This prayer from the metaphysical poet, and Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, John Donne (1571-1631), represents, for me, the hope and ultimate promise of life everlasting in the presence of God. It bids us to put away our earthly representations of human struggle and to imagine the endless bliss of Paradise.

Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening
into the house and gate of heaven,
to enter into that gate and dwell in that house,
where there shall be
no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
no noise nor silence, but one equal music;
no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity:
in the habitations of thy majesty and glory,
world without end.
Amen.