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| We believe...
...in God.
...in Jesus.
...in the Holy Spirit.
...in salvation.
...in the confession
of sin.
...in the Bible.
...in the Lord of the
future. |
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...in God.
When we say the Apostles'
Creed, we join with millions of Christians through the
ages in an understanding of God as a Trinity—three
persons in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From early
in our Judaic roots we've affirmed that God is one and
indivisible, yet God is revealed in three distinct ways.
"God in three persons, blessed Trinity" is one way of
speaking about theseveral ways we experience God.
We also try to find
adjectives that describe the divine nature: God is
transcendent (over and beyond all that is), yet at the
same time imminent (present in everything). God is
omnipresent (everywhere at once), omnipotent
(all-powerful), and omniscient (all-knowing). God is
absolute, infinite, righteous, just, loving,
merciful…and more. Because we cannot speak literally
about God, we use metaphors: God is a Shepherd, a
Bridegroom, a Judge. God is Love or Light or Truth.
What God does
We cannot describe God with
certainty. But we can put into words what God does
and how we experience God's action in our lives. God
works in at least these seven ways:
- God creates.
In the beginning God created the universe, and the
Creation is ongoing. From the whirling galaxies, to
subatomic particles, to the unfathomable wonders of
our own minds and bodies—we marvel at God's creative
wisdom.
- God sustains.
God continues to be active in creation, holding all
in "the everlasting arms." In particular, we affirm
that God is involved in our human history—past,
present, and future.
- God loves.
God loves all creation. In particular, God loves
humankind, created in the divine image. This love is
like that of a parent. We've followed Jesus in
speaking of God as "our Father," while at times it
seems that God nurtures us in a motherly way as
well.
- God suffers.
Since God is present in creation, God is hurt when
any aspect of creation is hurt. God especially
suffers when people are injured. In all violence,
abuse, injustice, prejudice, hunger, poverty, or
illness, the living God is suffering in our midst.
- God judges.
All human behavior is measured by God's righteous
standards—not only the behavior itself but also the
motive or the intent. The Lord of life knows our
sin—and judges it.
- God redeems.
Out of infinite love for each of us, God forgives
our own self-destruction and renews us within. God
is reconciling the individuals, groups, races, and
nations that have been rent apart. God is redeeming
all creation.
- God reigns.
God is the Lord of all creation and of all history.
Though it may oftentimes seem that the
"principalities and powers" of evil have the
stronger hand, we affirm God's present and future
reign.
When all is done, if we
have difficulty in imagining who God is or in relating
to God, there's a simple solution: Remember Jesus—for
in the New Testament picture of Jesus, we see God. |
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...in Jesus.
In trying to find words to
express their faith in Jesus, the New Testament writers
gave him various names. Jesus was Master, Rabbi,
Teacher. He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He was
the Doorway to the sheepfold, the Light of the world,
the Prince of Peace, and more. In the church's long
tradition, scores of other names or titles have been
given. Let's look at five of the most central biblical
names for Jesus:
Son of God
We believe in Jesus as
God's special child. We call this the Incarnation,
meaning that God was in the world in the actual person
of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel writers explain this in
different ways. In Mark, Jesus seems to be adopted as
God's Son at his baptism. In Matthew and Luke, Jesus is
conceived by the Holy Spirit. In John, Jesus is God's
pre-existing Word who "became flesh and lived among us"
(1:14). However this mystery occurred, we affirm that
God is wholly present in Jesus Christ.
Son of man
Paradoxically, we also
believe that Jesus was fully human. One of the church's
first heresies claimed that Jesus only seemed
to be human, that he was really a divine figure in
disguise. But the early church rejected this. It
affirmed that Jesus was a person in every sense that we
are. He was tempted. He grew weary. He wept. He
expressed his anger. In fact, Jesus is God's picture of
what it means to be a mature human being.
