Preacher: Nathan Nettleton

The ‘death of the self’ in baptism, modelled in Jesus, enables us to live openly and generously instead of fearfully and defensively.

The experience of the living Christ keeps pushing us to think even bigger in our attempts to explain him.

The Christmas story includes a message of God’s solidarity with and care for children and families who live in fear and who flee to seek refuge. We corrupt the message if we make it about our children and not all children.

When God is moving to do something new among us, it almost always seems scandalous, immoral and offensive to many, and is just as likely to involve those who are regarded as morally suspect.

Jesus probably won’t meet our expectations, but will instead set out to convert our expectations and lead us into a new world that exceeds anything we could have expected.

The “things” we so readily put our trust in, or find our identity in, will all fall, and only God’s love and care for us will remain.

God’s mission is much bigger than us, and to play our part in it, we need to live freely and fearlessly and maintain a humble and faithful connection with the traditions and wisdom of the wider Church.

The Bible can be used to justify anything, but when it is approached humbly as a place of prayerful encounter with the risen Christ, it is alive with the breath of God and leads us to life.

We can take our salvation and just return to normal life, but God calls us beyond normal into a wholeness that grows from praise, prayer and service.

Forgiving the way Jesus does will always be seen as not just disreputable, but even dangerous and criminal.

God sees us as trapped in the rubble of a collapsing world and is desperately seeking to find and rescue us before it is too late.

Thanks be to God, we are in safe hands. God who has been the author, will also be the finisher of our faith.