The formation of my faith is rooted in family, community, and the Church and continues tobe formed through following the way of Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior.
I believe God always has been and always will be. I believe God exists in the persons of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that this Trinitarian expression of God helps connect humanity and all of creation to the One God who created us, redeems us, and guides us. I believe God created all that is, and that we belong to God. I believe that God connected with humanity in the person of Jesus the Christ so that we might understand and experience a flesh and blood example of
God who knows us. I believe God continues to act through humanity by the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe God is at work in and through creation.
I believe God birthed the Church as an expression of the ongoing work of Christ through those who follow Christ, and that God continues to work through the Church to actively transform and reconcile creation to Godself. I believe the Church is intended to be the community of faith in which Christ-followers connect and learn in order to be commissioned and sent into their homes, work, communities, and world to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that this Good News sets us free to live radically reconciled lives.
I believe the holy texts of Christianity are one of the ways we experience God in the 21stcentury and that, handled properly, these texts lead us toward lives of hope, reconciliation, justice, and love. I believe that while much of the bible can be placed on a historic timeline, the happenings in the bible were never intended to be considered as textbooks of science or history. I believe the bible is so much more than “factually true” – I believe the bible carries truth into our present ways of being faithful Christ-followers.
I believe that the sacraments of our Church are a means of grace for persons seeking God; that the font and table are invitations into community and that these sacraments should be shared often so that their transformative power may provide consistent reminders of God at work in the lives of individuals and in the life of the Church. I believe God invites us to live with joy and hope, and that the sustenance and growth of the Church has at its foundation the generosity and joy of sacramental living.
I believe faith has inward and outward dimensions; that as God pursues a loving relationship with us, we are called to a life deeply rooted in God; and that as we become deeply rooted in God, we naturally reach beyond ourselves to share ourselves with people beyond us. I believe that every person has value and that the circumstances of our lives(age, gender, intelligence, wealth, etc.) do not limit (or multiply) that value. God loves us and compels us live expansively generous lives – loving others the way Jesus has modeled love for us. This is our work: to love one another as Christ has loved us.