We have had 2 friends with erroneous fatal diagnoses and 2 deaths of beloved members of this congregation recently. It is not surprising that questions about the afterlife are on our minds. Of course, we depend on God’s grace in Christ rather than earning our way to heaven for our comfort and confidence in resurrection but I would like to recommend 3 books that may encourage our biblical understanding of God’s promise of eternal life. I have listed these books from least to most demanding of the reader.

1. Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. Author, pastor, and innovative teacher Rob Bell presents a deeply biblical vision for rediscovering a richer, grander, truer, and more spiritually satisfying way of understanding heaven, hell, God, Jesus, salvation, and repentance. The result is the discovery that the "good news" is much, much better than we ever imagined.

2. Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor provides a way to find spirituality in those times when we don’t have all the answers. With her characteristic wisdom, Taylor is our guide through a spirituality of the nighttime, teaching us how to find our footing in times of uncertainty and giving us strength and hope to face all of life’s challenging moments.

3. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by, N.T. Wright tackles the biblical question of what happens after we die and shows how most Christians get it wrong. We do not “go to” heaven; we are resurrected and heaven comes down to earth--a difference that makes all of the difference to how we live on earth. Wright takes on one of life’s most controversial topics, a matter of life, death, spirituality, and survival for everyone living in the world today.