I seem to be given books and seem to be reading books at perfect times in my life. This new book by NT Wright called Surprised by Hope has been a great encouragement to me at this point of my life. I have been reflecting over the past few weeks how timely many of the books I have read have been in my journey, especially in light of role in my church. (Although I am starting to think my goal of 48 books by January 1st is a two year goal).
Anyway to return to this book, the key concept that NT Wright is trying to get across is that there is a connection between the present (life now on earth) and the future (this concept of heaven that so many of us have). That how we live now actually extends into the future. It revolves around this concept that NT Wright calls life after life after death. This concept is very powerful as our church entertains and moves in a new direction and I begin to think about how I might teach in this space. I now see so much more clearly how important it is for us to grasp that how we live now matters in the future and that we are not simply trying to get through this life in order to have a better life later. Wright continually tries to destroy this idea that heaven and earth are separate and there are few verses better than the Lord’s prayer that says Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven that Wright exemplifies this fact through.
The goal is not to get our beliefs right here, so we can get to somewhere else later. The purpose is that we are all part of God’s renewal and reconciliation of this earth now (including all of creation) and we can choose to take part in this exciting work with God, or we can choose to go our own way and reject it. Wright joins this role with Jesus resurrection and how the power of that event and its meaning for us (that we too will be resurrected into our perfect form, placed back on this earth in its perfect form) will lead our churches in an exciting direction on this earth.
If we can begin to see that our role on earth matters now and in the future, we might begin to see our relationship with God in a whole different light. We no longer are trying to do all these good things to confirm our position in heaven, but instead are participating in all these good things on earth in order to see these good things extend into the future when God puts the world to rights.
At this point I digress and invite you to read this book. It is well written and gives some great practical examples of how the church can live this out in the world that are very helpful. I give this book a 4.5/5 for church planters and hope you en joy it.
