A theological statement....

a work in progress, no doubt...

I believe in God who created and creates with love, grace, mercy, peace and justice, who cares for each individual creature deeply, and calls and empowers us all to a new vision wherein, with God’s help and by the example of Jesus the Christ in the power of God’s Spirit, we heal our broken relationship with God, each other and God’s world.

I believe in Jesus the Christ, the incarnated word of God: in his life, he taught us the message of God’s love and the vision of God’s realm, a community of equality and radical inclusion. It was for this message and vision that he was willing to die; in his death, he embodied pure love and true faith in us and God, thus making possible the restoration of the broken covenant relationship between us and God. In his resurrection, he liberated humanity from suffering and death and proved that life is infinitely more powerful than death; he healed the breach between God and humanity, extending to humanity the promise of abundant life in God, both now and in eternity.

I believe in God’s Spirit, present in the life of the church, the lives of individual persons, and moving throughout all creation, communicating throughout history the gospel of God’s love, and inviting all people into active participation in God’s realm. It is through God’s Spirit that we experience love, grace, mercy and peace, and are given the courage to struggle for justice. I believe that all of God’s creation - human, animal, and earthly - is an expression of God’s very own self, that it reveals God’s Spirit, and must be revered and cared for as God’s own, for it is of sacred worth and infinite value.

I believe in God’s church, that community of individuals empowered by God’s Spirit to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The church is called to extend the gospel message of God’s extravagant, scandalous love for everyone to a world that desperately needs to be loved and healed. Through regular worship and celebration of the sacraments, the church is equipped to do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God, and to serve the world with open hearts, open minds, and open doors.