A Statement of Faith for All Saints Day

We believe in God, who brings creation out of chaos, healing out of brokenness, light out of darkness, and life out of death.

We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Lord.

Jesus came into the world for teaching, for healing, for reconciliation, and to announce the reign of God’s kingdom.

Though his work was opposed, even unto death, the Word of Life could not be silenced.

He was resurrected for the sake of all, including we who are gathered here.

We await his return in glory and we continually look for his presence in this life.

We trust this expectation is not in vain.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, giver of the gifts of community, communion, and consolation.

The Spirit preserves our hearts in the midst of things we cannot understand and connects us to the cloud of faithful witnesses, who are our encouragement.

The Spirit shapes us as God’s people and gives us faith and courage to respond to the gifts of mercy, grace, and healing until we reach the place our faith moves from hope to revelation.

Amen.

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I'm In

A few weeks ago , I was using voice-to-text to compose some prayers. After I was finished speaking the whole list, I was proof-reading the document and realized that everywhere I said “Amen”, the voice-to-text wrote “I’m in”. “Amen” essentially means “may it be so”, but what would it look like to end our prayers with “I’m in”. What would change if we rose from our knees, left our prayer closets, closed our devotionals, and moved with purpose toward the goals for which we had just prayed. Lord, in your mercy: Grant justice to the oppressed and disenfranchised (I’m in) Cast down the mighty from their thrones (I’m in) Console the grieving and welcome the prodigal (I’m in) Welcome strangers and attend to the marginalized (I’m in) Grant the space for the silenced to speak… and listen (I’m in) Fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty (I’m in) Forgive others as I am forgiven (I’m in) Be merciful as God in h...

The Reign of Christ and the Long Defeat

At one point in The Lord of the Rings, the royal elf Galadriel describes her life and experience and says, “… we have fought the long defeat.” Galadriel, like other elves and the Hobbits and many others, is depicted as being on the right side of things in the books. The Company of the Ring (the Fellowship) wins and defeats the forces of evil. Why would she consider this a “long defeat”? Furthermore, why would J.R.R. Tolkien, the author, apply the same term to himself. He wrote in a letter, “Actually, I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a 'long defeat’ – though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.” (Letter #195) Tolkien, a Brit, fought in World War 1. Though he was on the side that “won”, he saw the devastation following the war on all sides- how the “winners” struggled with what they had seen and done and how the “losers” were galvanized to see ...

Top Ten Things to Learn from the book of Job

Readings: Job 1:1-22; Job 38:1-11; Luke 8: 22-25 10. Job contradicts Proverbs. The writer of Proverbs offers the hope and consolation that people who live wisely and faithfully, according to the will of God, will flourish and prosper. The very first chapter of Job says: it ain’t necessarily so. You may well live righteously and with great integrity and, still, terrible things may happen. A faithful life is not an automatic buffer to calamity. Due to this contradiction between the books, both of which are categorized as wisdom literature, we are reminded of all those who have gone before us who tried to make the Bible speak with one voice. It doesn’t. The Bible has many voices, some of which are quite dissonant together, but they sing one song about the presence and providence of God. 9. Job is an old story, but a young book, relatively speaking. Since Job doesn’t mention Abraham or Moses or the laws or the Temple, some interpreters have considered it the oldest story ...

Faith, Grace, and Hope

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