Will Heaven be like this?

I had to drive to the builders’ merchant today to buy materials for the new compost bins I’m building in the garden. As I set off I was not in an optimistic mood regarding the trip. Because of the restrictions on public transport the roads were busy, and I reckon that every taxi in Bradford was in service. Then my experience began to change quite radically.

The staff at the builders’ merchant were extremely helpful, and were operating an emergency system that was well-thought-out and convenient. They were knowledgeable about my needs and cheerful. As I drove away other drivers let me into the traffic courteously. I was paused at traffic lights opposite a young Asian man driving in the other direction. Because of the fine weather we both had our windows open, and exchanged a friendly greeting. After my wife had helped to unload the car we shared a cup of tea in the garden. Dinner tonight included some of our own produce in the salad, and our own rhubarb.

I am acutely aware of our unusually good fortune, living as we are able to, and that many people in the world experience the most dreadful conditions. So I’m not complacent about my situation or ignorant about their’s . I have never been able to imagine Heaven in a form that I find the least inviting. Certainly George Orwell’s description of it as “choir practice in a jewellers’ shop” seems to catch the least engaging features of conventional images of what Heaven might be like. If all those renaissance altar-pieces are a guide to what we might expect then I want out! This afternoon’s experience, however, I feel did give me a glimpse of what an ideal existence might contain.

The Biblical images of Heaven, and attempts to capture their meaning in art, all seem to depict one’s existence as a condition of anonymity as a member of “The Heavenly Host”. My wife has a phrase which captures my own ideal, however, and that is “companionship and cooperation”. I reckon that this afternoon’s experience caught the spirit of that. Coming to think of it, Stanley Spencer really did have something to tell us about Heaven.