All the Saints Adore Thee

Today was Angie Hunt's memorial service. We met the Pursells and the Colemans in the parking lot and all walked in together. When we got in the building, there was Mark, not crying anymore but smiling. Oddly enough, the first faces that we met in the lobby were all people who we love but who have left our church over the years -- here they all were, and we were hugging them. Oh, it felt a little bit like heaven. The saints we hadn't seen in so long reunited, familiar face after familiar face, all celebrating what Jesus had done for Angie, for us. Part of me ached because I wanted that unity to last. Part of me ached because Angie was not physically with us or with Mark. But part of me got it... part of me tasted a tiny bit of what heaven will be like, of what Angie has right now. And it leaves me joyful, but yearning.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (I Peter 1:3-5)