Christ
We say "Jesus Christ"
easily, almost as if "Christ" were Jesus' surname. Yet
this name is another way of expressing who we believe
Jesus to be. Christ is the Greek translation of
the Hebrew word Messiah, which means God's
Anointed One. For years before Jesus' time the Jews had
been expecting a new king, a descendant of the revered
King David, who would restore the nation of Israel to
glory. Like kings of old, this one would be anointed on
the head with oil, signifying God's election; hence, the
Chosen One = the Anointed One = the Messiah = the
Christ. The early Jewish Christians proclaimed that
Jesus was, indeed, this Chosen One. Thus, in calling him
our Christ today, we affirm that he was and is the
fulfillment of the ancient hope and God's Chosen One to
bring salvation to all peoples, for all time.
Lord
We also proclaim Jesus as
our Lord, the one to whom we give our devoted
allegiance. The word Lord had a more powerful
meaning for people of medieval times, because they
actually lived under the authority of lords and
monarchs. Today some of us may find it difficult to
acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives. We're used to
being independent and self-sufficient. We have not bowed
down to authority. To claim Jesus as Lord is to freely
submit our will to his, to humbly profess that it is he
who is in charge of this world.
Savior
Perhaps best of all, we
believe in Jesus as Savior, as the one through whom God
has freed us of our sin and has given us the gift of
whole life, eternal life, and salvation. We speak of
this gift as the atonement, our "at-oneness" or
reconciliation with God. We believe that in ways we
cannot fully explain, God has done this through the
mystery of Jesus' self-giving sacrifice on the cross and
his victory over sin and death in the Resurrection.
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...in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is God's present
activity in our midst. When we sense God's leading, God's
challenge, or God's support or comfort, we say that it's the
Holy Spirit at work.
In Hebrew, the words for
Spirit, wind, and breath are nearly the same.
The same is true in Greek. In trying to describe God's activity
among them, the ancients were saying that it was like God's
breath, like a sacred wind. It could not be seen or held: "The
wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but
you do not know where it comes from or where it goes" (John
3:8). But the effect of God's Spirit, like the wind, could be
felt and known. Where do we find the evidence of the Spirit at
work?
In the Bible
The Spirit is mentioned often
throughout the Bible. In Genesis a "wind from God swept over the
face of the waters," as if taking part in the Creation (1:2).
Later in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), we often read of "the
Spirit of the Lord."
In Matthew's account of Jesus'
baptism, Jesus "saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and
alighting on him" (3:16) and he "was led up by the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted" (4:1). After his Resurrection
Christ told his disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:8). A few weeks later, on the
Day of Pentecost, this came to pass: "And suddenly from heaven
there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind....All of
them were filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:2, 4). As the
Book of Acts and Paul's letters attest, from that time on, the
early Christians were vividly aware of God's Spirit leading the
new church.
In guidance, comfort, and
strength
Today we continue to experience
God's breath, God's Spirit. As one of our creeds puts it, "We
believe in the Holy Spirit, God present with us for guidance,
for comfort, and for strength" (The United Methodist Hymnal,
No. 884). We sense the Spirit in time alone—perhaps in prayer,
in our study of the Scriptures, in reflection on a difficult
decision, or in the memory of a loved one. The Spirit's touch is
intensely personal.
Perhaps we're even more aware of
the Holy Spirit in the community of believers—the congregation,
the church school class or fellowship group, the soup kitchen,
the planning committee, the prayer meeting, the family. Somehow
the Spirit speaks through the thoughtful and loving interaction
of God's people. The Holy Spirit, who brought the church into
being, is still guiding and upholding it, if we will but listen.
In the gifts we receive
How does the Holy Spirit affect our
lives? By changing us! By renewing us and by strengthening us
for the work of ministry.
- Fruits:
Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew
7:16). What sort of fruit? Paul asserts that "the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control"
(Galatians 5:22).
