“For you are those who in grace have been saved by faithfulness: And this, God’s gift, is not from you, Nor from observances, so that no one may boast. For we are his artifact, created in the Anointed One Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we might walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 TNT:AT
I had thought that combining the writing assignments, a belief statement and a credo, would be much easier than it turned out. Though very similar in nature, the process of writing each leads me in nearly opposite directions. The accounting of "I believe" is an exercise in expansion- "I believe this, and this, and this... and don't forget this," while the credo requires reduction, a refinement of content and meaning to its most succinct expression.
When I say my understanding, and process of arriving at that understanding, of what I believe is an exercise in expansion, I'm not just thinking of a never-ending list, but as well an equation in a personal geometry, defining my expanding sphere of experience and meaning through time. It is what lets me know if what I think I know, if what I profess to believe, is true.
For example, when I say "I believe in love," I can look back all the way to the beginning of my life and know that I came into this world because of love, not only a love shared by my parents, but by a much wider world of family and friends, and that it has sustained and supported me my entire life. But if I don't share it as freely as it is given, do I really believe in it? If I set conditions and build exclusions does it not simply become one of the privileges I blindly accept in my experience? Part of my equation requires asking this of myself, constantly, a rubric for evaluating whether I am being true in my actions (I believe sharing love is the one thing God asks of us) or falling short of the truth (and needing to ask for the one thing God promises- forgiveness.)
I believe that discerning the will of God comes through the heart, not the head, and that magical realism is as proper a way to describe things not yet understood as science is to describe those things that are. I believe that God's Word is written between the lines, that this inspiration is alive today, not frozen in scripture to be coughed up like some weaponized hair-ball in service of bigotry, hate, and evil. I believe that we are saved through Grace, because God believes in us, not the other way around, and that Grace is manifest in the moment, not some storied past or prophetic future. And though I believe we must live in that moment, it is hardly static, and should be lived as an adventure, constantly questioned, explored, and appreciated.
I could expand on this without limit, as I believe is God's desire, and though I may not find what I think I am looking for, there is always more to discover, as my Father taught me, “the best answers are always those that lead to better questions.” Speaking of discovery, I am led back to the credo. My church teaching and ruling elders have recently come up with a credo for St. Mark: Seek, Discover, Share. I like it, and can use it to look at what I have written above to come up with one as succinct for my own: Live, Learn, Love.
Prayer
Dear God, it is with great gratitude that I live with you, learn from you, and share your love.
John Northrip
October 2019
You may have the tendency to expand, but you are succinct and eloquent on the subjects of love, grace, forgiveness, and learning God's will. I especially like your sense of scripture, how it inspires through our experiences, rather than some static theology. To me , it shows a high regard for scripture to use it as a backdrop to our living.
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