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In
life and death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we
trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we
worship and serve.
We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully
God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching
by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding
up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving
sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the
gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was
crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for
the sins of the world. God raised Jesus from the dead, vindicating
his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from
death to life eternal.
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba,
Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes
everyone equally in God's image male and female, of every race and
people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God;
we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God's commandments, we violate
the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as
truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet
entrusted to our care. We deserve God's condemnation. Yet
God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting
love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all
families of the earth.
Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house
of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the
covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child,
like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful
still.
We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of
life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free
to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together
with all believers in the one body of Christ, the church. The same
Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life
in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and
the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the
church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord
and Savior, to unmask idolatries in church and culture, to hear the
voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice,
freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ
in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch
for God's new heaven and new earth, praying, Come, Lord Jesus!
With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life
or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
