I believe in God, who authored the laws of nature; who, at the beginning of time, set the cosmos in motion; and who continues to guide the cosmos according to Gods plan. Without pretending to understand the mystery, I believe that the one God exists as three coequal, coeternal persons.  The traditionally names for these three; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; convey great insight, but ultimately all words fall short of the glorious truth.

I believe that we need God in order to bring meaning to our finite and flawed lives and in order to live in harmony with God’s cosmos and God’s plan.

I believe that God has always intended that we should live in a covenant relationship with God, and that the Bible is a faithful representation of God’s assertion and reassertion of that covenant.  I believe that God presented Godself to us in the person of Jesus Christ in order emphatically to reassert that covenant to the people of this world, who had been too blind and too stubborn to answer. 

I believe that in Jesus’ life of obedience, even to the point of painful death upon the cross, he bore for us the burden of our sin, that we with him might gain life after death.I believe that Jesus called us then, and calls us now, to live in the Kingdom of God, both at the end of days and today.  We are called today, in Christ, to live a life different from the life we would live otherwise.  We are to be guided by the Holy Spirit.  We are to be born from above.¹  We acknowledge this call when we pray “Thy Kingdom come.  Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”²

I believe that it is God’s will that we do justice.3  We are called “to develop and protect the resources of nature for the common welfare.”  We are called “to work for justice and peace in society.”⁴

I believe that it is God’s will that we love kindness.³  We are called to heal the sick, to bind up the brokenhearted, to eat with outcasts, and to proclaim forgiveness to sinners.5  Indeed, this call is simply to love.⁶

I believe that it is God’s will that we walk humbly with our God.³  “No one is more subject to judgment than the (one) who assumes that he is guiltless before God or morally superior to others.”⁷ Because I, myself, am not God, I dare not assert that those who disagree with me have rejected God.

I believe that the Church was established by God, and is the instrument by which we may live in God’s Kingdom today.  The Church performs this function by pursuing its great ends.8  The sacraments are given to the Church by God as sign and seal of Gods faithfulness to the covenant, and are performed by us as sign and seal of our acceptance of God’s invitation.

¹ John 3.3 et seq.
2 Matthew 6.10; Luke 11.2.
3 Micah 6.8
4 Confession of 1967 (9.17)
5 Brief Statement of Faith (10.2)
⁶ I thank Rev. Dr. Harry Buchanan-Barrow for this insight.
7 Confession of 1967 (9.13)
8 Book of Order (G-1.0200)

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