Nathan R. Hale

A personal blog

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  • The distinguishing mark of the Church

    I wholeheartedly believe the church is meant to credibly model and offer a different way of life than what the rest of the world experiences.

    In particular, the distinguishing mark of the church is radical love for one another, for the sake of Christ.

    As long as Sundays remain mostly segregated…

    As long as women are discouraged from exercising their spiritual gifts and demeaned when they do…

    As long as children sense they are a burden in the worship service…

    As long as singles don’t find a sense of real, every-day family in the household of faith…

    As long as keeping the peace is more important than peacemaking in our communities…

    As long as certain topics are “off limits” for fear of offense in our gatherings…

    As long as we demand and are satisfied with worldly ways of leading congregations…

    As long as we act as if our obligations to one another are met via an occasional check in the offering and pleasantries in the parking lot…

    As long as convenience and preference are the determining factors for level of involvement and degree of commitment…

    As long as we allow American partisan differences to sow demonic division instead of inspire biblical discussion…

    …we are missing our vocation of radical love for one another!

  • Keeping the peace or peacemaking?

    I think there is a difference between “keeping the peace” and peacemaking.

    In the first, tension is avoided for fear of conflict/disagreement destroying relationships. In the second, a certain kind of tension is actively sought out so that working through it together, relationships are strengthened.

    In the first, a surface-level appearance of same-ness (not the same thing as unity!) must be maintained. In the second, a true and deep communion/knowing is desired even if that means acknowledging deeply embedded differences openly.

    In the first, the status-quo is maintained, even when ultimately harmful or unhealthy. In the second, careful discernment leads to steady movements closer to the heart of Jesus.

    In the first, discomfort is avoided. In the second, a kind of suffering is embraced.

    The church in America continues to wrestle with things like how to realize racial reconciliation in our unique context, how to love one another across the political party divides, and how to present a distinctive and credible witness to the truth of the Gospel.

    In order to move forward in ways that are faithful to Jesus and demonstrate true love between us, I believe we must renew our commitment to true peacemaking over and against keeping the peace.

  • Current slate of physical books in play

  • A dear friend, brother in Christ, and parishioner of mine passed away last week. This is how I can express my feelings.

    A Prayer in Memory

  • These are changing times, friends. Hard times, but not without some hope.

    A new track.

  • Soundcloud is so aggressive in suggesting their pro option that I just moved everything over to BandLab, where I’ve been spending a ton of time lately anyways. Everything Soundcloud does for me, BandLab does about 10x better…and for free at the moment.

  • 15 years married to Amber today. She’s the best friend anyone could ask for, an inspiring parent, and an absolutely dedicated wife. Faithfully follows Jesus day in and day out. Works hard for the kingdom and her family and her friends. Teaches me about what’s truly important in life daily. Smartest person I know, too. I know I don’t deserve her. So grateful to be facing the future together.

  • 02 What is the Gospel?
    The Gospel is the good news that God loves the world and offers salvation from sin through his Son, Jesus Christ. (Psalm 103:1–13; Isaiah 53:4–5; John 3:16–17; 1 Corinthians 15:1–5)

    From To Be A Christian – An Anglican Catechism

    The Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ is absolutely at the core of the Christian message–and the Christian life.

    Over time I’ve come realize that the Gospel isn’t just the first truth in a long line of other things to learn about God and life, that eventually I move beyond.

    Instead, for me it is more like a key that unlocks every other theological truth, whether they are presented in succession or not, so that it is always with me.

    The Gospel is the gravitational center around which the fullness of what we can know and experience about God, humanity, and all of creation orbits.

  • A few (though not all) of the books I intend to read as I participate in Nashota House’s “The Bible & Theology in Color” with Fr. Esau McCaulley One more in the mail and 2 more in ebook format. I must admit I’m woefully under read on this and it’s tough to know where to begin…I’m very grateful just for the suggested reading list!

  • Currently reading: The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby 📚