Resurrection; The Substance of Salvation

January 3, 2025 Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

We’ll be returning to our study of 1 Corinthians after taking two weeks away from it for the holidays. We’ll be reading 1 Cor 15:35-58 – Paul’s concluding thoughts concerning the doctrine of the resurrection.

In the first part of chapter 15, Paul was corrective in his discussion about the resurrection – pointing out how intimately Jesus’ resurrection was tied to our own stories. In Paul’s thinking, Jesus’ experience was a model for what God intended to do for all of his people, hence, the general resurrection was a mandatory belief.

I do find it fascinating how very little time or thought our modern, Western church gives to this idea. N.T. Wright wrote a very insightful book on this topic, called “Surprised by Hope”, which I highly recommend reading.

For the last half of the chapter, Paul points both to nature and the Biblical narrative to make his case for the holistic nature of the resurrection. I really like his argument as it touches nature. What are we witnessing every spring as winter recedes? If God is the author of reality as we perceive it, what might he be trying to tell us in this cycle of seasons?

Going to the biblical narrative, Paul asserts a new Adamic role for Jesus. His logic seems to be, if we all face the certainty of death through Adam’s sin, doesn’t it stand to reason that we all get in on Christ’s resurrection life through Him?

As Paul has elaborated on this subject, has it influenced how you perceive an afterlife with God? Paul finishes on a high note, in v55 he rewords a prophetic poem from Hosea 13, flipping the meaning of that oracle into a forecast of triumph for God’s people. How can we start incorporating a more robust hope for resurrection into our faith worldview?

I’m really stoked about getting into this section of 1 Corinthians – I hope you’re able to join us this Sunday at 10 AM!

Resurrection; The Sum of all Hope

December 13, 2024 Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

I know, I know….you’re thinking: “Rob! It’s almost Christmas, not Easter!” I realize that. But I would also argue that the themes of Easter should be something that resonates with followers of Jesus no matter what time of year it is. As we’re going to be reading in our text this Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus is the very heart of our faith and hope. We’ll be continuing our study in 1 Corinthians this Sunday, reading chapter 15, verses 1-34.

I’ll warn you right off, this is a fairly complex and dense bit of theology that Paul delves into as he comes to the close of his letter. It might behoove you to read the passage in a few different translations – but especially take a look at Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” version – because while it may overly simplify some of the concepts Paul is advocating, it most certainly provides a readable overview of this thoughts.

As you read it over, how important does the resurrection of God’s people seem to be for Paul? Does it match your own passion for that subject? If not, why might that be? How much space does the resurrection of the saints take up in your spiritual worldview? Clearly, for Paul, everything hinged on that idea.

Paul indelibly tethers Christ’s experiences to the future plans for His followers. In Paul’s thinking, our beliefs about what happened in the past have a profound effect on our present and our future when it comes to the resurrection. I’ll be honest, the string of Paul’s logic feels so foreign to me as someone who has grown up in the Evangelical church. Our matrix has always been: “Believe on Jesus and you will go to heaven when you die and avoid eternal punishment in hell.” It just feels like that reasoning couldn’t be further from Paul’s thinking about mortality and eschatology. In fact, how many times does Paul reference “going to heaven or hell” in his presentation of the central core of the Gospel?

That’s really something to ponder for a bit. The more I ponder it, the more I start to ask, “What have we been thinking?”

If you’re really interesting in tackling a big topic, I hope you’ll join us this Sunday at 10 am as we dig deeply into Scripture.

A Very Present Jesus

January 26, 2024 Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

This Sunday we’re going to be reading John 20:19-31, which finishes up the chapter. This chapter brings us to the end of the Book of Glory, with only the epilogue (ch 21) remaining. In this chapter we’ll be reading about Jesus’ appearance to the rest of the disciples and to Thomas – and we’ll be considering the ramifications of the risen Christ in the midst of his followers.

Jesus shows up in the middle of a locked room. He is obviously present in a new kind of physicality, one that is not hindered by normal obstacles. Think about that locked door and the symbolism of it. What kind of doors do we lock in life…and how effective are they in keeping Jesus out?

The first thing out of Jesus’ mouth is the common greeting: Shalom. It means peace, wholeness, stability of life. John is using this event to convey the meaning of Christ’s presence, which is with us still – and how his presence brings with it wholeness and fullness of life. In what ways have you found stability, wholeness and well being in the presence of Christ?

