I believe in the Triune
Godhead: God the Creator, Jesus
who showed us the way and is our
redeemer, and the Holy Spirit
which sustains us. I have
experienced the grace of God in
my own life which serves to
strengthen my faith and trust in
my loving God. God's Word and my
experience demonstrate that God
is a God who seeks out people
who would otherwise be lost and
bound for damnation. Yes, I
believe that heaven and hell
exist. For those who would
question that a loving God would
condemn unbelievers to hell: I
also believe that God is a just
God.
I believe in God, who created all that is. Through the act of
creation, God celebrated and
continues to celebrate life. I
believe that God, while separate
from what has been created, is
intimately connected with it.
Because of this relationship, both
the creation and the Creator are in
a place of constant movement and
exploration. The intimacy of that
relationship works to make all
things, all places, and all beings
sacred.
I believe that Jesus Christ came into this world to show us how to
love, how to live, how to act and
react to each other, offering us
ways to be in deeper relationship
with God and with each other, and to
redeem those who are lost. I believe
that Jesus accomplished this
redemption through his death on the
cross from sin; that Christ
resurrected from death and ascended
into the heaven at the right hand of
God as a guarantee that all will one
day be raised from the dead and
stand in the presence of God.
Through the continuing gift of the Spirit, individuals work to be
faithful to God’s call. Sometimes we
do that alone. At other times we
gather with other Christians,
working together. There will be
times when the Spirit calls us to
work with people who believe
differently than we do; that we
might better understand each other;
that we might better understand God;
and that we might work to bring
healing and wholeness to God’s
creation.
I believe the Bible was written with Divine involvement. It is a
sacred text yet due to human
intervention, not one that
communicates the unaltered word of
God. It is divinely inspired
theology revealing God’s message to
the recipients of the time and for
generations to come, thus it is the
living word of God and not the words
of God. To study and exegete the
living word, one must acknowledge
the content, the general historical
and cultural context, form and
structure in order to glimpse the
kernel of inspired truth from the
husk that contains it. This is where
the word becomes living, for
studying scripture in depth helps us
to bring this living word across
time and space making the word
relevant for us today and for our
children in the future.
I believe that the Church is a human institution, finding both its
strength and its weakness in its
attempts to move in accord with the
Holy Spirit. Sometimes our
collective dance is filled with a
great deal of beauty and grace. At
other times we find ourselves
out-of-step with each other and with
God. Part of the church’s saving
grace is that it is willing to
recognize its missteps and work to
change. It’s other saving grace is
God’s readiness to forgive and
continue in relationship with all of
us.
In all of creation, human beings play an important role. In our
creativity, our inquisitiveness in
conjunction with our ability to
think, reason, and remember, as well
as an assortment of various God
given characteristics and gifts, we
have the capability to involve
ourselves in God’s plan as Disciples
of Christ and that of good stewards.
We have and use the ability to make
choices affecting our life and those
around us – those we have
relationship with, those we don’t
and our relationship with God. At
times, our individual or corporate
choices create injustice, causing
unnecessary pain and imbalance. We
work against our responsibility as
children of God and Disciples of
Christ to “love God with all our
heart, mind and soul” and “to love
our neighbors as we love ourselves”.
As a disciple of Christ, I am called
to think carefully about the
consequences of my decisions. I am
also called to be open with God
about my failings and faults.
Through such openness to the Spirit,
God might continue to grant me
wisdom, strength and compassion.
Having received God’s grace and
love, I work even harder to align
myself with God’s desire.
I also believe that God created human kind as a special and gifted
people. It is through our life
experiences - the emotional state of
being happy along with great
sadness, through our pain and our
differences, in sickness and in
health, through celebrating and
acknowledging our diversity that
our Creator “will never leave us nor
forsake us” instead the love of our
Creator continually provides for our
growth and draw us together in
community. In community we share the
blended experience, all the
wholeness, and all the brokenness
while moving toward and celebrating
these life changing events into
something awesome, powerful,
creative. . . transforming.
It is from within this transforming community of faith that the
liberating message of Jesus Christ
is received and understood then
taken into the larger community . .
. our friends and families,
workplace, neighborhoods, social
circ les, and more, proclaiming the
mercy and love of a God of justice
and reconciliation.
This is where our faith and feet meet the pavement reaching to
those that that are marginalized;
the poor, the sick, the elderly, the
disabled, the abused, the homeless,
the hungry, those who are oppressed
for their skin color, their sexual
orientation, for all the “isms” of
the world. This is the true
experience of the Gospels where we
proclaim the good news of God
working among us within our set of
circumstances, situations and our
lives. Revealed for all is the
message of Jesus Christ that God’s
unconditional, inclusive love is for
everyone.
It is in our understanding of God’s all inclusive love and
through studying the life of Christ,
growing in our relationship with God
and each other that we are able to
form this community of sharing,
where those that are hungry find
nourishment, those who are hesitant
and frightened find comfort, and
those who are broken find wholeness.
Having shared with you this statement of faith, I believe a
statement of faith is living
document based on life experience,
studies, and how the Holy Spirit
moves within oneself. It is from
this statement of faith that
influence my preaching, ministry and
the way I live out my life. My faith
statement need not be your statement
of faith for theology is as unique
as each individual. I would however
encourage you to develop a faith or
faith walk that is suitable for
where you are on your faith journey.
I hope and pray that both you and I
will always remain willing to keep
our hearts, mind, body and soul open
as our loving God uses various
venues to stretch our beliefs,
continually transforming us while
drawing us closer, thus increasing
our relationship with our Creator.
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