A theology of heaven for our time

I need heaven to be real. There, I said it. I’m not sure why I feel embarrassed confessing this. After all, the creed I profess with countless other Christians on Sunday mornings sanctions my belief in “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” But official creeds are one thing, and the lived reality of faith is another. I know that in many circles belief in a literal afterlife, a literal resurrection, and a literal heaven has fallen out of favor.

I also know that this falling out happened for good reasons. I grew up with pie-in-the-sky theology: the teaching that this earth is not our home and therefore not our concern. I saw the toxic apathy and poor stewardship that emerge from an overemphasis on the hereafter. Why bother fighting pollution, climate change, or species loss if the planet is doomed to burn anyway? Indeed, why bother addressing any injustice that plagues humanity if the earth is just a giant waiting room for heaven?

I also recognize how manipulative life-after-death preaching can be. I’ve heard the fearmongering altar calls, the vivid descriptions of hellfire, the horrible descriptions of “God the righteous judge” that render God cruel, stingy, and vindictive.