Sermons
This video and the text below are from November 10, 2019. The video is also on our ChatsworthUCC Facebook page, where you can see previous sermons.
“Christianity 101: Heavens Yes”
Rev. Bill Freeman
11/10/2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to thank you all for being here. When I see your smiling faces, I’m in heaven! I want to talk with you today about heaven. I’ve been in heaven the past couple years whenever I listen to classical music. I don’t mean the Beatles and the Beach Boys; I mean Beethoven and Bach. I started listening to them on KUSC, the classical music station of the University of Southern California, and a channel on our cable has classical music. They have little trivia about the different composers. I read about how, when Mozart was just 3 years old, he started playing music. When he was 6 years old, he performed in public. When he was 11 years old, he wrote his first opera. I think when I was 11 years old, I was playing Cops and Robbers. I just love that music.
Actually, I have been listening to it since I was a little kid. Of course, back then I listened to classical music when Elmer Fudd went hunting for Daffy Duck. And when Bugs Bunny was the Barber of Seville. Kathleen and I went to a classical music concert a few years ago and the conductor said that this next piece they were going to play you’ll remember from some opera that he named. They played it and I thought, No, I recognize that from when Tom chased Jerry outside the house and ran around the block. So, I’ve been listening to classical music for most of my life. I’ve just begun to appreciate it. When I hear Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” (A Little Night Music), or Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, or Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, I’m transported into heaven. It’s heavenly music, I think.
Jesus talked about heaven. Jesus said heaven is like yeast. When it’s put in bread, the bread rises. Jesus said heaven is like a pearl that you find and treasure it. And Jesus said heaven is like a little mustard seed, that when it’s planted in the ground it grows into a big shrub and then into a big tree and birds find their nests in that tree. And I think what Jesus was saying, now I could be wrong, but I think what Jesus was saying was that there’s all kinds of birds that nest in that tree. It’s not just one type of bird. It’s the red, red robin goes bob-bob-bobbing along. It’s blue jays. It’s maybe an eagle that finds its nest in that tree. I think that says to us that, if that tree is like heaven, then there’s more than one group of people in heaven. It’s like the old joke about how, and I’ve told this before, and you’ve heard it before I’m sure, about a Hindu who goes to heaven, and he gets a tour of heaven. They come upon a big room with a couple of big doors and it’s closed. The Hindu says to his guide, “Who’s in there?” and the guide says, “Shhh! Those are the Christians. They think they’re the only ones up here.” So, I think heaven is filled with Christians and Jews and Buddhists and Hindus and atheists. I think that’s what Jesus was telling us about that tree with the many birds in it.
Jesus tells a parable that I think is about heaven, although it is not usually preached as if it’s about heaven, but I think in it we see God, we see hell, in a way; we see ourselves. It’s the parable of the Prodigal Son. A father has two sons. The younger son says to his father, “Hey, Dad, I don’t want to wait until you die to get my inheritance. I want my inheritance now so I can enjoy it while I’m young.” The father doesn’t smack him upside the head and say, “You Greedy Gus!” He gives him half of his kingdom. The son goes off and goes to Vegas and blows it all on wine, women, and song and then he runs out of money. So, he goes to Reno and works on a pig farm, slopping the hogs. The son is Jewish and they don’t think much of pigs. Pigs are dirty and yet, here he is working on a pig farm and he’s noticing that the pigs are eating better than he is. So, he says, “I’ll return home to my father and beg his forgiveness and he’ll give me a job and at least I’ll eat better than these pigs, better than I’m eating now.” So, he goes home. When he’s a far ways off, his father sees him. Does his father fold his arms and say, “Look who’s coming back. It’s the prodigal son. Maybe he’s coming back to ask for more money. Maybe he’s coming back to gloat about all his conquests.” No, the father does not do that. The father sees him off in the distance and runs to him and hugs him and kisses him before the son has a chance to utter one word or sentence. This parable is usually preached as a story of repentance and forgiveness. But I think it’s a parable of unconditional love. The unconditional love the father has for the son. I think it’s a story about the unconditional love God has for us. God is always running to us