Statement of Faith ~ Week 2

 

We are not alone; we live in God’s world.  New Creed from the United Church of Canada. 

 

Part of what I love about the New Creed from the United Church of Canada is that it begins with a statement of trust.  We are not alone.  Even in a world with phones dinging, Zoom meetings, overflowing calendars, constant connectivity, and instant communication, we can still feel isolated on an island in a sea of people.  This is a tension of today's world.  We are more linked and lonely at the same time.  This is confusing and confounding.  Imagine just a few short decades ago, there was no email, no texting, no FaceTime, no airplanes.  So, when you wanted human interaction, you traveled to a town from your farm or went to church.  Or you wrote a letter and then waited for a response.  Now we are exasperated by a few seconds' delay from someone.  Ever have that moment of anticipation with three dots appearing on the screen, knowing that the other person is writing, but then the individual doesn’t send anything back?  We gather week after week as a church not just for prayer and praise, but for community.  In fact, given the world today, perhaps our prayer and praise need new forms so that we can feel more connection than sitting in straight pews facing forward can provide.  You see, pews can isolate us, especially when the other person is behind us or has his/her/their back to us.  Pews can be a barrier.  Sometimes, we need to form a circle where we can see each other’s faces.  The second part of the opening sentence of this creed is an equally important affirmation ~ this is God’s world.  Not yours or mine, even though we act like it.  Plus, creation is God’s first testament to God’s holy way.  It is not only fellow featherless bipeds that provide meaning to our lives.  So can dogs whose bellies we scratch, waves we watch crash on sandy shores, or clouds that float above our heads.  Creation is preaching and teaching; are we listening?  Creation is calling us to relationship; are we responding?  Today, find ways to practice this part of the Creed.  Creeds are not meant to be lifeless words on a piece of paper we recite in a monotone voice in church.  Creeds are meant to both awaken our sacred imagination and then let these words shape our lives.  Who might you connect with to embody the truth that you are not alone?  How might you nurture your relationship with nature, honoring all you see, smell, and sense as God’s world?  Creeds can be expansive and inclusive because how you will practice/embody the above words is different/distinctive from the way I will, but this is the beauty of God’s world we call home; this is the beauty of learning from each other in realizing we are not alone.  Amen.    

Statements of Faith ~ Part 2

 

Last week, we opened our hearts, minds, lives, and souls to God through the United Church of Christ Statement of Faith.  One week doesn’t exhaust all there is to explore in any creed.  This week, I invite you to lay alongside our denomination's creed the New Creed from the United Church of Canada.  Slowly savor these words to see what is evoked in the following words:

 

We are not alone,
    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:
    who has created and is creating,
    who has come in Jesus,
       the Word made flesh,
       to reconcile and make new,
    who works in us and others
       by the Spirit.

We trust in God. 

We are called to be the Church:
    to celebrate God’s presence,
    to live with respect in Creation,
    to love and serve others,
    to seek justice and resist evil,
    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
    God is with us.
We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

 

Was there a sentence above that stirred your heart?  Was there a sentence that caused you to scratch or shake your head in confusion or disagreement?  Was there a sentence that was as exciting as a lukewarm bowl of porridge?  Creeds can be used either as a window or a wall.  Some churches use creeds as a barrier you must agree and assent to before you can receive your membership card or be welcome at Christ’s table.  Creeds can awaken our thinking as we sit with the words; let them roam and rummage around our experiences and encounters.  Creeds evoke and provoke questions like: Who is God, Christ, and the Spirit?  And to be sure, there are times when I shrug my shoulders and with exasperation say, “I don’t know!”  God can be comforting and confounding to me, especially in the face of hatred and harm done in God’s name.  Christ can at once challenge me (I am thinking of that whole “love your enemies” call) and at times inspire me to risk for the sake of love in a hurting world.  The Spirit feels elusive, like trying to hold onto an eel, not that I have or ever want to try that.  Who is God for you, today, at the beginning of October?  How would you describe or define the relationship with the Creator, Christ, and Sustainer?  One final note: sometimes what I say about God says more about me than the Holy Other who forms and fashions me.  Our theology is more biography than fact.  Let’s explore this truth as we ponder how creeds can shape us and, in turn, how we talk about God.  Amen.

Prayer

 

God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.

 

God of promises from rainbows at the time of Noah, to a holy comfort preached by Isaiah, to Jesus embrace for all, meet us today.  Our lives are full of moments when we have said something we’d like to take back and shove in our mouths; times we laughed at someone; and talked about someone behind their back.  There are times we wanted a mulligan, a rewind button, and a do-over.  God, remind us that forgiveness is offered as part of the renewal, restoration, and reconciliation each new day.  God, You join us in seeking righteousness and justice, living with You and inviting others to participate in Your liberating love.  You give us courage to course-correct our lives.  Open our ears to listen and let You guide our minds, hearts, souls, relationships, community, church, gatherings, and whole life.  God, give us openness and willingness to be inspired by You today.  And help us notice the Spirit who is there in the highs, lows, and just so-so’s of every day.  Let us seek and share Your realm that is here and longs to be more fully established every day, this day, with You leading the way.  Praise and glory to You, O God, our rock and redeemer.  Amen.  

