Minister’s message 23 August 2026
Dear Friends
It has been my experience that truth is often found in the tension between different ideas. We believe in the grace of God as the foundation of our understanding of the world, but the grace we receive inspires us to act in harmony with God's design. In other words, the tension of faith and works. To give another example, we understand God as a different kind of being altogether, existing beyond what human beings are capable of experiencing, and yet, God could be presented to the world completely in the person of Jesus. We celebrate both the transcendence and the immanence of God.
Beyond theological categories, life itself throws these kinds of questions at us. Can a peacekeeper be armed? Pacifism or the lesser evil. What expenses can politicians rightfully claim? Accountability and privileges. How do we say goodbye to those we love? Attachment and suffering. These are complex issues and it is impossible to definitively conclude any of these discussions, we each experience their tension.
Yet despite the fruitfulness of that imagery of truth as a taught rope between multiple perspectives, I can't help but imagine the Christian life as something else. The image I've come to rest on this week is that of a tent, which is kept upright through tension, yet that tension creates a space beneath the canvas. A space that gives shelter, that offers hospitality, that forms a place of meeting. I think that is the invitation we are given, to sit beneath the canvas of a God big enough to hold the tension of the real world.
Resolution can be hard to come by, but the vault of God is ever the context of our living.
Every blessing,
Alex
Rev Alex Johnson