Living Spirit Statement of Faith
In life and in death we
belong to God. Through
the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit, we
trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we
worship and
serve. We trust in Jesus Christ, Fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the
reign of God: preaching
good news to the
poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and
blessing the
children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating
with
outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the
gospel.
Unjustly condemned for
blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of
human pain
and giving his life for the sins of the world.
God raised Jesus from
the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and
evil, delivering
us from death to life eternal.We
trust in God, whom
Jesus called Abba, Father.
In sovereign love God
created the world good and makes everyone equally in God's image male
and
female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God;
we hide from our
Creator.
Ignoring God's
commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves,
accept lies
as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet
entrusted to our care.
We deserve God's
condemnation.
Yet God acts with
justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of
Abraham
and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth.
Hearing their cry, God
delivered the children of
Loving us still, God
makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like
a mother who will not forsake her
nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God
is faithful
still.
We trust in God the Holy
Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer
of life. The Spirit
justifies us by grace through
faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor,
and binds
us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the church.
The same Spirit who
inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ
through
Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the
waters of
baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and
calls
women and men to all ministries of the church.
In a broken and fearful
world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness
among all
peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in church
and
culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with
others
for justice, freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God,
empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks
and to
live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God's new heaven and
new
earth, praying, Come, Lord Jesus!
With believers in every
time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can
separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.