Signs of the Times

A sermon about the afterlife, a quirky thought while driving by two cemeteries, a story about a biblical tree climber named Zacchaeus, all ending with two imaginary images and a quote from the Lord’s Prayer.

Image One:
If you close your eyes, perhaps you can imagine what the Garden of Eden must have been like.  It will be different for all of us, of course, but this image gives you a place to start.  Imagine what you’d see if you were there.  Close your eyes and give it a try.



I imagine flowers of every color so aromatically laden as to be nearly overbearing and yet so delicious as to make me want to lie down in these fields forever. 

I imagine lush greenery - so many shades of green as to be uncountable.

Paths, some of crushed rock and some just simple trails in the dirt, would meander beside, over, and through spectacular waterfalls cascading from unimaginable heights.  The rush of water, the bouquet of clean and the awesome power of rapidly flowing streams would eventually terminate in pools of quiet stillness and rest.

Natural rock formations would provide bridges over this gift of life.  There would be places where quiet rules so completely as to make one think they had lost hearing.  There would be places where birds soared above the earth emphatically chirping in harmony with other creatures known and unknown providing a musical peacefulness reaching into my soul.

If you're in step with me, we would never wish to leave this imaginary place,

Image Two:
After resting in this place for a moment, think about this same garden after we humans have been there a while.

There probably weren’t any sign posts in your original walk through paradise but try to imagine a few.  We use signs for directions but we also use signs to designate rules for our life and for the lives of others.  We use signs to include.  We use signs to exclude. 

Maybe it started with just a few but over the many years, more and more were hammered into the ground of this paradise.  After a while, this garden disappears in favor of the multitude of signs.

What do your signs say?

• Republicans to the right, Democrats to the left?  
• Trump supporter only or Never Trumper only?
• Black to the south or white to the north? 
• Christian conservatives gather here or Christian liberals gather there?  
• Bachelorette degrees in this direction and GED’s go that way?  
• Dog people stay and cat people leave?  
• Environmentalists welcome 
• Polluters get lost?
• Catholics to the west and Jews to the east?
• Celebrities enter through Gate 1 
• Homeless No admittance?
• Atheists prohibited?
• No Children allowed?
• Men only?

Fill in your own signposts, plant them in your garden and imagine this paradise once again.  But after all the exclusions and re-directions, you'll probably find this garden is no longer paradise.  It probably represents the times in which we currently live.

I imagine this isn't what God intended when He created the world.  I imagine He didn’t use any signs!  But, if He did, I'm guessing, "All are Welcome" would be the only one.

Well, maybe He'd also include, "No Signs Allowed".

He was born in a manger that “His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
How do you think we’re doing?

O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.