WHAT WE GIVE OUR HEART TO…
NEWS FLASH! We got it wrong.
Yep, unfortunately we have long translated the Latin word 'credo’ (English word ‘creed’) as “I believe,” as in the first line of the Apostle’s Creed, “I believe in God…” However, the original meaning of the word is closer to “to place one’s heart,” or “to trust.” Umm, giving your heart to something feels a little different than believing in something.
Oops. Silly Christians.
Religious beliefs don’t typically really inspire or ask much of us, do they? Giving our heart to something, now that’s what we’re talking about! So, read on. This is what we, as a community, are aspiring to give our heart and trust to. And if your heart beats to a different rhythm than these words below, we choose you over these words…
each other
As a Christian community of faith, aka a church, we’re seeking to follow in the way and movement of Jesus. Central to that desire is the belief that EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING ON EARTH IS A BELOVED CHILD OF GOD. PERIOD. In other words, our belief system is summed up in this statement by Jesus, which he said was central to the summary of the entire law: love your neighbor as yourself.
God
God is one essence existing in three coeternal consubstantial persons or hypostases.
J/k.
Okay, that may be theologically true, but it has as much meaningful substance as a bowl of soggy Frosted Flakes.
Let’s put it another way: God is unconditional love in eternal relationship. There, that’s better.
Christians proclaim that God’s very nature is 3 persons in one divine essence: Creator, Christ, and Spirit (or in traditional language: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). So one humble attempt at describing this impossible to describe mystery is that the “being” Christians call God is, by very definition, relationship. God is in relationship with God’s self. God is in relationship with God’s creation. God is in relationship with past, present, and future. Even in relationship with Aggies.
You can see where we’re going with this, right? Yep, we were created for relationship by the One who is Love. And our scriptures say that God’s greatest desire, God’s all-consuming purpose, is to be in relationship with us. Kind of a self-esteem boost, huh?
How did the Buddha become a fat, carefree, smiling man at the entrance of Chinese food restaurants when he was actually a poor, skinny Indian man? I suppose it’s not that ridiculous when you consider the fact that we’ve done the same thing to Jesus.
How the heck does an enemy-forgiving, justice-seeking, injustice-battling, leper-touching, poor-blessing, dead-raising, Empire-opposing, life-giving, sinner-loving, radically-selfless human being like Jesus become a cozy, Christian stuffed-animal to some, an American flag waving, gun-toting nationalist to others, and a fire-breathing homophobe to still others? All of these Jesuses easy to dismiss and his follower easy to mock?
If you’re a Christian who has either domesticated, armed, coopted Jesus, or a non-Christian who has rejected Jesus because of our society’s weak or distorted caricature of him, then maybe it’s time to reconsider the Jewish carpenter who flipped the world on its head 2,000 years ago and has been transforming lives ever since.
I doubt Jesus has any interest in entering a popularity contest among spiritual leaders or life philosophies, and it seems clear from scripture that God shows no favoritism (Acts 10:34), but it’s also clear that we all follow some one, some thing, or some worldview or principle, even though we may not like to admit it. In the end, we all have this one life. Our community believes that Jesus invites us to follow in his way, joining a movement that gives our life back to God and others, and by doing so leads us to find our own life.
As a church, our hope is to reflect the life of Jesus and join the movement he started. We believe it to be a life-transforming way of life and world-changing movement.
Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” We may each answer that question differently, but the invitation to follow remains. It’s not an easy way, nor is it a movement that is meant to be walked alone, but along the way we may just find what our hearts and minds have always been hoping to find. And leave the world a better place than we found it too.
Jesus
spirit
Jesus said, “I will be with you always.” The Spirit is the fulfillment of that promise. You know when you inexplicably catch a glimpse of life that invites you into a mystery beyond your understanding? Or when you become overwhelmed with joy as you look into the eyes of your child? Or when you are near your breaking point in the midst of a divorce or loss of a loved one, and you are suddenly swimming in a sea of peace? Or when your anger and resentment toward someone are burning you up inside, but somehow you’re given the strength to forgive them? Or when you start buying less stuff so you can be more generous with your neighbors in need? Yep, that’s the Spirit at work.
The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the “forgotten” God, and that may be due in part to us seeking to intentionally forget this aspect of God because we have absolutely no ability to control it with any meaningful or adequate descriptions. The Spirit is a constant reminder that God’s ways are not our ways, and that any attempt by us to put God in a box will be fruitless. In the end, we can say this: opening ourselves to the Spirit is opening ourselves to the mysteries of God, faith, and life, and we believe that is always a good place to be, for in it, even seemingly meaningless stardust is given meaning and eternal worth.
the word
It’s common for Christians to state that they believe in the authority of scripture because the Apostle Paul writes to his side-kick in ministry, Timothy, in one of his letters that, “All scripture is God-breathed and useful for… (many things)” (2 Timothy 3:16). This verse is interpreted to prove that God “wrote the Bible,” and therefore every word must be read as such.
