I believe in God the Creator who brought order from chaos. God is ever active in the formation and redemption of the world out of an abiding love for creation. Humanity was made to be in relationship with our creator, but due to our sinfulness, we fall from this perfect relationship into brokenness. Our sin is the unnatural tendencey to separate ourselves from being in perfect relationship with God and one another. Our feeble attempts to turn away do not stop God from continually reaching for us. God reached out to us by covenants and acts of mercy.
I believe in Jesus, our promised Messiah, who was born for the redemption of the world. Born of Mary, he was human and fully God. Christ shared humanity with us; this means we have a God who understands our sorrows and joys. Jesus showed us through his life and ministry how we are called to live as disciples. Through parables, healings, and sacrifice, Christ shows us what it means to be servants. Giving his life as a sacrifice, Jesus died on the cross for us. Neither sin nor death will have the final say, as Jesus rose to new life on the third day, and he later ascended to heaven.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, who works in and through us to live out the will of God. The Spirit sustains, guides, and speaks through us when we have neither words about nor understanding of God’s mysteries. Through the power of the Spirit, we are nourished and sustained by the sacraments of Baptism and Communion. The sacraments are signs and symbols of what God has done, does, and is doing in the world. In baptism, we are reminded of God’s covenants, Jesus’ baptism, and how we have been made new through the love of God. In baptism, we are marked as God’s own and joined with the church universal. In Communion, the breaking of bread and sharing of cup, we remember that Jesus established a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins, sealed in his blood. In these sacraments, we are joined with Christ and reminded of His life-giving sacrifice and the new life we have been given by God’s grace. There is nothing we can do to earn the free gift of God’s grace, which was given to us before we knew it.
I believe the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament are the living Word of God that has been gifted to us. Through prayerful, reflective study, we come to know more of the Divine for our particular time and place. Providence guides us into a faithful life in Christ, made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit, the love of God, and the grace of Jesus Christ. No person can live the Christian life alone; together, we are made stronger to live into the call God has placed upon our hearts before time began.
I believe the Church is the living body of Christ that embodies God’s call to serve the world. We are one body with many gifts–ever-growing and renewing as we seek to understand God’s will for our lives. No one part of the body can do the work alone, but together we strive to do Christ’s work, witnessing God’s love to a broken world.
HebrewDawn 