Nathan R. Hale

A personal blog

hello

  • Why discuss potentially controversial topics in church?

    Why discuss potentially controversial topics in church?

    4 reasons:

    šŸ“–1) To educate the Church in light of the Gospel ā€“ in other words, to examine real-life, important issues in light of the teachings of Jesus, and together ask what then we can do with the Spiritā€™s help. Anything less is to undermine the total Lordship of Christ in our lives, and put an arbitrary limit on our discipleship.

    šŸ¤2) To encourage the faithful ā€“ there will always be pressure to conform to the worldā€™s ways of thinking, doing, being in regards to controversial topics. Speaking about them openly with Christ at the center allows us to encourage one another to be conformed to Christ.

    šŸŒ3) To engage the world ā€“ our witness and worship is public. Speaking truth and bringing the Gospel to bear on controversial and important topics is an important way to proclaim Christā€™s engagement with and sovereignty over all things.

    šŸ•Š4) To entrust ourselves to the Holy Spirit ā€“ when confront controversy openly together, in a spirit of truth, charity, and clarity, we are acting in faith that the Holy Spirit will indeed guide us into all truth and keep the Church of Christ togetherā€”not because we agree about everything, but because we are united in the love of Christ.

  • When we are found in Christ, his light becomes our light. His Spirit becomes our Spirit. We partake of the exact same divine nature as we are filled with the fullness of God the Holy Spirit.

  • Smoking a clay pipe

    A clay pipe can very inexpensively obtained from Pipes & Cigars. I got this one as a Christmas present this year. It offers a great, pure-flavored smoke, with some caveats:

    First, the bowl gets super hot, so be careful if–as I do–you have a habit of holding the bowl. You will have to adjust to grasping the stem in order to keep from burning your fingers.

    Second, since the entire thing is made out of clay, I found clenching as I am doing in photo to initially be not very pleasant due to the chalky texture of the material. I will say after some practice I’ve gotten pretty used to it. I don’t think it’s ever going to be as comfortable as other materials, but you figure it out, and if you’re not a big clencher it’s even less of a deal.

    There’s something very pure, unassuming, and honest about a clay pipe; the simplicity coupled with a quality, consistent smoke is what I find attractive.

    Fr. Nathan smoking a clay pipe

  • Replaced battery in my aging laptop… Been a loooooong time since I’ve done anything like this. Very cool that it was overall very easy. Are Dells still built like this? If so I’ll stick with them for my next laptop…

  • In last Sunday’s sermon, I tried to work out the distinction between capability (raw power) and credibility (real authority), and to communicate the transforming power and authenticity of Jesus’ divine love.

    The point is: while we can’t always trust every earthly authority and power has a corrupting effect on fallen humanity, the Good News is that God in Christ is always trustworthy.

    You can trust his love for you and for the world.

  • A brief outline of my spiritual journey

    A brief outline of my spiritual journey though theological ā€œphasesā€:

    • Childlike faith in God in Christ, interrupted by:

    • Fear-based “conversion”, leading to:

    • Semi-fundamentalism, which (due to the faithful way my parents discipled me in the grace and love of Christ as the fulfillment of the law) didnā€™t last too long because of an instilled resistance to letter-of-the-law thinking which opened the door to:

    • A desperately relieved re-discovery of the grace of God in Christ, which I found articulated most clearly by Reformation Christianity, which in turn formed me in:

    • A sacramental understanding of how God ordinarily communicates himself, a profound mystery that I found pervades all of life, and I understood to be articulated by the Church Fathers, who are presently convincing me of:

    • The truly cosmic implications of a God that is not simply a being but Being itself, that loves humans by becoming a human–Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary–, that defeats death by dying on a cross, that lives to give life via union with him, in his Spirit.

    Through it all there has always been an undeniable charismatic/mystical experience of God walking with me in a million ways:

    • sometimes through intentional practices

    • sometimes in unexpected breakthroughs

    • sometimes through the right word from the just right person at the just right time

    • always somehow intertwined with his Churchā€¦

    ā€¦guiding me always and only to Jesus.

    It is not as if I am developing a greater/ deeper understanding of Jesus’ “part” in God’s plan.
    I am only ever more convinced Jesus is God’s plan. Jesus’ way is God’s way. Union with Christ isn’t an aspect of life, it is life itself.

    And what a journey it is…here’s the thing…I find the news to be better and better the more I believe the simple teachings of Jesus:

    “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”

    “Blessed are meek”

    ā€œTurn the other cheekā€

    “I have come to give life and life abundant”

    “I will draw all men to myself”

    (obviously I could go on)

    I mean it’s almost too good to be true but somehow I believe it so deeply

  • Helpful

  • A sermon after January 6

    Here’s last Sunday’s sermon for those that might be interested, in which I attempt to consider the recent terrorist attack on the Capitol building in light the of day’s Scriptures, and particular in light of how our baptism joins every Christian to the vocation of Christ.

    The opening remarks were not recorded, but here’s the relevant section from my manuscript:

    I think we have all felt acute distress in the past week, and understandably so. Not only has the pandemic continued to cause all kinds of death, destruction and suffering in our city and state, but we witnessed what has been described by experts as a violent, terrorist attack on our nationā€™s Capitol building by a politically and religiously motivated mob.

    This is a time that calls for clarity and directness from Christian leaders and from the Church. So I have tried to choose all of my words for this message with special care and precision. I have sought counsel and prayer. I do not intend or wish to offend in any way. However, I do want speak truthfully and candidly.
    I watched in horrorā€”liveā€”as the mob grew more and more restless, ultimately overrunning the police and breaking in the building to disturb the legitimate democratic process. And I was so dismayed to see several images of those in the crowd carrying banners that said ā€œJesus Saves,ā€ along with the so-called ā€œChristian flag,ā€ crosses, and many other Christian symbols and sayings. The crowd held banners proclaiming ā€œJesus is my Savior. Trump is my President.ā€ To be clear, the increasingly close association of the Christian faith with American nationalism and partisan extremes is precisely why it is important for us to address this specific event as a church family…

    Here’s a link to the complete manuscript.

  • Beyond Burger night!

  • In truth, then, God became a man and provided another beginning (į¼€ĻĻ‡į½µ), a second nativity (Ī³į½³Ī½ĪµĻƒĪ¹Ļ‚), for human nature, which, through the vehicle of suffering, ends in the pleasure of the life to come.

    St. Maximus the Confessor