Statements of Faith ~ Spirit

 

God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races. God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.

 

Whoa, this is a mouthful…perhaps too much for one morning meditation.  Yet, I think part of what the above is saying is that the Spirit fuels and feeds the church.  As heady and wordy UCC people, who never met a committee we didn’t love…who then voted to form a sub-committee for good measure, I am not sure where we land with the Spirit.  I am not sure where you land with this beautifully elusive and evasive part of God?  The Spirit, for me, is the part of God that brings play and prayer together.  As serious, somber people who love to sing our ditties and dirges about the solemnity of church as we tell the children to quit running the church and being so loud, maybe we don’t trust the Spirit?  Maybe the Spirit left the building with laughter and joyfully making mistakes from which we learn.  The Spirit is that part that seeks to make a joyful noise (Psalm 100) and lament when we feel forgotten by God (Psalm 22).  Maybe the Spirit is the emotive part of our faith?  For me, the Spirit is the thread that connects us all together.  The Spirit is the spacious part of the Sacred that helps us find unity in diversity, which is so countercultural in our world today.  What is provoked in you from the above?  When have you felt the Spirit?  What does our theological textbook called “a hymnal” say about the Spirit?  Let loose your wild imagination today to see where the Spirit ministers, who can be gentle/soft/ whisper to your soul as well as sing out with gusto, to your life this day.  Amen.

Statements of Faith ~ Jesus

 

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.

 

Whereas God got several lines in the UCC Statement of Faith, Jesus gets one long sentence.  Make no mistake, this sentence is profoundly powerful.  First, remember “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name.  Christ is a description of who Jesus is and why Jesus came.  Christ means ‘Anointed’ and is connected to the Hebrew word, mashiah or messiah.  The Statement of Faith could have said, Jesus the Anointed One or Jesus the Messiah.  In the Jewish imagination, the job description of the messiah was to restore Jewish rule and restore/reconcile the Promised Land/throne of David.  Ever since the Babylonian Exile, the Jewish people had been oppressed and occupied by foreign powers.  

Some of those powers were kind, and others were cruel.  But the right to self-government was continually diminished and denied.  This reality went against and contradicted the very claim that they were God’s chosen people.  It is hard to be the light of the world when you are under the oppressive sandals of Caesar.  Many prophets and preachers said the Jewish people could still be a light even when they were being ruled by others.  But the Messiah would come and right all wrongs, overthrow the powers that be, and return the people to the glory of the good old days.  If that sounds familiar, it continues to be a political talking point to this day.  The juxtaposition of Jesus being both the Messiah and a human is where there remains discussion and debate.  

This isn’t new; it is as old as the church itself.  How much of Jesus was divine and how much was human?  What were the percentages?  Today there are followers of Jesus who think of him as just a really great teacher and swell guy, and others who say that unless you call him Savior, you are going to hell.  Eek, I’ll take door number three, please!  I don’t know how much of Jesus was human or how much was holy.  Could you even measure that out?  Can you distinguish those two parts of Jesus into separate containers?  I believe the humanness and holiness of Jesus mixed and mingled together.  From the time Jesus called a beloved daughter of God a ‘dog’ (Mark 7:24-30) to times he turned over tables (Matthew 21:12-17) to Jesus forgiving people from the cross (Luke 23:34), Jesus shows us the holiness and humanness being brought and blended together.  The statement above goes on to remind us of Jesus’ death and resurrection; how Jesus shared in the good, bad, and ugly of life, and through the mystery/marvel of Easter showed us a new way to life.  This circles us back to yesterday, God showing us life and death to choose life each day.  Jesus shows us how to live a human/holy way.  Jesus preaches about all creation thriving beyond surviving.  Jesus lived a life that flourished.  Flourishing doesn’t mean succeeding and winning the trophy while confetti rains down on you.  Flourishing means feeling fully alive.  As St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!”  How might you explore and embody this invitation to be fully alive today?  How might that be the way Christ inspires us to do each day?  May those questions stir and swirl around all of us today.

Statements of Faith

 

Slowly read the UCC’s Statement of Faith with me again:

 

We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, who is made known to us in Jesus our brother, and to whose deeds we testify:

God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.

God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.

God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.

God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.

God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.

Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God.

Amen.

