There was this individual who died and went to heaven. And Saint Peter meets him at the pearly gates, verifies that his name is listed in the book of life, and welcomes him home. Then he starts showing him around heaven. And he’s pointing out the mansions, and all the rooms. And there’s this huge banquet facility. And it had all these other rooms that come off of it. The door to each room has a label on it. There’s doors labeled Baptist, Southern Baptist, American Baptist, Catholic, Orthodox, Wesleyan, Methodist, Free Methodist, United Methodist, Pentecostal, Apostolic, Anglican, Lutheran, just about every denomination had its own room of of this massive banquet hall. And Saint Peter shows this person each room. Now, almost all of these rooms were nearly empty, and the only way in and out of them was to go through the banquet hall. They come to the last room. Saint Peter says “You have be very quiet as we check out this room.” They look in. The room is packed to nearly overflowing. And there was no one paying any attention to the door leading to the banquet hall. Also, this room was the only room that had a separate outside entrance. As soon as the two stepped back out of that room the person looks at Saint Peter and asks why that one room had an outside entrance, and why it was so crowded. Why did they have to be so quiet in there? Saint Peter just shook his head and said, “Well, they’re Nazarenes, and they think that they’re the only ones up here.”
(In all fairness, you can substitute Nazarenes with probably any denomination or even non denominational church. It just happens that I grew up Nazarene, and that is how I first heard this.)

I went to church this morning. It wasn’t the church, or even the denomination I wanted to attend, but I knew I needed to be in church since I had the chance. Now, when I find myself looking for a church whenever I’m out, I first look for a nearby church in my denomination. Since I’m looking for a ride to get there, I try to look within a 4 to 5 mile radius. If that doesn’t work, then I look for a church in the denomination I grew up in. And if that fails, then I look for something in the same theological tradition at least. If that proves unsuccessful, then I just look for whatever church is close, because by that point, it’s pretty clear that I’m walking to church, so I’m looking for something within a mile or so. This morning, I ended up walking up the street to a nearby church.

I was greeted by several people, and a whole bunch of smiling faces. As the service progressed, I was suddenly struck by the fact that here I was worshiping in a church, and a denomination not my own. And I couldn’t help but notice how much we actually share.

Suddenly, it dawns on me that when we get to Heaven, we won’t be identified by our denominational, or nondenominational, affiliation. We won’t be known as Wesleyans, Nazarenes, Methodists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Baptists, Catholic or non-denominational. We will simply be children of God. Citizens of the Kingdom of God.

This morning in church we sang songs that praised and honored God. Many of those songs were contemporary, some older hymns. We heard a message this morning that will preach in any Bible preaching church. So I worshipped this morning, not as a Wesleyan visiting a Baptist church; but as a child of God, worshipping with my brothers and sisters.