Today’s scripture: 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Ernest Disney-Britton):
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,” observed cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, for, “indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” What would heaven feel like if created with those who cared as you do?
In August, my husband and I left the clamor of city life for the tranquility of a weekend in utopia. We took our miniature Schnauzer, Kasey, for a weekend retreat in New Harmony, Indiana (pop. 766). It’s a remote town established in 1814 by Christians who broke with the larger world to build their version of heaven. “They say the veil between heaven and earth is very thin here,” Linda Warrum, a Town Council member told The Chicago Tribune. “You can’t see it and you can’t touch it, but you can feel it.”
New Harmony is not Greg’s idea of heaven. He prefers being packed onto a giant cruise ship with 6,000 party-loving passengers for a week, and that’s what we did for his birthday in February. The New Harmony weekend in August, though, was for my birthday. So which of us was right? I think I found the answer in today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. Two millennia ago, Saint Paul wrote to the people of Corinth, saying something like this: “Stop forming partnerships with unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light and darkness exist together?” A quick read of that Scripture suggests that Greg is light, and I am darkness, and we are too different to be partners. The truth though is that I enjoyed his birthday time, and he enjoyed my birthday time.
Margaret Mead’s opening quotation offers a good way of seeing Saint Paul’s core point. During those early days of the church, Paul was on a mission to change the world. Like Margaret Mead, Paul knew that the only way to bring about change was to bring together people who cared as much as he cared. In the case of my husband and I, we both cared about creating the ideal birthday experience for the other. It is in the embrace of that core desire that we created our heaven. In those moments, we both became the “light” and did what was “right.”
Thought for the day: Is heaven a party on a cruise ship or a retreat in New Harmony, or is it that moment when you make someone you care about very happy?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.