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What We Believe
We believe that God created the universe. Fathering and mothering, God loves, shows compassion, expects justice and deeply desires to live in an intimate relationship with us. We believe that, because of God’s desire to live in a relationship with us, God became a human being. Jesus Christ, born to Mary, is fully God and fully man. Through His death on a cross and resurrection, Jesus removed all barriers to living in relationship with God. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus Christ among us. Through the Spirit, God loves us, calls us, empowers us and lives in us. The Spirit gives a variety of gifts to all people and encourages their use. We believe the cross is the place where God meets us. The cross is God’s embrace; identifying with the pain and sorrow of our existence, God invites us into a love relationship with Himself. The cross is also God’s victory; God conquers all forms of death and frees us to be whom God created us to be. We believe that in the Sacrament of Baptism • We are given our identity • We are adopted into God’s family • We are called! Chosen! Saved! Born again! • We are forgiven and freed to be human, make mistakes, love and live without excuses • We are marked with the cross of Christ forever • We are ordained, set aside to be a minister • We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit We affirm the baptism of infants. We believe that the Sacrament of Holy Communion offers us: • The Christ of memory. We remember that it was by a body broken and a blood poured that God chose to save the world. • The Christ of the present. Jesus Chris is Immanuel – God with us. He feed us with Himself so we may be His body in the world. • The Christ of the future. In the meal we are given a foretaste of the feast to come, the great banquet in the coming Kingdom of God. We affirm the presence of all ages at this sacramental meal. We believe that the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, holds the living Christ who, as the Scriptures are read and proclaimed, lives as God’s word to us. We believe the confessions of the Lutheran Church reiterate God’s word to us: “I made you. I sustain you. I give you forgiveness, wholeness and eternal life. The gift is unconditional. You need not be something or do anything to deserve the gift. It’s free! Only receive the gift by faith.” We believe God’s gift of faith is dynamic, life-changing trust in God’s unconditional love. It is not merely intellectual acceptance of doctrines about God. Faith enables us to: • Submit to the will of God • Absolutely trust God • Dedicate ourselves to human liberation • Find solidarity in human pain • Be free to be human, weak, vulnerable • Pray – talk and listen to God CALLED TO BE DISCIPLES We believe that we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ. He calls us, not to be effective, but only faithful. He calls us to be open to learning and following. He calls us to reject: • Religion that provides a way we can bargain for, work for, or earn our status as saved persons • Religion that offers personal salvation without living, serving, growing, struggling and celebrating with one another • Religion that offers the joy of “following Jesus” without facing our sinful ways • Religion that validate itself by worldly standards of success, numbers, strength, effectiveness • Religion that teaches “going to Heaven when I die” as the main reason to believe in God • Religion that creates a group of “insiders” and a group of “outsiders” • Religion that avoids the pervasive Biblical themes of sharing food with the hungry, welcoming the outcast, caring about the port and oppressed, living as good stewards of God’s creation We believe that disciples of Jesus continually seek to enhance their relationship with Him in the following ways: • Regular participation in worship • Daily devotions and personal prayer • Personal growth through bible study and group learning opportunities • Stewardship, i.e. thoughtful and wise management, of God’s blessings through the generous sharing of our time, talents and treasures …our God-given gifts • Sharing God’s love through our ministries in church, the world and our daily lives In preparing this statement of “What We Believe,” we acknowledge the meaningful works and ideas of Daniel Erlander in his booklet entitled: Baptized, We Live: Lutheranism as a Way of Life. |
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