A New Heaven and a New Earth

Today is Senior Sunday when we celebrate the graduation of those who have been nurtured in faith of God and fellowship of neighbor here at Broadmoor United Methodist Church. This is a special day for them, so today’s message is for them. So if you’re not a senior or if you’ve never been to college or if you don’t know someone who went to college or if you’ve never experience change in your life, then today’s message is not for you.

I remember my first day at LSU. We parked the car outside Broussard Hall and as cool as I could (because you don’t want to scream to everyone that you are a freshman) I walked up to the registration desk to get my dorm keys. My parents and I walked up to the second floor to take in the bareness of what was going to be my home for the next semester. My mother took one look at the room and sighed. For me, this was my own picture of heaven. This was my room. We went down to the car. My dad picked up the TV and the phone. My mom picked up some of my clothes. I picked up the posters. Dad was concerned about making sure the electronics were working. Mom wanted to make sure that my underwear was where it needed to be. I wanted to make sure that Bob Marley was positioned perfectly, so that when people entered my room, they knew I was cool. After getting my room together my mom asked if I needed anything. I said, “No,” but secretly she was hoping that I would say something like, “I need my mom.” As I said good bye my mom starting crying, which was a bit embarrassing . . . because I didn’t get it . . . until that night. I laid down on the not so comfortable bed, turned off the light, and started to cry. I’m not sure why I was so upset. Maybe I was homesick, but it’s not like I wanted to go back, you can’t go back. Maybe it was the newness of it all, or fear of the unexpected, or simply because I wanted my mom. Nevertheless, the sun did come up, and my life as an LSU student began.

I know, Seniors, that you’ve probably had your fill of motivational speeches, or at least, you will before you have diploma in hand, but since you’re here . . . First, college is not about making perfect grades. Now, I’m a big fan of scholarship. Grades are very important, but I imagine if you get through your first semester with a 4.0, but you haven’t formed any relationship with anyone, most would say that you’re missing something. You know what they call someone who graduates from med school with a c- average? Doctor. Of course, I want the doctor operating on me to have been a good student, but I also hope that doctor can work with a team of nurses and other doctors, someone who can calm my fear and help me recover. It’s not just knowing how the heart works, it’s know how our hearts work together.

College is also not about reaping a great reward. Again, the diploma is valuable, there’s no question. It shows that you have mastered the skills necessary for a particular vocation. It’s the first thing than employers look for is your level of education, and for good reason. Here in the church, you can’t be a pastor without an education. In most cases you have to have two degrees, but as a music major in undergrad, if I refuse to sing, than what’s my diploma worth? It’s like when I called my dad and asked, “It says I graduated cum laude. What does that mean?” “It means you just wasted four years of your life.” Of course, graduating cum laude, or with honors, is a fine achievement, but if I’m not using what I learned in school for the good, then it’s not worth much at all.

College is not about grades or achievement. At least, it’s not only about grades or achievement. The college experience is ultimately about relationship. I knew I couldn’t stop the parents from listening . . . What kind of relationship do you have with your studies? Are you reading just to make an A, or are you actually learning, being formed for the good. As a student, I don’t want you to give me the answer, I want you to tell me what it means. What kind of relationship do you have with achievement? Are you doing all the right things so that you have something fancy by your name, or are you doing it so that you might change the world for the good? It’s about relationship.

Funny thing about relationship is that it’s always changing. Relationships change. People change. Those of you who have been to college, do you remember the first time you went back home after going away to school, and how your parents didn’t much appreciate your newly discovered curfew? Relationships change. The daughter you sent to college is now asking you to walk her down the aisle. Relationships change. The company you’ve been working with for 25 years ask you to find other employment and you find yourself as the “new guy” with new people. Relationships change. This weekend, my family went down to Baton Rouge to visit with my wife, Christie’s grandmother who had been battling cancer for 20 years. She died peacefully in her sleep Friday night. Relationships change. Even our relationship with God changes. Sometimes we feel close to God saying, “Hallelujah, Amen!,” and other times we find ourselves saying, “Lord, are you listening?” Even God’s relationship with creation changes.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the first heaven and the first earth passed away and the sea was no more. The sea, in the book of Revelation, was the place from which chaos and monsters and evil was born. In this new heaven God erases that place of chaos and God says, “To the thirsty I will give them water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” In this new heaven we will not have to dimly see through the chaos of life in order to be near the heart of God.

This is the essence of salvation. Salvation isn’t about getting straight A’s on God’s check list. It’s not about never messing up. Salvation is not about reaping a great reward when it’s all said and done. Salvation is simply being near the heart of God. Through Christ’s life, suffering, death, and resurrection, Christ has shown us the heart of God, a God who clings to us even when heaven and earth pass away. Relationships change, but God’s love for us never ends. Won’t you cling to the heart of God by loving God and loving each other? God will wipe away every tear, mourning and crying will be no more. I wish I had read this story that first night away from home. I wouldn’t have cried so much. Amen.