Surprised by Hope
A Discussion Series about Life, Death, & Resurrection
Overview:

Week 1: 1 Thess 4:13-18 The Sleep Death
Week 2: Philippians 3:17-21 Glorious Body
Week 3: 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 What If We Were Wrong?
Week 4: 1 Corinthians 15:20-34 Reign of Christ and Our Present Living!
Week 5: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 Living in Mystery & Victory

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Since it is Easter time and we are celebrating Jesus rising from the dead, I thought what better a time to talk about our death, and following Christ in resurrection, and what it means for us and the way we live our lives now! Maybe we can journey through a road that is filled with many misconceptions and fear about death, resurrection, and heaven, and the hope that we can all live by today and in the future!

This series will be loosely based off of the new N.T. Wright Book, titled the same as the series, Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (why reinvent the wheel right?) So, even though we will not be discussing the book, I would like to encourage each and everyone of you to pick up the book and have a read, I will be doing the same over the next couple of weeks and would love to invite you into discussion!

Here is a link to purchase the book via amazon.com:

or you can probably find it at your local Barnes & Noble Bookstore or Christian Bookstore.

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I can’t wait to see the discussions here and @ each of your Gatherings!

Photo by Cindy (C) all rights reserved. 

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that helps brainstorm ideas for our Station of the Cross and to those who help set it all up! It was a great experience and I hope that two years from now when we do it again more of us can be involved! Thanks.. If you woul dlike to check out pictures from the event a few descriptions of the stations then head over to this Flickr set or try This Flickr Set!

God bless yall!

http://www.viacrucisimmersion.com/

if you would like to help, please contact D.G.!

Sorry about that here are the dates for Via Crucis to help yall to decide if yall might be able to help with it Thanks!

February 16, Saturday – 10-noon – Planning meeting #1
- March 8, Saturday – 10-noon – Planning meeting #2
- March 15, Saturday – Set-up (all day)
- March 16, Sunday – Sunday morning preview for VC community (before/after worship gathering)
o Sunday evening opening night, 7:00 PM
- March 17-22 (Monday-Saturday) – open from 11am-11pm
- March 23, Sunday – Easter morning worship
o Sunday afternoon/evening – Station take-down and clean-up
- March 24, Monday – Station take-down and clean-up

Please continue to pray about your involvement and let D.G. know if your interested! Thanks!

If you do not know it, I love N.T. Wright! He is an amazing scholar, Theologian, and author! And if there is a living theologian that I agree with most often (when I can read his writtings 3-4 times to understand what he is saying, heh….then I agree and “get it”.

And this time he explains in a new book what Heaven is really like.

So here is an interview to wet your whistle, who knows maybe even get some discussion going here on the blog… Here is the link to the article…and a little bit to get you interested enough to click the link:

Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop

(a TIME article interview by: DAVID VAN BIEMA

TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a “distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope.”

Wright: It really is. I’ve often heard people say, “I’m going to heaven soon, and I won’t need this stupid body there, thank goodness.’ That’s a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.

TIME: How so? It seems like a typical sentiment.

Wright: There are several important respects in which it’s unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, “Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven.” It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.

TIME: But it’s not where the real action is, so to speak?

Wright: No. Our culture is very interested in life after death, but the New Testament is much more interested in what I’ve called the life after life after death — in the ultimate resurrection into the new heavens and the new Earth. Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead, who will “awake,” be embodied and participate in the renewal. John Polkinghorne, a physicist and a priest, has put it this way: “God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.” That gets to two things nicely: that the period after death is a period when we are in God’s presence but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administering Christ’s kingdom.

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OK so what do you think? leave a comment of two below…let us know…. KUTPs!!!

Hey everyone:

I am still getting things taken care of in the life Gahterings as well as the Organic Gatherings. And I know it has ben a few weeks since I have posted to this blog, but honestly everyone that is a part of a Og has ben getting the texts and such, so it is only those few of you who check this online that have not been getting any updates…and I appologize!

The life Gatherings (the Gatherings that are a part of Florence UMC) are kicking into high gear, and have been taking a bit more time from my work, and the only area that is running dry is, yep…this blog, heh heh..

but rest assured! We wil be back very soon… and also please know that I will attempt to put up the past discussions up here too just for you! heh…

And for yall’s information we will be using the ancient but amazing Lectionary for our discussions at least through Easter! So, the good news is that you already know what the text will be…and each week I will attempt to put up the possible discussion starters and shimmer points like normal. So until then, please keep us and all those around you in prayer, and know you are always in my prayers as well! thank you and more to come shortly!

for a list of the Sunday Lectionary possible scriptures just head on over to the General Board of Discipleship lectionary site!

Well it looks like the Christmas family times are among us all currently, and because of it we will resume our discussions in 2008….. we will finish up the lectionary through the entire Advent season so come back looking forward to hearing all about this birth we will be celebrating so soon!! God bless yall and have a wonderful Christmas with your families!

Oh and thanks to all who came to the living out loud event in Covington on Sunday! It was amazing! There were over 180 people there! WOW! that is a lot of BBQ and company! I hope you were blessed, and I hope that you blessed someone who came for the food and community!

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for everyone that could come out and help out! And for those of you who did not make it…we missed you! We had a great time on Sunday, and thanks to the help of Florence UMC and a few people from Grace UMC we had plenty of people come out and help serve. Here are a few pictures from our time and please remember to keep them all in your prayers:

What a blast it was being the hands and feet of Christ. I hope the next time we go to serve that even more of yall can be able to make it out and share the love of The Kingdom to our community. God bless yall and KUTPs!

Hey everyone here are a few pictures from the “Help Build Hope” project Th3 Waters helped build… the event was awesome….I bet there were around at least 100 other people that came out for the build, and it was awesome for Th3 waters to start to become a vital support for our community. Be looking for more opportunities to care of our community in the near future…or help us find a few!

For the rest of the pictures go to my Flickr page…there are some very funny pics in there, heh.
Thank you for everyone who helped out…and for everyone who did not get to make it out.. we missed ya! Yall take care and seriously…… help bring great ideas of serving our community to this blog, or you can send your ideas and contact info to our community service coordinator Alicia: ackcsl[at]aol[dot]com.

Thanks and KUTPs!

Oh and the two house frames we built will be sent to two different locations and then another group of servants takes the next leg of the journey to finish the house for a very blessed family. We hope to be joining this ministry in the future and even follow the frames to finish the job!