and hugging us and kissing us. We just have to recognize it when it happens. So, before the son’s even apologized, his father hugs and kisses him. Then he does apologize and it’s as if the father isn’t even listening. He says, “Get the best robe and rings for his fingers and bells for his toes and kill the fatted calf! We have to throw a party!” So, they do and I think the party is heaven. Then the older son refuses to go into the party. He says to his father, “I’ve always been good. I’ve always done whatever you asked. You’ve never thrown a party for my friends. And yet, this son of yours, who’s gone off to Vegas and spent all his money on wine, women, and song, you throw a party for him.” The father says, “Son, all that I have will one day be yours, but this son of mine was lost and now he’s found. He was dead and he’s born again.” But the son still refuses to go into the party. I’m wondering if that’s what hell is. I wonder if hell isn’t people who refuse to go into heaven. People who refuse God’s love. I can imagine that some fundamentalist preachers, who preached about the six passages that say that homosexuality is an abomination, that homosexuals should be killed, and then they get to the gates of heaven and they look through and they go, “Rock Hudson is in there! Liberace is in there. One of these days Ellen DeGeneres is going to be in there. I’m not going in there. I refuse to go into heaven.” I think that might be what hell is: people who refuse God’s love. I think this is a story about heaven and about God’s unconditional love for us.
Does heaven exist? I believe it does. I’ve read several books about near death experiences. One that sticks out in my mind was written by a guy named Don Piper, “Ninety Minutes in Heaven.” Don Piper was a Southern Baptist preacher. He was at a Southern Baptist convention; I think in Texas. He’s driving away from the convention when a semi-truck crosses the center line and runs over Don Piper’s car and over Don Piper. The paramedics arrive on the scene and pronounce Don Piper dead. A little while later another Southern Baptist preacher comes. He doesn’t recognize Don Piper from Adam; he doesn’t know he’s a Southern Baptist preacher. He just goes to the paramedics and says, “Can I pray for the man in that car?” The paramedics say, “You can, but he’s been dead for 90 minutes.” The Southern Baptist preacher says, “That’s OK.” He goes over to the car. Now when the semi-truck ran over the car, it basically crushed the car, but opened up the back of the car. So, the Southern Baptist preacher crawls into the back of the car, puts his hand on the shoulder of Don Piper, and prays for him and sings a hymn for him. Don Piper all of a sudden starts singing the hymn along with him. The Southern Baptist preacher scrambles out the car, runs over to the paramedics and says, “That guy’s still alive in there!” They said, “You’re crazy! He’s been dead for 90 minutes.” He said, “Go see for yourself! Go hear for yourself! He’s singing a hymn.” So, they reluctantly go over to the car and sure enough he’s singing a hymn. They get the Jaws of Life and they get him out of there, and he survives and lives to tell the story of how he spent 90 minutes in heaven. He says he died and he went to heaven and he saw all his relatives that he recognized and knew and even the ones from before he was born – he recognizes them. They reminisce and then he somehow glides over to the pearly gates. In case you didn’t know, heaven is a gated community. So, he gets over there, but then, when he gets there, he wakes up; they bring him back to life. He says, and other stories I’ve read say, that heaven is this loving place, this love pervades heaven, and there’s all this beautiful music, I don’t know if it’s Mozart or what, but that you hear. I’ve read about how people see colors that they’ve never seen on earth – even in our stained-glass windows. They’ve never seen these colors before. Heaven is, as you might guess, a heavenly place. Scientists, of course, say that when your brain is dying, your brain plays tricks on you. But my question is, why do all these people have similar experiences then? I can imagine that, if I were to have a near death experience, I’d probably go to Dairy Queen. They’d say, of course he goes to Dairy Queen, that’s where he wants to be. But if I’d die and go to heaven and described everything, they might say, “Oh, well he didn’t go to Dairy Queen. You’d think this guy would go to Dairy Queen.” The thing I find believable about Don Piper’s story is, who is the one person he did not see in heaven? Jesus! Now what self-respecting Southern Baptist preacher dies and goes to heaven and doesn’t see Jesus? So, to me that makes his story believable, because you’d think if he was making it up, he’d say, “I died, I went to heaven, I saw my relatives, and I saw Jesus!” But he doesn’t say that. So, to me that makes his story believable.
