Brief Statement
of Faith
In life and in death we
belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the
Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of
Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve. We
trust in Jesus Christ,
Fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor
and release to the
captives,
teaching by word and deed
and blessing the
children,
healing the sick
and binding up the brokenhearted,
eating with outcasts,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to repent and believe
the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,
Jesus was crucified,
suffering the depths of human
pain
and giving his life for the sins of the
world.
God raised Jesus from the dead,
vindicating his sinless life,
breaking the power of sin and
evil,
delivering us from death to life
eternal.We trust in God,
whom Jesus called Abba, Father.
In sovereign love God created the world good
and makes everyone equally in God's
image
male and female, of every
race and people,
to live as one community.
But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator.
Ignoring God's commandments,
we violate the image of God in others
and ourselves,
accept lies as truth,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet
entrusted to our care.
We deserve God's condemnation.
Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem
creation.
In everlasting love,
the God of Abraham and
Sarah chose a covenant people
to bless
all families of the earth.
Hearing their cry,
God delivered the children
of Israel
from the
house of bondage.
Loving us still,
God makes us heirs with
Christ of the covenant.
Like a mother who will not forsake her
nursing child,
like a father who runs to welcome the
prodigal home,
God is faithful
still. We trust in God the Holy Spirit,
everywhere the giver and renewer of
life.
The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith,
sets us free to accept ourselves and to
love God and neighbor,
and binds us together with all
believers
in the one body of Christ, the
church.
The same Spirit
who inspired the prophets and
apostles
rules our faith and life in Christ
through Scripture,
engages us through the Word
proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of
baptism,
feeds us with the bread of life and the
cup of salvation,
and calls women and men to all
ministries of the church.
In a broken and fearful world
the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ
as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in church and
culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long
silenced,
and to work with others for justice,
freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
we strive to serve Christ in our daily
tasks
and to live holy and joyful
lives,
even as we watch for God's new heaven
and new earth,
praying, Come, Lord
Jesus!With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