- Gifts:
Paul also writes that the Spirit bestows spiritual gifts on
believers. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 he lists nine, which
vary from one person to another: the utterance of wisdom,
the utterance of knowledge, faith, healing, working of
miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, various
kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.
These fruits and gifts are not of
our own achievement. They and others are the outgrowth of the
Spirit's work in us, by grace, through our faith in Jesus the
Christ. And they are not given for personal gain. Through these
fruits and gifts, the Holy Spirit empowers us for ministry in
the world. |
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...in salvation.
What does it mean to be
saved and to be assured of salvation? It's to know that
after feeling lost and alone, we've been found by God.
It's to know that after feeling worthless, we've been
redeemed. It's to experience a reunion with God, others,
the natural world, and our own best selves. It's a
healing of the alienation—the estrangement—we've
experienced. In salvation we become whole. Salvation
happens to us both now and for the future. It's "eternal
life," that new quality of life in unity with God of
which the Gospel of John speak—-a life that begins not
at death, but in the present. But how does salvation
happen?
By grace through faith
Salvation cannot be earned.
There's no behavior, no matter how holy or righteous, by
which we can achieve salvation. Rather, it's the gift of
a gracious God.
By grace we mean
God's extraordinary love for us. In most of life we're
accustomed to earning approval from others. This is true
at school, at work, in society, even at home—to a
degree. We may feel that we have to act "just so" to be
liked or loved. But God's love, or grace, is given
without any regard for our goodness. It's unmerited,
unconditional, and unending love.
As we come to accept
this love, to entrust ourselves to it, and to ground our
lives in it, we discover the wholeness that God has
promised. This trust, as we've seen, is called faith.
God takes the initiative in grace; but only as we
respond through faith is the change wrought in us.
This is the great theme
of the Protestant Reformers, as well as John Wesley and
the Methodists who followed: We're saved by grace alone
through faith alone. We're made whole and reconciled by
the love of God as we receive it and trust in it.
Conversion
This process of salvation
involves a change in us that we call conversion.
Conversion is a turning around, leaving one orientation
for another. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual
and cumulative. But in any case it's a new beginning.
Following Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "You must be born
anew" (John 3:7 RSV), we speak of this conversion as
rebirth, new life in Christ, or regeneration.
Following Paul and
Luther, John Wesley called this process justification.
Justification is what happens when Christians abandon
all those vain attempts to justify themselves before
God, to be seen as "just" in God's eyes through
religious and moral practices. It's a time when God's
"justifying grace" is experienced and accepted, a time
of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and
love. Indeed, we're justified by God's grace through
faith.
Justification is also a
time of repentance—turning away from behaviors
rooted in sin and toward actions that express God's
love. In this conversion we can expect to receive
assurance of our present salvation through the Holy
Spirit "bearing witness with our spirit that we are
children of God" (Romans 8:16).
Growing in grace
Conversion is but the
beginning of the new life of wholeness. Through what
Wesley called God's "sanctifying grace," we can continue
to grow. In fact, Wesley affirmed, we're to press on,
with God's help, in the path of sanctification,
the gift of Christian perfection. The goal of the
sanctified life is to be perfected in love, to
experience the pure love of God and others, a holiness
of heart and life, a total death to sin. We're not there
yet; but by God's grace, as we United Methodists say,
"we're going on to perfection!" |
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...in the
confession of sin.
Genesis 1:27 asserts that
we've been made in the image of the Creator. Like God we
have the capacity to love and care, to communicate, and
to create. Like God we're free, and we're responsible.
We've been made, says Psalm 8, "a little lower than God"
and crowned "with glory and honor." We believe that the
entire created order has been designed for the
well-being of all its creatures and as a place where all
people can dwell in covenant with God.
But we do not live as
God intends. Again and again we break the covenant
relationship between God and us. We turn our backs on
God and on God's expectations for us. We deny our
birthright, the life of wholeness and holiness for which
we were created. We call this alienation from God,
sin.
