I believe that fear creates hatred and enmity between people, and therefore enmity with God. The disciples were afraid. It is counter to faith in God (see I John 4).
I have been in boats in storms, mostly as a young child and teen. It is a helpless feeling on Lake Erie as the waves crash and no matter how hard you pull the oars, it seems the lake is going to win - and we know what that means.
I have had dreams and what I believed at the time to be encounters with paranormal powers. That is no fun either.
I now believe in God's Presence and Love and Grace as being that which is constant and is sufficient for me.
What I mean by that is that I do not look for supernatural interventions to save me. I believe that I have been preserved from death numerous times in my life, but I do not believe that God either pulls chords or pushes buttons to bring me harm or deliver me from it.
I believe that when Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit descended, we were promised not to be left alone. The Pentecost experience was God's dramatic way of saying, "I am still with you."
I believe in Jesus' ultimate act of Grace on the Cross to give salvation through His redemption to ALL people.
I believe in Jesus' Way for us - the way of living Agape Love in order to transform the world.
It is not as if God has said, "You are now on your own." It is like God saying, "I am with you, and I have given you the Good News of Agape Love to guide you on how you live with one another in faithfulness to me."
To count on supernatural interventions is to believe that I/we can do whatever we want in this life and God will save us from the consequences. That is cheap Grace.
Whether it is the stewardship of the creation, individual decisions, collective ideologies and words and actions or stupid words and actions, I do not believe that God is beholden to rescue us from ourselves or each other. I believe that we have been given the teaching, commands and examples of Jesus to guide us on how to live in this part of God's Kingdom here and now, and I believe that we have the presence of the Holy Spirit to give us comfort and a sense of accountability to God and Neighbor.
I do not believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of the ONE who answers prayer, and in my experience that answer is often NO or NOT YET, or YOU CAN DO BETTER YOURSELF. I pray in thankfulness for God's Grace and the Gospel. Period.
I am a person of the Way of Jesus. I believe that living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us to live is faithfulness to God.
I do not look for God to rescue me supernaturally from the consequences of my actions. I believe in God's Love, God's Grace, God's Forgiveness, God's Guidance and God's Presence in my life, and I believe that THAT is enough.
I also believe that I am accountable to God for how I live with God's children, my sisters and brothers, even strangers and enemies, and especially the most vulnerable among us. I believe that I am accountable to counter the empire values, ideologies and systems that hurt God's children who are my sisters and brothers.
That is my creed. On those principles I live and move and have my being within God.
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