Imagine describing what music is like to someone who has never heard a sound. How would you do it? It would be so far from the realm of their experience that you would have nothing to go on really. That's like describing heaven to someone who has only known life here on earth.

Now, we know that not one of us has ever been there. But suppose a few of us could pay a visit to heaven just to check it out and come back and tell the rest of us about what it's like. I suspect that it's so foreign to anything that we've ever experienced here on earth that there's no way they'd be able to describe it to us.

Most of the time, when we think about heaven, we have to resort to imagery to which we can relate. We'll talk about pearly gates or streets paved with gold. We'll describe it as a place where we'll be surrounded by loved ones. There will be a great big banquet table with angel choirs singing in the background.

But we realize that all that is just the best we can do this side of the grave. We have no idea what heaven will really be like, and chances are, even if we experienced it, it's so far from anything we have ever known here on earth that we wouldn't be able to describe it.

As you read through 1 John, it's easy to see how it might have been a commentary on John's gospel; so many of the ideas are the same. Today's lesson from chapter 5 sounds like it's referring to John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes him may not perish but may have eternal life." In 1 John the commentary goes like this: "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (5:11-12).

Notice the language that's not used here. Neither of these passages from John mentions heaven; they're about eternal life. Sometimes we get these two concepts confused. What's the difference? Heaven is a place and eternal life is not. Eternal life is a way of being. There are subtle differences between the two just as there is some overlap. The most important thing is that both heaven and eternal life have something to do with the relationship we have with God.

This past Thursday was Ascension Day in the church year. How did you celebrate Ascension Day? Most of us didn't even know there was a reason to celebrate. What is Ascension Day? After Jesus rose from the dead, he spent some time with his disciples, preparing them for the mission they would have in the world. Before the resurrection, there were lots of things he tried to teach them that just didn't register because they weren't ready to hear them. After the resurrection, all that had changed.

I remember when I was a little girl, my father was sick and he knew that he was dying, so he spent some time preparing my mom so she could carry on without him. He taught her how to write a check and balance a checkbook and he taught her how to drive a car. I've often wondered about how my mom did that. It had to take a lot to accept the reality that her husband would soon be gone and to be practical enough to learn what she could so she could take care of her family without him.

We don't always have the luxury of preparing the people we love for our departure. Sometimes people die unexpectedly and their loved ones are left with a mess to clean up. Whether you're prepared or not, it seems that when the time comes and the one you counted on to always be there is gone, there are always loose ends.

Jesus knew he was on his way out, and he tried to prepare his disciples for the inevitable, but they weren't listening. Remember how Peter confessed Jesus was the Messiah and then protested when Jesus talked about what kind of a Messiah he would become, a Messiah who suffers and dies. Peter's response? "No way, Lord! That's never going to happen to you." It's hard for a teacher to give parting instructions to his students when every time he tries to bring up his departure they come back with, "Quit talking like that. You're not going anywhere."

Well, the crucifixion finally got their attention. After the resurrection, Jesus had another chance with his disciples. This time they were more receptive to his teaching.

Finally, the time had come for him to leave them. And as they gathered around him for the send-off, he had final instructions for them: "Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism.... Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day, right up to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20 The Message).

So where did Jesus go? He went to heaven. Was that his goal all along? To get to heaven after all the unpleasantness was finally over? If that's the case, why does anyone bother with living? Why don't we all just end our lives so we can go to heaven and live happily ever after? Because heaven isn't the goal. Eternal life is.

Jesus' final instructions to his disciples don't even mention heaven. He doesn't tell them to go out and tell everybody how they can get to heaven. He told them to go out and teach other people about the Jesus way of living in this world. And he promised to be with them every step of the way. Of course, he's talking about the Holy Spirit there, isn't he?

Have you ever noticed how we tend to make matters of the spirit spooky? I remember when I was younger we always called the third person of the Trinity the Holy Ghost. Now we call it the Holy Spirit. I think part of the reason for that may be a movement toward taking God out of the spooky realm and into the natural realm. It seems that whenever we don't understand something, we're prone toward attaching all this spooky stuff to it. Death leads us into an unknown place and that scares us, so we create all these scary stories to explain the spookiness of it all. This becomes really unfortunate when we do it with God and we turn him into a creepy guardian of the dead.

The fact is, eternal life is not something spooky or supernatural. It's about being in a natural relationship with God. It happens for us now, in this life, although in this life there are limits to that relationship. We only know it in bits and pieces. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For now we see in the mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). It's also why we call holy communion a foretaste of the feast to come. Now, we know Jesus in a small way when we take holy communion. It's just an appetizer.

Imagine going to a Mexican restaurant and they bring you the chips and salsa and tell you that's all you get. That's the way holy communion is for us. It's just the appetizer and in this life, that's all we get. But someday, when we leave all the limitations of this life behind, we get the whole enchilada! We'll know God completely.

That's nothing spooky. It's a natural step in the relationship that we have with God. If we're in relationship with God, eternal life has already begun for us. If we choose not to be in that relationship, we reject eternal life. "Whoever has the Son has life," John says. "Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12).

Someday the mystery of what heaven is like will be revealed to us, but we're not there yet. However, eternal life is another matter entirely. Eternal life is already ours. Amen.