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statement of faith

Mar 25th, 2009
by Drew Tatusko.

I pulled up an old statement of faith the other day. Yuck. So for personal edification, I drafted a new one.  I threw it together pretty quickly yesterday afternoon, but kind of dig it.

Liberals who think I am conservative and especially conservatives that think I am totally leftist (there are likely more of them :-) ) might be a little surprised. In some ways it came after my exploration of Bruce Reyes-Chows post regarding what makes a good pastor. Although this has less to do with leadership per se, its one of those things that should fuel why someone does what they do as a Christian. Faith leads to outcomes. It is pragmatic. Thats what I tried to do with this one.

Have fun heresy hunters!

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I believe in one eternal God, unmade, who existed before the first spark that ignited the expansion of the cosmos, who is among us now, and who will exist even to the end of all that has been created.  God revealed Gods own self as one who orders the world out of chaos, and liberates the captives from slavery and into freedom.  God revealed this among the Chosen people of Israel in whom God entrusted to lay the foundations of a new Kingdom on Earth, to those whom God chooses as Gods own for eternity.  This Kingdom was rejected by many including the very Chosen people of God in the form of idols of their own making for which purpose God sent judges, kings, and prophets to redirect people towards their one Creator, Sustainer, and Savior.

In Gods own mercy, God chose to take on the form of the man Jesus in order to bring the Kingdom of God among humanity.  As the fullness of God was in him, Jesus represents the true fulfillment of the human creation.  Jesus being fully God and fully human was nonetheless rejected by the people of God and mocked by imperial powers taking on the ultimate end of all sin which was death as a criminal on the cross.  Yet Gods grace nonetheless prevailed when Jesus rose from the dead three days after his gruesome crucifixion.  Before returning to the community of the Triune God, Jesus entrusted those whom he loved to carry on his message of mercy, compassion, service, and justice and on these pillars to continue to build the Kingdom of God as his very body on earth.  Jesus admonishes the human creation of God to partake and be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who connects a frail and limited humanity to a powerful and limitless God.

As Jesus revealed Gods mercy among the poor, lonely, outcast, and oppressed peoples of Israel; and as Jesus demanded transformation among the religious authorities while revealing their religious systems as frail compared to the God they alone were to serve, so Jesus asks the community of faith to strive for justice through love knowing that it is Gods grace through acts of faith that sustains the people of God.  With faith in a risen Lord who by the power of the Spirit sustains the order of creation, the people of God share the responsibility of establishing a kingdom of mercy, compassion, service, and justice that exists to glorify God alone.

The church, the body of the risen Christ, is to pursue the unfolding of this Kingdom, and "is called to undertake this mission even at the risk of losing its life, trusting in God alone as the author and giver of life, sharing the gospel, and doing those deeds in the world that point beyond themselves to the new reality in Christ" (Presbyterian Church USA Book of Order, G-3.0400).  Though the people of God continue to reject God, it is God who through mercy and love pursues them nonetheless as witnessed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is through the risen Christ whose love and forgiveness persists even for all of those who reject him.

The Scriptures contained in the Christian Old Testament and New Testament bear witness to the relationship of God with Gods people, and the revelation of Gods will for all of the world and humanity in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord.  God inspired those who composed the texts in these Scriptures so that future generations may learn of God.  Although imperfect in many ways, the Scriptures are the sole authority to ground the inspiration of the Kingdom of God through proclamation and instruction of the nature of God the Father who lives and reigns with Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Related posts:

  1. revised statement of faith
  2. belief, faith, and transformation
  3. justice or mercy?
  4. maybe there is no gospel after all
  5. easter means there is work to do

Posted in: Life, Theology.

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  • Creation is really God's apostrophe, in the final analysis. Enough on apostrophes.

    As you know, I lean more toward the conservative, evangelical point of view. That said, I find absoulutely no quarrel with any of your above statement of faith. In fact, it sounds a lot like a lot of the orthodoxy that I adhere to, a lot of the time! And that is saying a lot! Therefore, I can only conclude that your profession will be disdained by more liberal adherents of the faith.
  • I used to work hard to have all the right beliefs and be able to articulate them perfectly . . . it was important that my faith was well-defined and provided a good map as I tried to follow our Triune God.

    Recently I had the privilege of spending time with an autistic boy as he grew from 7 to 10 or so . . . and it was one of the things that God used to spin my perfectly-defined non-heretical faith into something really alive for me . . .

    I am convinced that God is at work to MAKE me the person God wants me to be, and that my cognitive beliefs are of far less consequence to me than is my character . . . which is being transformed as I let go of some of my addiction to analysis and definition and let that Triune God replace it with something that is out of my control as I experience life with God and with others.

    The fun loop in that is that my cognitive beliefs - and analysis and definitions -- are being shaped too, and are being shaped in community with others who are being shaped by this dangerous loving God of ours.

    Cheers to you as you allow God to use your perceptions as God's tool in a larger community of faith! I'm grateful to follow your thoughts here.
  • i came to a point where orthodoxy was a really nice and friendly term for ideology. when we try to actually do our faith and understand that faith is an action, not an ideology, it roughs up orthodoxy enough that it reveals it to be frail, just like us. and to me, that's actually a comforting thing. i don't want to have all the answers. i just want to have the right questions, and the courage to ask them by changing the world one molecule at a time if that's what i am called to do.
  • Thanks for putting this out there, Makeesha. It's got me thinking about what my own statement would say. I think mine would have to be sung, though. I don't know what it is about music that tends to convey God to me.
  • I didn't word that very well, did I? I meant thank you Makeesha for putting this out there, on Facebook where I read it and clicked through. :-) My apologies. And I should have introduced myself too! Eek. :-) Anyway, hi!
  • haha. all good. i read between the lines. cheers!
  • You are certainly open to accusations of heresy - either on the basis of your polytheism, or on the basis of your failure to use apostrophes. It's the same heresy, ultimately...
  • Ha! There's a funny thing happening in Wordpress where apostrophes are multiplying. Frustrating, but I don't have time to fix it.
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