Nathan has been a pastor of our Church since 1994.
The Lord’s Prayer is a manifesto for a whole new way of relating to God and the world.
Nathan has been a pastor of our Church since 1994.
The Lord’s Prayer is a manifesto for a whole new way of relating to God and the world.
Those who are insiders in the life of God are characterised by their love and compassion for all, especially those deemed unworthy of it, and by the humility to be schooled by outsiders.
We live in uncertain times, unsure of the future shape of the church, but Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to us, not to give us certainty, but to guide and sustain us in the uncertainty.
Living out the unity we have in Christ, is more difficult and more important when we are at odds with one another.
Much traditional morality is based on the idea of separation into binary categories, good and bad, but the Bible also points a path towards a liberating non-binary future in God.
We come to be followers of Jesus, not when we believe certain facts about him, but when we hear his voice and follow what it says (even if we don’t know where the voice comes from).
The resurrection of Jesus opens a path and calls us to follow into a life that is no longer dominated by the crucifying powers that destroy some of us and dehumanise others.
When God is doing new things, our familiar signposts are no longer helpful, and our capacity to follow is dependent on our living relationship with Jesus.
In Christ, God has made an agreement with us, offering us everything and demanding nothing, but if we offer nothing we will be at risk of squandering it all.
Christian spirituality is full of yearning and hungering and reaching for a God who can never quite be satisfyingly grasped.
God’s generosity provides the context for our worship and the model for our living, especially when we are faced with hostility.
All that matters about God, about sin and forgiveness, and about living with integrity and freedom, flows from the human encounter with the crucified and risen Jesus.
A close encounter with God in Christ can make us paralysingly aware of our own sin and failure, but the experience of grace can transform that into a solidarity and gratitude that empowers us.
The only measure of our progress in Christian faith is our love for others, including those we are least inclined to love.
In God’s vision for humanity, every person and the role they play is valued and cared for. When society fails to live up to this, the Church is called to go against the flow and courageously champion and model it.
The promise of baptism with fire may surprisingly lead us to a loving suffering messiah.
We can’t take it for granted that Jesus will be where we want to go, for his ways often go contrary to ours and our business is to follow him.
The joyous message of Christmas demands a response from us all year round.
Christ calls us to be alert for his salvific coming in the midst of the terrors of the here and now, not just in the past and future.
If we are to call Christ a King and still remain faithful to him, we must begin with the subversion of the very concept of kingship that Jesus points to when he is questioned by Pilate.