It’s not that we don’t love that verse, it’s just that one verse can’t be responsible for holding together over 31,000 others. In fact, scripture isn’t held together by verses or chapters or those convenient little tabs that help us find the books of the Minor Prophets (where the heck is Habakkuk?!). The words of scripture are held together by one Word: Jesus.
One of Jesus’ followers, John, wrote that “the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” For us, that means several important things:
1. Jesus would make for a really cool neighbor. Like one of those people who organizes block parties.
2. Jesus is the lens through whom all scripture is interpreted. For example, if Jesus is God, and the God we read about in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) seems really angry and violent at times, but the Jesus we know isn’t angry or violent at all, then we probably need to take another look at those stories and question if they are actually reflective of who God is. Spoiler: they’re not.
3. Jesus is like a colander for truth (but not pasta). When you’re reading the Bible, pour it through the Jesus colander. If it’s small and ultimately inconsequential for a life of faith, or not something Jesus would have said, thought, believed, or done, then it’s okay to let it pass through. It’s not that many of those verses are “bad” or false, it’s just that if Jesus can boil down 613 laws to 2 (love God and love neighbor), we feel like he was pretty good at putting first things first. Let’s do the same.
4. Jesus is the Word in the flesh. Put another way, Jesus is the Bible in the flesh, which means that scripture is a living and breathing thing. This statement may walk the tightrope of heresy, but living and breathing things must grow and evolve in order to live. In other words, although God doesn’t change, our interpretation of the Bible can, and must, in order for it to continue to have life. As those awesome United Church of Christ peeps say, “God is still speaking.” If it actually is the living Bible, let’s let it live.
5. Jesus is life-giving. We interpret “all scripture is God-breathed” to mean that it gives life, just as the breath of God was breathed into us in the creation story (Genesis 2). In the same way, scripture breathes life into us. Or it can… tightrope of heresy again: All scripture is not by default the inspired, life-giving word of God. Instead, it is the inspired word of God when it inspires us to do the will of God. Jesus says that people will know Christians by their love; likewise, you and I will recognize scripture by its love.
So, reading the Bible doesn’t make you a “good” Christian, but it sure does have the ability to inspire, comfort, strengthen, challenge, instruct, empower, heal, and show us what it looks like to follow in the way of Jesus. Plus, if it’s Jesus in the flesh, it’s a pretty good person to get to know. And you may just find that you have a role to play in the greatest story ever told as well.
gardening
Our story begins in a garden. It begins with us being named children of God. As it turns out, this naming doesn’t only give us our identity, it also gives us a job. The role humans are to play in the grand story of life is gardener. Yep, we’re created to be gardeners. “The Lord God put [us] in the Garden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). If you suck at gardening, don’t worry, it’s more of a charge to take care of creation (each other and the planet) than to grow zucchini.
We give our hearts to this sacred job because it’s our way of participating in the work of God to make all things right. Although we’re not always great at it, or as committed to the task as we’d like, for us the work looks like grabbing a shovel and trying to dig out injustice by its roots, doing our part to make sure everyone has equal access to the food that’s grown, beautifying the field so our neighbors can enjoy it, and planting trees we’ll never see mature, but plant anyway to love and support those who come after us. Oh, plus make sure we’re never gardening alone, because we were created to partner not only with God, but with each other.
Let’s get dirty!
wonder & mystery
We’ll keep this short: we don’t have it all figured out. Like, not even close. The best we have to offer God and our world is a sincere humility when it comes to understanding and speaking about the mysteries of life and faith. We feel like this is a good place to be, despite the occasional discomfort we experience in the midst of uncertainty, because it makes us more able to celebrate that which is beyond our human comprehension and appreciate the sheer wonder of existence and all of creation. Church doctrine and formalized creeds have their place, of course, but what inspires us most is a faith that participates in mystery.
As Neil Armstrong, who knew a thing or two about the stars, said, “Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of our desire to understand.” That sounds a lot like faith to us.
the best for last…
A list of beliefs could get really unwieldy, so instead of listing what we love about the church, or understand “sin” to be, or what heaven is (or who “goes” there), or why Austin is clearly superior to all other cities, we’ll conclude with this core belief: in the end, all shall be well, for we are loved and God will redeem and restore all of creation. This includes kicking injustices butt, casting out all -isms, flooding the earth with grace and forgiveness, wiping away every tear, binding every broken heart, and loving evil out of existence.
“On earth as it is in heaven,” isn’t just something we say in the Lord’s Prayer. It is a statement of where we place our faith and our hope.
And, with God’s help, what we give our hearts and lives to.
Amen.