A distinction should be
made between sin and sins. We use the word sins
to denote transgressions or immoral acts. We speak of
"sins of omission and commission." These are real enough
and serious, but they're not the essential issue.
The issue is sin
in the singular. Sin is our alienation from God, our
willful act of turning from God as the center of life
and making our own selves and our own wills the center.
From this fundamental sin our various sins spring. Sin
is estrangement of at least four kinds:
Separation from God
Sin is breaking the
covenant, separating ourselves from the One who is our
origin and destiny. It's trying to go it alone, to be
out of touch with the God who is the center of life.
Based on the story in Genesis 3, the church has
described this break in dramatic terms: the Fall.
Separation from other
people
In our sin we distance
ourselves from others. We put ourselves at the center of
many relationships, exploiting others for our own
advantage. Instead of loving people and using things, we
love things and use people. When confronted with human
need, we may respond with token acts of kindness or with
lip service or perhaps not at all. Toward some people
and some groups, we're totally indifferent or actively
hostile. Sin is a denial of our common humanity and our
common destiny on this one small planet.
Separation from the
created order
In our sin we separate
ourselves from the natural environment. Greedily we turn
upon it, consuming it, destroying it, befouling it. As
natural resources dwindle, as possibilities increase for
long-term damage to the atmosphere and seas, we pause to
wonder. But our chief concern is for our own survival,
not for the beauty and unity of all God's creation.
Separation from
ourselves
We turn even from our own
center, from the goodness, happiness, and holiness that
is our divinely created potential. Sometimes it seems
that there are two wills warring within us. As Paul put
it, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do
what I want, but I do the very thing I hate" (Romans
7:15).
Paul continues:
"Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this
body of death?" (Romans 7:24). Like Paul, we discover
that we are powerless to extricate ourselves from sin.
Though we work ever so earnestly at various means of
saving ourselves—being good, going to church, reading
the Bible—these in themselves cannot save us. Sin is not
a problem to be solved. It's our radical estrangement
from God, a separation that only God can heal by a
radical act of love. We yearn for this reunion, this
reconciliation, this redemption, this salvation. |
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...in the Bible
We say that the Bible is
vital to our faith and life, but what exactly is the
Bible? Here are four ways to view it:
A library
The Bible is a collection
of sixty-six books, thirty-nine in the Old Testament (or
Hebrew Bible) and twenty-seven in the New Testament.
These books were written over a one-thousand-year period
in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic (the language Jesus
spoke), and Greek.
The books are of
different lengths and different literary styles. In the
Hebrew Bible we find legends, histories, liturgies for
community worship, songs, proverbs, sermons, even a
poetic drama (Job). In the New Testament are Gospels, a
history, many letters, and an apocalypse (Revelation).
Yet through it all the Bible is the story of the one
God, who stands in a covenant relationship with the
people of God.
Sacred Scripture
In early times and over
many generations, the sixty-six books were thoughtfully
used by faithful people. In the process their merits
were weighed, and the community of believers finally
gave them special authority. Tested by faith, proven by
experience, these books have become sacred; they've
become our rule for faith and practice.
In Israel the Book of
Deuteronomy was adopted as the Word of God about 621
B.C. The Torah, or Law (the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible), assumed authority around 400 B.C.; the
Prophets about 200 B.C.; and the Writings about 100 B.C.
After a struggle the Christians determined that the
Hebrew Bible was Scripture for them as well. The New
Testament as we know it was formed and adopted by church
councils between A.D. 200 and A.D. 400.
God's Word
We say that God speaks to
us through the Bible, that it's God's Word. This
authority derives from three sources:
- We hold that the
writers of the Bible were inspired, that they were
filled with God's Spirit as they wrote the truth to
the best of their knowledge.
- We hold that God
was at work in the process of canonization, during
which only the most faithful and useful books were
adopted as Scripture.
- We hold that the
Holy Spirit works today in our thoughtful study of
the Scriptures, especially as we study them
together, seeking to relate the old words to life's
present realities.
