I Believe

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. I believe in Christmas and Easter and the hope that God assures us of through both.

I believe that God is greater than all the boxes into which I would try to make him fit, and therefore, I believe in mystery.

I believe that God works through broken vessels and that through his work, he repairs those vessels as those vessels repair others around them.

I believe that God can heal the “un-nature” in his church and that even now he is at work to do so. I believe that God speaks through Christians—even when other Christians won’t listen. I believe that God speaks through non-Christians—again, even when Christians won’t listen. I believe that God plants seeds, and I believe that God is faithful to tend to the seeds in his garden.

I believe that God calls to us, even while we are mired in the depths of our sins. God does not forsake us; instead he reaches out to us and desires that we take his saving hand as he rescues us from the muck. Even when we swat his hand away, assuming we can trudge through the muck alone, he again reaches out to us and gently asks us to take hold. He desires that his people would grab on to him. God waits. God forgives. God rescues. God loves. I believe that even now our God is extending his saving hand to us.

I believe that God has cast down the powerful from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. God has inaugurated his Kingdom, and we wait for it to come in its fullness. In the meantime, those of us in his church must witness the truths of his Kingdom and live in the proleptic expectation that God’s Kingdom is already fully a reality.

I believe that God is good and that he will provide for his people.

Amen.

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* This post was inspired by Otter Creek, who asked some of their members to write an "I Believe" statement of 400 words or less for their vesper services, and it seemed like a good practice. Thus I have adapted that format here.

What would be in your "I Believe" statement?