In the book ‘Heaven’, Paula Gooder considers the ways in which the Bible sees heaven and earth connecting, and explores all the major strands of belief about life after death, including the role of paradise, and what happens between death and resurrection. She shows how the biblical writers see heaven and earth as closely connected, so that what happens in heaven affects events on earth and vice versa. This is session four of five
In this session you will think about angels as messenger’s, the opening of heaven and God’s desire to communicate with people. You will also explore thoughts about God being the centre and focal point.
Start the session relaxing as a group. You may want to encourage participants to get a hot drink and chat about the events of the week. When its time to move towards the topic ask these opening questions before watching the video:
Watch the below video about angelic messengers and the opening of heaven.
Ask participants to take it in turns to read out this passage. Hearing it spoken aloud rather than just reading to oneself can give a new perspective of a passage especially considering what has just been taught on the video.
Now you have heard the ideas and read the scripture it is time to reflect on what has been said and pull out the group’s initial thoughts and feelings about the topic. In a group, such as this one, there are no wrong or right answers. This is a time for participants to share what the ideas mean to them and how they might change or reinforce a personal conviction.
Some possible questions to aid the discussion are:
