Heaven?

 

Celebrating the Ascension of Jesus into heaven is a good time for me to clarify the way I've been thinking about heaven lately. Just as we think of time as the fourth dimension, I think of heaven as a kind of dimension.
This heavenly dimension is not elsewhere, not distant. It is here. The heavenly dimension and our earthly dimension are not just right next to each other. They are not parallel. They are fused.
These two worlds are woven into and through each other. I think of a loom set up with threads running up and down and a spindle weaving other threads back and forth through the up and down threads. I imagine heaven and earth woven through each other, intermingled.
When Jesus rose from the dead he entered into the heavenly dimension, from which he appeared off and on to his disciples. At other times they couldn't see him, even though he remained around them and within them. The Ascension is the last time Jesus appeared to his disciiples.
So Jesus in heaven is around me and within me, woven into the fabric of my life. Even though I can't see him, I can feel his presence and talk to him. This way of thinking about heaven is helping me to grow into a more intimate relationship with Jesus.