Statement of Faith
Writing a statement of faith is a difficult thing. For one, it requires putting down in one dimensional language a faith that is lived and believed in a multi-dimensional life. It also asks that we describe things for which we hardly have adequate language or experience. All this is to say that I believe and have hope and act in the midst of mystery and in full knowledge of the Otherness of God. I say what I believe and point to the truth that I know, but I do not define God, only describe. Here I state my faith, giving God sovereignty over even this.
Creation: The Living God is creator of all that is. With no elements in hand, but simply the power of Divine will, God called creation into being, and declared it good. Matter and life are good and are the outpouring of God’s creative power. This power continues to manifest itself in the world today and God remains involved with creation. God is sovereign over all creation and humanity has been given authority and a charge to use and care for the earth. This is a gift and a responsibility.
We mutilated our gift and abused our authority by turning away from God. Having once taken the opportunity to turn, we are now inclined to continue the turning. Rejecting God’s intention for life, we embrace our own death. While we were lost in our sin, Jesus Christ came to break the power of sin and death, which we could not do. Through Jesus Christ, creation is renewed and we are rescued.
Trinity: There is one God, living and eternal. This God is one God and known to us in three persons; each being fully God and fully participating in the godhead in a unique community of being. The Father creates a world that is good and people bearing the imago dei. The Son is sent by the Father to reveal the very nature of God and to be the way by which we may return to the Father. The Holy Spirit is the sustaining presence of God with us.
Church: Through Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah, God gathered and molded a covenant nation. This unbroken covenant is renewed, fulfilled and expanded in Jesus Christ. The dividing wall of hostility and separation is torn down and the people of God are remade. All faithful believers in Jesus Christ in all places and all times become the Body of Christ. The body of Christ, as the church, is called out to be a sign in and for the world of the new reality which God makes available in Jesus Christ. We are gathered in the name of Jesus to live the reality of the gospel and to be the ambassadors and servants of Christ on earth.
In the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper God meets us in a special conveyance of grace; outward signs of inward grace. In Baptism we are brought into the covenant community of faith. In the waters of Baptism the old self, which is trapped in sin and death, is washed away and the new self is given birth in Christ. There is one baptism, but many occasions to renew and remember the vows taken. The Lord’s Supper is the feast of the new covenant. It is a remembrance meal bringing to mind the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In encountering the cup and the loaf we partake of his death and of his resurrection.
Scripture: The holy written word is God’s message to humanity and bears witness to the holy Living Word, Jesus Christ. It is also the collected tradition of God’s activity with the covenant people. The canon of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are inspired by God and written by people, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is the reliable rule of faith for the church. Scripture is authoritative in matters of faith and all that is necessary for faith is contained in the scriptures and are useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
Personal relationship with God: God loved me first. In my misplaced search for full life, God called me and claimed me and put my feet down on a path leading to peace. My life and work are in response to God’s healing and guidance. I have been created by God, given new life in Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to follow God’s call. Daily God walks with me, in the glorious wonder of life, and in the fearful darkness of my own frailty. I am in relation with God in the most intimate places of my life. God is that which I cling to and that which I most struggle with a as I am being remade into the image of Christ.
To God be the glory, as I strive, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to say the Good News I have heard, and to live by the truth that I have said.
Writing a statement of faith is a difficult thing. For one, it requires putting down in one dimensional language a faith that is lived and believed in a multi-dimensional life. It also asks that we describe things for which we hardly have adequate language or experience. All this is to say that I believe and have hope and act in the midst of mystery and in full knowledge of the Otherness of God. I say what I believe and point to the truth that I know, but I do not define God, only describe. Here I state my faith, giving God sovereignty over even this.
Creation: The Living God is creator of all that is. With no elements in hand, but simply the power of Divine will, God called creation into being, and declared it good. Matter and life are good and are the outpouring of God’s creative power. This power continues to manifest itself in the world today and God remains involved with creation. God is sovereign over all creation and humanity has been given authority and a charge to use and care for the earth. This is a gift and a responsibility.
We mutilated our gift and abused our authority by turning away from God. Having once taken the opportunity to turn, we are now inclined to continue the turning. Rejecting God’s intention for life, we embrace our own death. While we were lost in our sin, Jesus Christ came to break the power of sin and death, which we could not do. Through Jesus Christ, creation is renewed and we are rescued.
Trinity: There is one God, living and eternal. This God is one God and known to us in three persons; each being fully God and fully participating in the godhead in a unique community of being. The Father creates a world that is good and people bearing the imago dei. The Son is sent by the Father to reveal the very nature of God and to be the way by which we may return to the Father. The Holy Spirit is the sustaining presence of God with us.
Church: Through Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah, God gathered and molded a covenant nation. This unbroken covenant is renewed, fulfilled and expanded in Jesus Christ. The dividing wall of hostility and separation is torn down and the people of God are remade. All faithful believers in Jesus Christ in all places and all times become the Body of Christ. The body of Christ, as the church, is called out to be a sign in and for the world of the new reality which God makes available in Jesus Christ. We are gathered in the name of Jesus to live the reality of the gospel and to be the ambassadors and servants of Christ on earth.
In the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper God meets us in a special conveyance of grace; outward signs of inward grace. In Baptism we are brought into the covenant community of faith. In the waters of Baptism the old self, which is trapped in sin and death, is washed away and the new self is given birth in Christ. There is one baptism, but many occasions to renew and remember the vows taken. The Lord’s Supper is the feast of the new covenant. It is a remembrance meal bringing to mind the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In encountering the cup and the loaf we partake of his death and of his resurrection.
Scripture: The holy written word is God’s message to humanity and bears witness to the holy Living Word, Jesus Christ. It is also the collected tradition of God’s activity with the covenant people. The canon of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are inspired by God and written by people, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is the reliable rule of faith for the church. Scripture is authoritative in matters of faith and all that is necessary for faith is contained in the scriptures and are useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
Personal relationship with God: God loved me first. In my misplaced search for full life, God called me and claimed me and put my feet down on a path leading to peace. My life and work are in response to God’s healing and guidance. I have been created by God, given new life in Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to follow God’s call. Daily God walks with me, in the glorious wonder of life, and in the fearful darkness of my own frailty. I am in relation with God in the most intimate places of my life. God is that which I cling to and that which I most struggle with a as I am being remade into the image of Christ.
To God be the glory, as I strive, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to say the Good News I have heard, and to live by the truth that I have said.