This conversation is sure to challenge paradigms and the best kind of cause head-scratching (this is not to say the conversation can actually cause dandruff. That issue cannot be blamed on the topic...). Many of us are so used to phrases like "died and gone to heaven" that we've stopped asking what the real trajectory of our life is, from a Biblical perspective. Both now and forever.
Use this time not necessarily to correct doctrine, but to catalyze a desire for involvement in life NOW. Not just after we die; eternal life is available to us immediately.
Read & Discuss 1 Corinthians 15.
Note that Paul calls "fools" those who ask what the resurrection will be like, going on to say that the thing sewed (a seed) is nothing like what will grow. Paul seems to be saying that there's no way on THIS side of resurrection what we will be like. It's all speculation for seeds to try and comprehend the plant they will be. It's a foolish focus on the issue of resurrection, being that it's yet a mystery. Yet, Paul continues to talk about resurrection hope, and does so through the analogy of sewing seed. Sewing a seed, you may agree, is an act of will- while literal dying (someone sewing you for you) is often involuntary. Paul is speaking of literal death and resurrection, but also intimating that a figurative death and resurrection is our duty now. To sew ourselves (unless he's advocating suicide) is a death and resurrection we take part in today. Thus Paul could say "I die daily!" So, both kinds of dying and living are present in this chapter. A fixation on the unknowable mystery of literal resurrection is in some sense the fruit of hope, but in another, cause for Paul to call you a fool. Read and apply accordingly.
Other Key Texts
John 19:38-20:18
Galatians 2:17-21
John 5:24 (Notice it's already true!)
Rev 21:1-3 (Notice ultimately it's a story of God coming down to humanity, not humanity floating up.)
Discussion and Application
Ask what it is that has the individuals, the families or the whole group stuck and afraid "in the upper room" (John 20). What might the Spirit be inviting them to do, even in the face of danger and difficulty and at great risk to comfort and the status quo, in order that they may be a part of resurrecting their own minds, hearts and their part of the world? How can the group help with whatever is discovered and shared?
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