Leonard Cohen, Sherwood Schwartz, John Donne and Hezekiah

     The "oriental sensibilities" observation may be somewhat a reflection of my propensity to see connections where others don't or perhaps just where there are none. Of course, what I see as connected has at least the connection that I have seen them. The reason I get so stoked about these things stems from my understanding that what I see is sometimes what God is revealing. Sharing them here is a way to take them out of the possibly unhealthy realm of personal interpretation and into light that I think comes from conversation. So please feel free to comment.
     The following link is to some FB comments on a quote from a Leonard Cohen song that I see as having some bearing on the seek and find of Matthew 7:7.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=218968948138296&id=100000686952437&notif_t=feed_comment

After posting the quote, I heard a report on the radio of the death of the creator of Gilligan's Island who left the following letter to be published after his death.

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/sherwood-schwartz-posthumous-letter-20321/

That reminded me of a quote from the works of John Donne that I have been misquoting for decades as "The road to heaven is paved with heaven". The real quote and a little extra is included below.

"Howling is the noise of hell, singing the voice of heaven; sadness the damp of hell, rejoicing the serenity of heaven. And he that hath not this joy here, lacks one of the best pieces of his evidence for the joys of heaven; and hath neglected or refused that earnest, by which God uses to bind his bargain, that true joy in this world shall flow into the joy of heaven, as a river flows into the sea; this joy shall not be put out in death, and a new joy kindled in me in heaven; but as my soul, as soon as it is out of my body, is in heaven, and does not stay for the possession of heaven, nor for the fruition of the sight of God, till it be ascended through air, and lire, and moon, and sun, and planets and firmament, to that place which we conceive to be heaven, but without the thousandth part of a minute's stop, as soon as it issues, is in a glorious light, which is heaven, (for all the way to heaven is heaven; and as those angels, which came from heaven hither, bring heaven with them, and are in heaven here, so that soul that goes to heaven, meets heaven here ; and as those angels do not divest heaven by coming, so these souls invest heaven, in their going.) As my soul shall not go towards heaven, but go by heaven to heaven, to the heaven of heavens, so the true joy of a good soul in this world is the very joy of heaven" - John Donne in Sermon LXVI in The Works of John Donne: With a Memoir of His Life (1839) edited by Henry Alford, p. 177

My bible reading for today included this passage:

^"18 Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone ¹⁹ who sets their heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people." 2 Chronicles 30:18-30 (NIV)

Many have said that heaven is to be in the presence of God. Christian understanding of Communion has at its heart a sense of the presence of Jesus. The Lord does not abide in the presence of the unholy but the passover called by Hezekiah proves that as we turn to God in repentance pardon may be granted and healing may be done.