Jesus commissions his followers to do the same thing he’d been doing. That would be unthinkable if he didn’t follow it up by giving the Holy Spirit to empower us for such a task. How can we start developing habits of following the Holy Spirit’s lead to do good and help the oppressed in this world?

V23 is a strange command. Whole ecclesiological frameworks have developed around the way people interpret what Jesus says here. There’s a conservative interpretation that I’m persuaded by (I’ll share it Sunday) – what do YOU think he’s saying?

The account of Thomas is awesome to me. I love that dude. Do you think Tommy was doubting Jesus, or the testimony of the other disciples? How did Jesus interact with Tom: rebuke, anger, irritation, compassion, care…? What was the first thing he said to him? Do you think that Jesus is angered by our questions or honest skepticism? Do you believe that doubt and sincere searching is debilitating to faith, or can it actually encourage and enhance faith? How might Jesus’ interaction with Thomas inform your view?

I hope you can join us this Sunday, I think we’ll have a lot of good stuff to chew on!

A New Creation

January 18, 2024January 18, 2024 Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

The creation account in Genesis begins in the dark: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”. God intervened and spoke light, order and life.

All of that went wrong when a man and a woman stood in a garden and rejected God’s rule. As a result, darkness, chaos and death again captivated the scene.

The gospel of John echoes a lot of those themes in his account of Jesus, and maybe none more so than in the section we’ve come to in our study of John. We’re going to be reading John 20:1-18 this Sunday, the account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

The main purpose of John’s gospel, as he explained in chapter one, is to let us know that all that Jesus did and taught was revealing what God is like and what God is up to – and here in his resurrection we see it in full bloom: redemption; new creation….RESURRECTION!

As you read this account, put yourself in the place of Peter and the DWJL (the disciple whom Jesus loved) – how do you think you would have reacted to Mary’s news? What would you think was going on initially?

V9 says Pete and the DWJL returned to their own home (literally, to themselves). What ways do we turn back to ourselves when we go through dark and confusing times?

Mary was inconsolable. She was on task: find the corpse of Jesus and get it re-buried. She was so miserable and fixated on that problem that she didn’t even realize the solution to her dilemma was standing right in front of her. What can that tell us about how we perceive our troubles – how should resurrection and new creation affect our expectations?

Jesus and Mary are pictured standing in a garden – what does this harken back to? What is this image revealing to us about what has happened in Christ’s resurrection?

If I asked you who the first evangelist, ambassador, teacher and missionary of the gospel was…who would you say? I know who v 18 says it was.

This is the landing place that all of John’s gospel has been leading us to – I really hope you can join us this Sunday as we dig in and explore this passage together!

The Gospel Ad Infinitum

February 7, 2020 Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

So – this Sunday we’ll be coming to our last study in the Gospel of Mark – we’ll be reading chapter 16. For the last year in doing this study I’ve done digital paintings to accompany the teachings – and I thought I’d share my process with you for these. This is sped up by 650% – so don’t get any ideas that I can actually paint this fast. It was fun to do – but I don’t think I’ll bite off anything that ambitious again – it really commandeered my time.

Most scholars, including very conservative ones, don’t believe the last 12 verses of ch 16 were part of the original text, but were added sometime after the 3rd Century. With that in mind, we’ll be keeping our focus of this study on the first 8 verses…which makes for a really open-ended finale.

In the text we return to the women we were reading about at the end of chapter 15. They are going to the tomb to finish the job of preparing Jesus’ corpse, something left undone because they ran out of time before the Sabbath. How does the theme of unfinished work get revealed in the first 8 verses?

Why do you think it was important that the angel singled out Peter as one to whom this message was given? What can that tell us about our own times of falling short? What significance can you discern in the fact that Jesus had gone before them and would meet them when they got there?

If you were to narrow the text down to the first 8 verses, what do you feel at the end of v8? Is there anything you feel prompted to do when concluding with v8? Ad infinitum is Latin for “to infinity”, connoting that something is ongoing. Mark probably intended for his readers to be called to an ongoing action in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection. What is your response to the news that Jesus his risen, and what does it call you to do?

This has been a really enjoyable study to undertake! Hope you got as much out of it as I did, and I certainly hope you return to Mark again and again to read the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God!

Easter Weekend at Eastgate

March 30, 2018 Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

Tonight is Good Friday and we will be observing it with a service which reflects on Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. It will be a time of singing and contemplation. We will also be doing a live painting, as well as an interactive, visceral worship experience. The cross has been a central part of the Christian faith for 2000 years. Tonight, we’ll take our place alongside the church through the ages and remember that pivotal day…the day the revolution began! We hope you can join us tonight, 6:30 pm in the Big Room at Eastgate.

