Space

"My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" John 14.2

As a former Head of Protocol at the Foreign Office in London, my late father will have been aware of the headache facing his successor in the anticipation of Monday's state funeral. The story is that the department was established in the wake of a visit by a British monarch to the European continent, on whose return the Spanish and French ambassadors jostled all the way back to London for who got to travel behind the royal carriage. From then on these contentious issues would be anticipated and resolved ahead of time by professional diplomats!

Over the weekend that conundrum will be multiplied as heads of state jet in from around the world. Never mind the surge in fossil fuel emissions from all those private aircraft, where are they all going to stay? Or has that also been rehearsed?

According to scripture no such headaches await those who, by faith, have secured their place in God's welcome. Jesus' promise is that he goes ahead to prepare for our reception into the eternal Kingdom where, being eternal, there are no limits - of time or space or quality. Everything is good and abundant and pure. Whether it be the accommodation of world leaders in London, the reclaiming of occupied territory in Ukraine, or the rescue of millions flooded out of their homes in Pakistan, do these contemporary pressures not induce our yearning for the Lord's hospitality?