Now who gets to go to heaven? A couple years ago, somebody asked the pope, Pope Francis, will an atheist get to go to heaven? Pope Francis didn’t say, “No, only Catholics get to go to heaven.” No, he said, “If that atheist does good, I’ll see him in heaven.” (Gasp!) My goodness! I don’t think it was that many years ago when Catholics did believe that only Catholics went to heaven and maybe some of them still do. But an atheist gets to go to heaven? But it makes sense in a way, if we remember what James, the brother of Jesus said, “Faith without works is dead.” So, works, apparently, according to Pope Francis gets us to heaven, and even Jesus said, “There are those who will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’” and he’ll say, “I don’t know you.” Why? “Because I was hungry, and you didn’t give me something to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me something to drink. I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and you didn’t care for me. I was in prison and you didn’t visit me.” But Jesus says, “If you do those things, then I’ll see you in heaven.” Because, “just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me,” Jesus says. So, it’s not just faith that gets us to heaven, according to Jesus, and the pope, and James, the brother of Jesus. It’s good works.
I said on Facebook a few days ago that I think everybody goes to heaven. One of my Facebook friends said, “Well then I don’t want to go.” I said, “Why is that?” “I don’t want to see Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer in heaven.” I said, “Oh, yeah, well maybe I’m a semi-universalist then.” But thankfully, I’m in retail and not in management. That’s for God to decide – who gets to go to heaven. I don’t have to decide that. And I believe that God’s grace is greater than our sins. So, we’ll see, maybe someday, who gets to go to heaven.
There is a sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom, who wrote a book, “Tuesdays with Morrie,” a couple of years ago, but he also wrote a book, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” I wonder, who would you like to meet in heaven? I think we’d all like to meet our loved ones, of course. I’d like to meet my grandma again. She took me to church every Sunday when I was a kid. She probably deserved the credit (or the blame) for me being a minister. So, I’d like to see my grandma.
Believe it or not, I’d like to see three people who I was hoping to see when I came to California five years ago, but they died the summer that I came here. I came here in late August and they died, I think, July and August of that year. Robin Williams, I kind of wanted to bump into here in California, but he died that summer. Robin Williams, a brilliant comedian, comic actor, but also a dramatic actor. “Good Morning, Vietnam.” “Goodwill Hunting.” So many movies that Robin Williams, who most of us would think of as a comedian, you know “Mrs. Doubtfire,” but also was a dramatic actor.
Believe it or not, I wanted to meet Casey Kasem, but he died that summer. I always listened to Casey Kasem when I was a kid, American Top 40: (in a Casey Kasem voice) “This is Casey Kasem. Time now for our long-distance dedication.” So, I wanted to meet Casey Kasem to see what he thought of my impression of him. Maybe one day I’ll meet him in heaven.
And then I’d like to meet an actor who died that summer who is my favorite actor and I think he is underappreciated. I think he was a great actor, James Garner. I loved him in “Maverick”. I loved him in “The Rockford Files”. I loved him in “The Notebook.” And everything in between. So, I hope one day to meet James Garner in heaven.
I’d like to meet Ben Franklin in heaven – one of our country’s founders. Ben Franklin was asked, as he came out of Independence Hall, was asked by a woman, “Ben Franklin, what have you given us?” He said, “A republic, if you can keep it.” I’d like to meet Abraham Lincoln, who said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” which is biblical. I’d like to meet President Kennedy, who died when I was a kid. Was assassinated when I was a kid. Who said, in unfortunately his only inaugural address, at the end of it, “Let’s go forth to lead the land we love, asking God’s blessing and God’s help, but knowing that here on earth, God’s will must truly be our own.” I like that.
Of course, I’d like to meet Dr. King, who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I’d like to meet Mother Teresa, who did so much good and said, “Peace begins with a smile.” I’d like to meet Gandhi in heaven, who said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Of course, I’d like to meet Jesus in heaven, who said all kinds of wonderful teachings, but mostly, “Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself.” And then, many, many, many years from now, I’d like to meet you in heaven. And I believe I will. As long as, like the pope says, we do good, we’ll see each other in heaven.
