Earthbound

"To understand Jesus properly, we have to appreciate how his living makes possible the transformation of our own. God became incarnate in Jesus Christ to show us and welcome us into what creaturely life is ultimately about and for. This means that salvation is not about 
being plucked out of creaturely life to some immaterial heaven beyond the world of creation. Salvation is about reconciling this creation so that it can know, taste and intimately experience God's heavenly life that is constantly making its way toward us. Looking to Jesus, we see heaven's earthly life realized. Scripture makes clear again and again that God is Emmanuel, God with us. This is why God became incarnate in Jesus. This is why God sends the Holy Spirit to live within us as our animating and inspiring breath and to direct us in the ways of heavenly life. This is why Revelation shows us that the grand climax of God's cosmic drama has heaven descend to earth, because God's dwelling will forevermore be among mortals (see Rev 21:1-4). The goal is not our souls' escape from this world but the transformation of all creatures in their relationships with each other. The goal is that our embodied living radiates and becomes the perpetual expression of God's glory."

(Art: Gustave Courbet - The Grain Sifters 1854)

From the book "Making Peace with the Land: God's Call to Reconcile with Creation (Resources for Reconciliation)" by Fred Bahnson, Norman Wirzba, Bill McKibben