 

Calls…creates…sets…seeks…saves…judges.  Those are the six verbs used above to describe and define God’s activity ~ who God is and what God is up to in the world.  First, God calls.  I believe God sings out not just to humans, but to all creation, to praise.  Recall the sermon on Psalm 33 from Sunday.  Secondly, God creates us in God’s image.  Notice this is a present tense verb.  God didn’t create you, wipe the divine hands clean of the dust, and say, “All good here.”  God continues to craft you each day, and we are called to wake up to God’s movement in our lives.  Third, God sets and serves the invitation to choose life each day.  Remember from a few weeks ago, in the sermon I started with the Mary Oliver quote, “Every day when you wake up the world says to you, 'Here you are alive and awake and aware…care to make a comment?’”  God offers us ways that lead to life and ways that lead to pain, brokenness, and despair.  This theology comes from Deuteronomy 30:15: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.”  Every day we are given choices from our calling and continually being created in God’s image.  At the same time, in the original operating system of the human condition, we are given free will.  God doesn’t demand or decree that we do anything, because love is never forced.  Love is always invitational.  We can decide to follow and pave the path today with bricks of love or throw them at others with snarky comments online with keyboard courage as we hide behind anonymous screen names.  To be sure, some decisions have heavier consequences than others.  I don’t think my choice of breakfast cereals is going to change the world, but how I show up at a meeting at church will leave an impression.  Henri Nouwen once said that “Freedom is the core of the spiritual life.”  At the same time, people all around us choose death daily.  Whether through hate, spreading fear, abuse, anger (which is fear flexing muscles), belittling others, violence, and discrimination… all these are reflections of our very human ways.  So, the words above say that God seeks to save us from aimlessness and sin.  Fun Theological Nerd fact from the sermon two weeks ago: sin means missing the mark.  We need to reclaim the word “sin” from finger-wagging, pulpit pounding, hell/fire/brimstone.  God as some divine Santa Claus who makes us prove our worth, or sinners in the hand of an angry God dangling over flames licking our feet.  Good Lord, somewhere God is rubbing God’s temples, saying, “Why do I put up with this?” God’s vulnerable love was arriving as a baby born in a barn.  God’s sacrificial love was shown on the cross, rather than sword-swinging military power.  God’s resurrecting love on Easter still shows the wounds of Good Friday.  This is so counter-cultural, of course; our minds want to reconcile God’s upside-down mobility message with the consumeristic, winning, have-to-be- #1 mentality of our world.  I can hear you saying, “But what about that word, ‘judges’, Wes, that doesn’t sound very loving!”  Right, if we picture God as a human judge.  But what if God is a judge who wants what is best for us?  I recently heard a theologian describe a judge in a custody hearing for a child who said, “My job is to listen to everything and help put you in the best situation possible.”  Judging here is not about guilt or innocence, but about being God who is on our side, trying to help us see when we are aimless or are so angry we lash out at others.  God guides, refines, reconciles, renews, restores, and re-stories through the womb of mercy.  What verbs would you use to describe God?  Or flip through a hymnal to see how God is described in the hymns there; what words do we sing from our theological textbook of the hymnal?  Let this invitation stir and swirl around us as our calling, creating, setting, seeking, saving, and correcting God moves in our lives.  

Statements of Faith

 

“Words are bricks, which, depending on how you use them, can pave pathways or build walls.”  ― Jeff Chu

 

If someone asked you to describe or define your faith, what would you say?  You might start by talking about the God you don’t believe in.  For example, a Divine being who is judgy and “shoulds” on your life or throws lightning bolts or smites people.  You might start by talking about where you show up and speak up in the world.  After all, the United Church of Christ is a branch of the Protestant tree that grew out of protest.  When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door in Wittenberg against the sale of indulgences, he was offering a protest and proposing a conversation.   Or, when asked about God, you might change the subject to who will win the World Series or your feelings about Pumpkin Spice lattes.

 

Faith can be slippery and subversive, difficult to define or describe.  Faith won’t always stay confined in containers we create.  There are parts of faith that are always mysterious and elusive.  Throughout human history, people of faith have tried to put words on paper about what we believe.  This week, we will dive and dwell in the United Church of Christ’s Statement of Faith.  In the coming weeks, I will introduce you to other statements of faith, because each can bring beautiful ideas to life.  Today, slowly read the words below.  Where do you discover a path being paved to your soul in the words below?  Where do you shake your head, “No,” emphatically because you just don’t agree with the words you read?  Where do you feel confused and want to raise your hand for clarification?  Hold these words, noticing and naming where they land in you:

 

We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, who is made known to us in Jesus our brother, and to whose deeds we testify:

God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.

God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.

God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.

God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.

God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.

Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God.

Amen.

 

What stirs in you from the above, what feels like sandpaper, and where do you shake your head in confusion?  Let’s sit together in the holy attempts to give expression to how, where, and when we encounter the Eternal in our lives.  Amen.