the symbols to see what they themselves point to. I particularly focused on the most evocative images of heaven used in the Bible: a grand banquet, a wedding, and a ‘new earth’. And instead of looking forward to understand heaven, I looked back–back to Eden.
Throughout my talk I referenced and used clips from many films that contain beautiful signposts toward heaven, including “The Lion King”, “Gladiator”, “The Lord of the Rings”, “One Night with the King”, and the “Planet Earth” series. And while I gave the talk before converting to Catholicism, many Saints found their way in too, including Teresa of Avila and St. Thomas Aquinas. Have a listen (and be aware that the first few minutes is the audio from the opening scene of “The Lion King”):
“The Joy of Heaven” – Brandon Vogt
(If the above player doesn’t work, or if you want to download the talk, right-click here, select “Save Link As”, and choose where you would like to save it on your computer.)
May we all rediscover the overwhelming joy of heaven, and may its beauty inflate our hope!