Rev. Bill Freeman
11/10/2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to thank you all for being here. When I see your smiling faces, I’m in heaven! I want to talk with you today about heaven. I’ve been in heaven the past couple years whenever I listen to classical music. I don’t mean the Beatles and the Beach Boys; I mean Beethoven and Bach. I started listening to them on KUSC, the classical music station of the University of Southern California, and a channel on our cable has classical music. They have little trivia about the different composers. I read about how, when Mozart was just 3 years old, he started playing music. When he was 6 years old, he performed in public. When he was 11 years old, he wrote his first opera. I think when I was 11 years old, I was playing Cops and Robbers. I just love that music.
Actually, I have been listening to it since I was a little kid. Of course, back then I listened to classical music when Elmer Fudd went hunting for Daffy Duck. And when Bugs Bunny was the Barber of Seville. Kathleen and I went to a classical music concert a few years ago and the conductor said that this next piece they were going to play you’ll remember from some opera that he named. They played it and I thought, No, I recognize that from when Tom chased Jerry outside the house and ran around the block. So, I’ve been listening to classical music for most of my life. I’ve just begun to appreciate it. When I hear Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” (A Little Night Music), or Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, or Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, I’m transported into heaven. It’s heavenly music, I think.
Jesus talked about heaven. Jesus said heaven is like yeast. When it’s put in bread, the bread rises. Jesus said heaven is like a pearl that you find and treasure it. And Jesus said heaven is like a little mustard seed, that when it’s planted in the ground it grows into a big shrub and then into a big tree and birds find their nests in that tree. And I think what Jesus was saying, now I could be wrong, but I think what Jesus was saying was that there’s all kinds of birds that nest in that tree. It’s not just one type of bird. It’s the red, red robin goes bob-bob-bobbing along. It’s blue jays. It’s maybe an eagle that finds its nest in that tree. I think that says to us that, if that tree is like heaven, then there’s more than one group of people in heaven. It’s like the old joke about how, and I’ve told this before, and you’ve heard it before I’m sure, about a Hindu who goes to heaven, and he gets a tour of heaven. They come upon a big room with a couple of big doors and it’s closed. The Hindu says to his guide, “Who’s in there?” and the guide says, “Shhh! Those are the Christians. They think they’re the only ones up here.” So, I think heaven is filled with Christians and Jews and Buddhists and Hindus and atheists. I think that’s what Jesus was telling us about that tree with the many birds in it.
Jesus tells a parable that I think is about heaven, although it is not usually preached as if it’s about heaven, but I think in it we see God, we see hell, in a way; we see ourselves. It’s the parable of the Prodigal Son. A father has two sons. The younger son says to his father, “Hey, Dad, I don’t want to wait until you die to get my inheritance. I want my inheritance now so I can enjoy it while I’m young.” The father doesn’t smack him upside the head and say, “You Greedy Gus!” He gives him half of his kingdom. The son goes off and goes to Vegas and blows it all on wine, women, and song and then he runs out of money. So, he goes to Reno and works on a pig farm, slopping the hogs. The son is Jewish and they don’t think much of pigs. Pigs are dirty and yet, here he is working on a pig farm and he’s noticing that the pigs are eating better than he is. So, he says, “I’ll return home to my father and beg his forgiveness and he’ll give me a job and at least I’ll eat better than these pigs, better than I’m eating now.” So, he goes home. When he’s a far ways off, his father sees him. Does his father fold his arms and say, “Look who’s coming back. It’s the prodigal son. Maybe he’s coming back to ask for more money. Maybe he’s coming back to gloat about all his conquests.” No, the father does not do that. The father sees him off in the distance and runs to him and hugs him and kisses him before the son has a chance to utter one word or sentence. This parable is usually preached as a story of repentance and forgiveness. But I think it’s a parable of unconditional love. The unconditional love the father has for the son. I think it’s a story about the unconditional love God has for us. God is always running to us and hugging us and kissing us. We just have to recognize it when it happens. So, before the son’s even apologized, his father hugs and kisses him. Then he does apologize and it’s as if the father isn’t even listening. He says, “Get the best robe and rings for his fingers and bells for his toes and kill the fatted calf! We have to throw a party!” So, they do and I think the party is heaven. Then the older son refuses to go into the party. He says to his father, “I’ve always been good. I’ve always done whatever you asked. You’ve never thrown a party for my friends. And yet, this son of yours, who’s gone off to Vegas and spent all his money on wine, women, and song, you throw a party for him.” The father says, “Son, all that I have will one day be yours, but this son of mine was lost and now he’s found. He was dead and he’s born again.” But the son still refuses to go into the party. I’m wondering if that’s what hell is. I wonder if hell isn’t people who refuse to go into heaven. People who refuse God’s love. I can imagine that some fundamentalist preachers, who preached about the six passages that say that homosexuality is an abomination, that homosexuals should be killed, and then they get to the gates of heaven and they look through and they go, “Rock Hudson is in there! Liberace is in there. One of these days Ellen DeGeneres is going to be in there. I’m not going in there. I refuse to go into heaven.” I think that might be what hell is: people who refuse God’s love. I think this is a story about heaven and about God’s unconditional love for us.
