During this Easter season, the Diocese of Southwest Florida is inviting you to a diocesan-wide Bible study with Bishop Doug Scharf during which we will explore what it means to live as a people of hope.
Join us each Wednesday from April 23 – June 4 as we deepen our understanding of our Christian hope.
Watch for the Zoom Bible Studies:
May 7 Bible Study:
May 21 Bible Study:
June 4 Bible Study:
Questions? Contact Lindsey Nickel, Director of Communications at [email protected] or call (941) 556-0315.
Through scripture, reflection, and guided Zoom sessions, Living as a People of Hope invites individuals and congregations into a deeper understanding of Christian hope. Together, we will wrestle with meaningful questions about death and resurrection, the life to come, and our call to witness in a world in need of healing.
This seven-week journey includes in-person reflections and online gatherings, focusing on key themes such as:
Come discover how the truth of Christ’s resurrection transforms not only our future, but our present.
This week, as we kick off our six-week Bible study, we are going to explore what it means to be a people who are waiting in hope. We so often find ourselves in a place of waiting. And throughout the history of salvation, we see that God’s people, over and over again, find themselves in a place of waiting. Waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises. Waiting for the coming day of the Lord. Download all of this week’s readings and register for our Zoom gathering on May 7 above.
During our first session last week, we explored what it means for us to be a people who are waiting in hope.
As followers of Jesus, we believe that we are living in what biblical scholars call the “in between” times.
The resurrection of Jesus has already taken place, and yet we are still waiting for the fulfillment and consummation of God’s new creation. We are waiting in hope because we believe that one day, God’s promises of healing and restoration will be fulfilled and all things will be made new. Now this week, we are going to go deeper into the question, “What do Christians actually believe about life after death?”
Download all of this week’s readings and register for our Zoom gathering on May 21 above.
Over the past two sessions, we have been exploring the themes of resurrection and new creation in both the Old and New Testaments.
We asked ourselves, “What does it mean to be a people who are living ‘in between’ the resurrection of Jesus and the future promise of new creation?” And “what do we actually believe about life after death?”
It turns out the promise of salvation is actually about a whole lot more than “going to heaven when we die.” We are part of a living hope right now. We are participants in the resurrected life of Jesus here and now. And our future hope is not to live forever as a disembodied soul in a purely spiritual heaven. Our future hope is to be a part of a fully redeemed and restored creation.
Download all of this week’s readings and register for our Zoom gathering on June 4 above.