The Bible's authority is,
therefore, nothing magical. For example, we do not open
the text at random to discover God's will. The authority
of Scripture derives from the movement of God's Spirit
in times past and in our reading of it today.
A guide to faith and
life
We United Methodists put
the Bible to work. In congregational worship we read
from the Bible. Through preaching, we interpret its
message for our lives. It forms the background of most
of our hymns and liturgy. It's the foundation of our
church school curriculum. Many of us use it in our
individual devotional lives, praying through its
implications day by day. However, we admit that there's
still vast "biblical illiteracy" in our denomination. We
need to help one another open the Bible and use it.
Perhaps the Bible is
best put to use when we seriously answer these four
questions about a given text: (1) What did this passage
mean to its original hearers? (2) What part does it play
in the Bible's total witness? (3) What does God seem to
be saying to my life, my community, my world, through
this passage? and (4) What changes should I consider
making as a result of my study? |
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...in the
Lord of the future.
Christian faith is, in
part, a matter of hoping. We believe in and trust the
Lord of the future, and we lean into the future that God
has promised. God goes before us, beckoning us into the
new world that is already being created, calling us to
join in the challenging work of fashioning it.
However, when we're
confronted with personal disasters or with the daily
horror stories of society's ills, we may falter. Hope
may seem to be unrealistic, naive optimism.
Yet our hope is not in
trends. Our hope is in the Lord of all creation and all
history—a God who is still in charge and is actively at
work transforming the world. How do we know this?
The coming
shalom
The Bible is a book of
God's promises. It may seem to be about the past, but
its outlook is toward the future. From promises in the
Book of Genesis to Abraham and Sarah for a new land, a
son, and countless descendants (chapter 17), to promises
in the Book of Revelation of a "new heaven and a new
earth" (21:1), God was helping biblical people live into
the vision of creation's ultimate goal.
The Old Testament
(Hebrew Bible) uses the word shalom to describe
God's future. We often translate this word as "peace,"
but it means more than that. Shalom means a world
of plenty, of personal and interpersonal harmony and
righteousness, of liberation, of just economic
practices, and of ordered political relations.
The coming kingdom
For Jesus, the shalom
of God was the kingdom of God, the coming reign of God
in human hearts and in all human affairs. In fact he
proclaimed that this reign already "has come near" (Mark
1:15) and that the decision about one's part in it was
an urgent necessity: "Strive first for the kingdom of
God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33).
In the resurrection of
our Lord, his amazed followers recognized that God's
reign was breaking into their lives: "So if anyone is in
Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has
passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2
Corinthians 5:17). The old regime of hostility, greed,
injustice, and violence was obsolete and dying. The new
order was coming in: "See, I am making all things new"
(Revelation 21:5). For those who see with the eyes of
faith, it is apparent that our common human future on
earth is indeed the promised reign of God.
The church as a sign of
the future
There are signs of the
coming Kingdom all about us—from random acts of kindness
by individuals to the worldwide family's growth in
tolerance and cooperation. In particular we see the
church as a sign of the Kingdom. Imperfect as it is, the
community of believers nevertheless provides the best
clue we have to God's vision. Day after day, we see
deeds of Christian courage, of compassion and
reconciliation, of integrity in the face of temptation,
and of witness for truth and justice.
Our part
And what is our role—to sit
back and simply wait for God's kingdom to arrive? By no
means! We are to pray earnestly for the Kingdom to come
on earth (Matthew 6:10). We are to watch faithfully for
any signs of its coming (Matthew 25:13). We are to put
away our old selves and clothe ourselves "with the new
self, created according to the likeness of God in true
righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). As renewed
people, we're to do "the work of ministry" (Ephesians
4:12). As Easter people witness and serve, we take part
in the Kingdom's dawning. Thy Kingdom come! |
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-From United Methodist Church website,
http://www.umc.org/ |
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