Rescued from the slugs, but will they ripen before they rot?
The creeds of the church were written to summarize core beliefs and engaged with the great theological questions of the day. In that spirit, I have had a go at writing my own statement of faith. It is not meant to be exhaustive, but is what speaks to me at the moment. See what you think.
I believe that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
All things came into being through the Word, refined over countless aeons, from the simplest microbes to complex mammalian life.
Life evolved to self-awareness and human creativity blossomed, but in our arrogance, we have struggled to live within our means.
God loves us too much to control us, and has let us take a path to self-destruction.
I believe that the image of the invisible God was born in human likeness, into a suffering people oppressed by empire.
Jesus the Christ revealed that God is love and that the kingdom of heaven is within us.
This threatened the powers that be, who tortured him to death on a Roman cross.
In Christ, God identified with our suffering and the suffering of all things through all time.
But death was not his end and will not be our end.
On the third day Christ rose again.
I believe that we are Christ’s body now, that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, and that we are the light of the world.
In this time of unravelling, we will live as Christ did, loving our neighbours and our enemies, and hoping beyond hope.
Christ was before all things, Christ is holding all things together, and all things will end in Christ’s embrace.
Inspired by John 1, Colossians 1, Philippians 2, Luke 17, Romans 4.