April 11, 2000

The question "What does your church believe?" is unanswerable.

How can one person summarize all the beliefs, hopes, desires of a large group of people.

The question you should be ready to answer is "What do you believe?" The church of all believers is best understood through the actions of the people who make it up, through you. This means a truly personal testimony, that changes over time as you grow in understanding of the truth. But, before you settle on a creed of set of rote beliefs, remember, as said in the movie "Dogma," God likes ideas, not beliefs.

Dogma, or unquestioned beliefs, dull the soul and serve as a roadblock to our growth and becoming. Our church urges us to seek all truth. This requires the disciple to be constantly questioning and exploring, to discover the truths that are meaningful to them.

In addition, people through the ages have captured their experience with God in the scriptures and these serve as a good source of ideas for the searcher for truth.

Some of the truths I have found are: that God exists, that Christ came to earth to show us an example of how to live, and that the Holy Spirit is a constant companion. God created people, thus all people are of worth in his sight and they should be in mine as well. Each person has potential and is called to realize that potential. The community of believers is called not to sanctuary for safety for themselves, but rather to put themselves at risk so they can create sanctuary for the bruised and broken.

Now try to think, what are your ideas?