Does heaven exist? I believe it does. I’ve read several books about near death experiences. One that sticks out in my mind was written by a guy named Don Piper, “Ninety Minutes in Heaven.” Don Piper was a Southern Baptist preacher. He was at a Southern Baptist convention; I think in Texas. He’s driving away from the convention when a semi-truck crosses the center line and runs over Don Piper’s car and over Don Piper. The paramedics arrive on the scene and pronounce Don Piper dead. A little while later another Southern Baptist preacher comes. He doesn’t recognize Don Piper from Adam; he doesn’t know he’s a Southern Baptist preacher. He just goes to the paramedics and says, “Can I pray for the man in that car?” The paramedics say, “You can, but he’s been dead for 90 minutes.” The Southern Baptist preacher says, “That’s OK.” He goes over to the car. Now when the semi-truck ran over the car, it basically crushed the car, but opened up the back of the car. So, the Southern Baptist preacher crawls into the back of the car, puts his hand on the shoulder of Don Piper, and prays for him and sings a hymn for him. Don Piper all of a sudden starts singing the hymn along with him. The Southern Baptist preacher scrambles out the car, runs over to the paramedics and says, “That guy’s still alive in there!” They said, “You’re crazy! He’s been dead for 90 minutes.” He said, “Go see for yourself! Go hear for yourself! He’s singing a hymn.” So, they reluctantly go over to the car and sure enough he’s singing a hymn. They get the Jaws of Life and they get him out of there, and he survives and lives to tell the story of how he spent 90 minutes in heaven. He says he died and he went to heaven and he saw all his relatives that he recognized and knew and even the ones from before he was born – he recognizes them. They reminisce and then he somehow glides over to the pearly gates. In case you didn’t know, heaven is a gated community. So, he gets over there, but then, when he gets there, he wakes up; they bring him back to life. He says, and other stories I’ve read say, that heaven is this loving place, this love pervades heaven, and there’s all this beautiful music, I don’t know if it’s Mozart or what, but that you hear. I’ve read about how people see colors that they’ve never seen on earth – even in our stained-glass windows. They’ve never seen these colors before. Heaven is, as you might guess, a heavenly place. Scientists, of course, say that when your brain is dying, your brain plays tricks on you. But my question is, why do all these people have similar experiences then? I can imagine that, if I were to have a near death experience, I’d probably go to Dairy Queen. They’d say, of course he goes to Dairy Queen, that’s where he wants to be. But if I’d die and go to heaven and described everything, they might say, “Oh, well he didn’t go to Dairy Queen. You’d think this guy would go to Dairy Queen.” The thing I find believable about Don Piper’s story is, who is the one person he did not see in heaven? Jesus! Now what self-respecting Southern Baptist preacher dies and goes to heaven and doesn’t see Jesus? So, to me that makes his story believable, because you’d think if he was making it up, he’d say, “I died, I went to heaven, I saw my relatives, and I saw Jesus!” But he doesn’t say that. So, to me that makes his story believable.