On Saturday: we are inviting people to join in a voluntary day of fasting and prayer in anticipation of Easter. You can skip a meal, or two or skip the whole day (if your health allows for it). This allows us to step into an experience of loss and discomfort, like the first disciples experienced that terrible Saturday after seeing their Rabbi die along with their hopes and dreams of God’s kingdom. We have prepared written prayers that you can use to guide you in contemplating and communicating with God. This is a time to give thanks and to deeply consider the depths of God’s love for us.

You can find the prayers here: COMMUNITY PRAYERS_

On Sunday: Join us at sunrise at Rick Seltzer Park on Thomas Dr as we welcome the day and begin celebrating the wonder of resurrection! If you haven’t joined in on one of these services, I encourage you to do so, you won’t regret it!

Later, at 10 am in the courtyard of the Eastgate building, we’ll have a day of celebration, where we kick up our heels and shout for joy because Jesus is loose in the world making all things new! Join us for the celebration, then stay for a potluck lunch where we can fellowship and reap the benefits of God’s renewal by hanging out with the family of God! It’s always a good time! Bring a dish to share…and I hope to see you there! (see how I did that? It rhymes!)

See you tonight!

Easter is Here!

April 22, 2011April 22, 2011 Rob Woodrum5 Comments

They had seen him die. They had watched in horror as his tortured body gasped and gurgled it’s last breath. They saw his skin change color, his jaw go slack and his eyes set. Still, lifeless, they knew that the person they had followed and loved was a stranger to them now. No sparkle in the eye, no grin or laughter, no knowing look. Just a shell; a grizzly mannequin hanging like an effigy of all their hopes and dreams.

When all hope is gone, when dreams and loves have run through your fingers like sand, when you slump to the wall and whisper “it’s broken, it will never be right again”, God has one final word for you.

RESURRECTION!

Look in wonder at wide open horizons of hope that resurrection reveals. God reveals that he’s the God of NEW BEGINNINGS, and no matter what we say is plausible or rational or scientifically viable, God winks and reminds us those are not the adjectives that describe a deeper magic. Resurrection reminds us that God is God and the possibilities are endless as life passes through his hands.

No one expected this. During those three days not one disciple suggested that maybe Jesus would be back. Why would they? This is unheard of, unthinkable, impossible. Yet there he was. He had passed through the grave and come out the other side in a whole new condition of existence. Sometimes our hopes and dreams have to have the mark of the cross on them. Sometimes we have weep and bury them, only to discover they were really the seeds of a whole new answer and purpose we hadn’t anticipated. Flowers that are different from the picture on the package, but are far more wonderful than we could have conceived of.

This is the wonder of Easter.

I hope you can come out and celebrate with us at some point this weekend…or for everything we’re doing! Here’s what we have going on:

FRIDAY @6:30 pm, APRIL 22nd: We’re having a special GOOD FRIDAY BURNING HOUSE service. We’re going to have elements of the Seder (the Passover meal) for you to sample, and we’re going to talk about the correlation between the Seder and Jesus’ instructions to us concerning the communion. There’ll be music and praying for each other and hanging out and laughing and maybe crying…all the stuff connected with human beings reaching for the Divine.

EASTER SUNDAY @6 AM: The Dawn Patrol Sunrise Service! GET UP! GET STOKED! HE’S ALIVE!! Easter morning we are going to meet on the beach for a time of worship, reflection and prayer as we begin the day where we remember that Jesus rose from the dead and changed everything forever. If that’s not a reason to get up early, I can’t imagine what is. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket. We’ll be meeting at the corner of Oriole and Gulf drive on Panama City Beach (off of Thomas Dr). Here’s a map

EASTER SUNDAY, 9-11 AM: Come celebrate Easter as we read and explore John 20:10-20, 24-31. It’s the story of a guy named Tom…someone I consider a soulmate. We’re going to look at his journey from honest doubt to real faith. Have you ever struggled with doubts and questions concerning the claims the Bible makes? We don’t need to be afraid of doubt, and especially don’t feel shame. Tom is our guide through those times we ALL have. What do you see in this story? What does it inspire in you?

Ok…well….long update, but worth it! Hope to see you at some point this weekend!

WONDERWHAT

Tag: resurrection