I fear that our understanding of ‘heaven,’ that is, the future hope of the Christian, is all too commonly restricted to the disembodied, intermediate state. Recently, I’ve wondered whether our sometimes selective use of biblical terminology tends to flatten that hope, which in the end will really embrace the totality of creation. For example, I noticed the Confession of Faith employ the language of Paul in Ephesians 5:5 to describe the future state as “the inheritance” of “the Kingdom of Christ and of God.” Inheritance, of course, is a rich term that Paul regularly employs from the OT to refer to the future hope of the Christian. And it’s loaded with connotations to ‘the ground.’ ‘Kingdom’ is also a broader, encompassing term. Do you think that part of our defect lies in a failure to employ and to meditate on the rich terminology that the Scripture uses to describe our hope? ‘Heaven,’ when cut from the warp and woof of the text, seems to turn into shorthand for St. Peter’s pearly gates.