Now who gets to go to heaven? A couple years ago, somebody asked the pope, Pope Francis, will an atheist get to go to heaven? Pope Francis didn’t say, “No, only Catholics get to go to heaven.” No, he said, “If that atheist does good, I’ll see him in heaven.” (Gasp!) My goodness! I don’t think it was that many years ago when Catholics did believe that only Catholics went to heaven and maybe some of them still do. But an atheist gets to go to heaven? But it makes sense in a way, if we remember what James, the brother of Jesus said, “Faith without works is dead.” So, works, apparently, according to Pope Francis gets us to heaven, and even Jesus said, “There are those who will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’” and he’ll say, “I don’t know you.” Why? “Because I was hungry, and you didn’t give me something to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me something to drink. I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and you didn’t care for me. I was in prison and you didn’t visit me.” But Jesus says, “If you do those things, then I’ll see you in heaven.” Because, “just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me,” Jesus says. So, it’s not just faith that gets us to heaven, according to Jesus, and the pope, and James, the brother of Jesus. It’s good works.
I said on Facebook a few days ago that I think everybody goes to heaven. One of my Facebook friends said, “Well then I don’t want to go.” I said, “Why is that?” “I don’t want to see Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer in heaven.” I said, “Oh, yeah, well maybe I’m a semi-universalist then.” But thankfully, I’m in retail and not in management. That’s for God to decide – who gets to go to heaven. I don’t have to decide that. And I believe that God’s grace is greater than our sins. So, we’ll see, maybe someday, who gets to go to heaven.
There is a sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom, who wrote a book, “Tuesdays with Morrie,” a couple of years ago, but he also wrote a book, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” I wonder, who would you like to meet in heaven? I think we’d all like to meet our loved ones, of course. I’d like to meet my grandma again. She took me to church every Sunday when I was a kid. She probably deserved the credit (or the blame) for me being a minister. So, I’d like to see my grandma.
Believe it or not, I’d like to see three people who I was hoping to see when I came to California five years ago, but they died the summer that I came here. I came here in late August and they died, I think, July and August of that year. Robin Williams, I kind of wanted to bump into here in California, but he died that summer. Robin Williams, a brilliant comedian, comic actor, but also a dramatic actor. “Good Morning, Vietnam.” “Goodwill Hunting.” So many movies that Robin Williams, who most of us would think of as a comedian, you know “Mrs. Doubtfire,” but also was a dramatic actor.
Believe it or not, I wanted to meet Casey Kasem, but he died that summer. I always listened to Casey Kasem when I was a kid, American Top 40: (in a Casey Kasem voice) “This is Casey Kasem. Time now for our long-distance dedication.” So, I wanted to meet Casey Kasem to see what he thought of my impression of him. Maybe one day I’ll meet him in heaven.
And then I’d like to meet an actor who died that summer who is my favorite actor and I think he is underappreciated. I think he was a great actor, James Garner. I loved him in “Maverick”. I loved him in “The Rockford Files”. I loved him in “The Notebook.” And everything in between. So, I hope one day to meet James Garner in heaven.
I’d like to meet Ben Franklin in heaven – one of our country’s founders. Ben Franklin was asked, as he came out of Independence Hall, was asked by a woman, “Ben Franklin, what have you given us?” He said, “A republic, if you can keep it.” I’d like to meet Abraham Lincoln, who said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” which is biblical. I’d like to meet President Kennedy, who died when I was a kid. Was assassinated when I was a kid. Who said, in unfortunately his only inaugural address, at the end of it, “Let’s go forth to lead the land we love, asking God’s blessing and God’s help, but knowing that here on earth, God’s will must truly be our own.” I like that.
Of course, I’d like to meet Dr. King, who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I’d like to meet Mother Teresa, who did so much good and said, “Peace begins with a smile.” I’d like to meet Gandhi in heaven, who said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Of course, I’d like to meet Jesus in heaven, who said all kinds of wonderful teachings, but mostly, “Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself.” And then, many, many, many years from now, I’d like to meet you in heaven. And I believe I will. As long as, like the pope says, we do good, we’ll see each other in heaven.