Nathan has been a pastor of our Church since 1994.
Our perception of things can be distorted by the context in which we see them. Jesus constantly challenges our misperceptions by challenging us to look at things through a different frame. It is only by constant reference to Jesus and to the ways that he looked at things that we learn to see ourselves and our surrounds more realistically.
Our bodies are integral to who we are and are destined for resurrection and glorification, but the fracturing of the integrity of creation affects us too in ways that mean we often find our bodies at war with our spirits. The pathway to sanctification involves a reintegration of body and spirit, and sometimes that means denial and disciplining of physical desires.
People judge one another by their conformity to certain expectations (which vary from group to group), but God is only interested in our willingness to come into the loving intimacy he offers to all.
Cheering for Jesus is easy, but when he goes where we don’t want to go, only a few still follow while the rest shout “Crucify!”
Christian discipleship is an ongoing journey, so any attempt to preserve what is right today can mean we are in the wrong place tomorrow because Jesus has moved on.
When we encounter the reality of God we are overcome with our own unworthiness, and we are confronted with a choice – to push God away and hide from our self-realization, or to accept God’s gracious invitation to mercy, transformation and mission.
Being saved can be painful, but its goal, becoming a purified people who can worship rightly without fear, is the ultimate reward.
The God who stopped at nothing to stand in solidarity with us, looks for those who will give everything to work in solidarity with God.
The need for liberation for the poor and oppressed is obvious, but for the comfortable and successful, the enslavements to consumerism, power and hardness of heart are harder to discern and take the intervention of God to break free from.
The Word of God is constantly calling us to fullness of life, and frequently pierces through our facades to illuminate the ties that hold us back. This is nearly always uncomfortable!
The New Testament teachings on the priority of the spirit of the law over the traditional interpretations of it actually give us a biblical basis on which to reevaluate our understandings of sexual purity.
The Gospel made known in Jesus draws us, body, mind and spirit into the full life of God. This totality of involvement scares off many people, but there is no other way to life.
Whole-hearted devotion to God and commitment to God’s mission brings joyous freedom, but also often results in derision, rejection and even violent opposition.
The Holy Spirit, poured out on the church, opens pathways of communication, enabling the Gospel to break through the multiple barriers to our hearing. Barriers are also broken down to enable us to to communicate with one another and with God.
It is in a developing relationship with Jesus Christ that our minds will be opened to understand the scriptures, just as happened for the disciples of Jesus.
Many of the stories of Jesus’ life, such as the entry into Jerusalem, can only be properly understood in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and so the church has a vital role in the revelation of the gospel.
Moments of transfiguration show how much more lies beyond our mundane perceptions – of Jesus, of the world, of ourselves.
With the coming of the Christ, our deepest longings and yearnings will be fulfilled.
God does not wish our suffering and struggle to continue, but is ready to gather us in his arms, and calls us to prepare for his arrival.
Christ’s call to respond to his presence in the needy is a call for the church to embrace a lifestyle of radical communal hospitality (but we have often used it to justify empires built on the labour of guilt-ridden, over-extended, under-prepared Christians!)