Almost from the very beginning of our journey together as the community called Wellspring – we have found that reading a creed together in our worship gathering helps us stay focused on the important things. We started with the long standing creeds of the church like the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. After that, we found the Jesus Creed written by Brian McLaren. Later McLaren wrote the Justice Creed and we used it some. None of those creed; however, adequately or completely expressed what we have come to believe at Wellspring. Recently I wrote the Wellspring Creed in an attempt to express what we as a community have come to believe. We don’t’ demand that anyone believe any part of this creed, but we like to use it as our compass – to keep us headed in what we believe is the right direction. I thought I would share it with you on here.
We believe in God – the creator of the universe:
God is full of mercy and grace,
God is just and loves justice,
God is love and is on our side.
God’s hope is to be in relationship with every person,
God’s plan is to restore all of creation to wholeness, and to see his dream for the world - his kingdom come.
We believe in Jesus the Christ:
Jesus is the human expression of God,
Jesus is the savior of the world,
Jesus is the living demonstration of God’s dream for the world.
Jesus came to put the world right again,
Jesus came to display the justice of God,
Jesus came to provide real & eternal life – life as God intended it to be lived.
We believe in the Holy Spirit:
We believe that the Holy Spirit is here now,
The Holy Spirit guides us into truth,
The Holy Spirit empowers our lives as we seek God’s kingdom as our first priority.
We believe that God has a purpose for each of us, and so in faith:
We commit to recognize & honor God,
We commit to pursue a relationship with God,
We commit to embody the character of God,
We commit to align our lives with God’s dream for the world – helping to make the world a better place.
Amen
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Why I Like The Shack
Recently I was asked to explain why I liked the book The Shack - written by William P. Young.
Jesus often used Parables as his preferred teaching method during his earthly ministry. I believe the Shack is a modern day parable. It’s a story that can be used to teach important ideas about God. Here are three ideas from this parable that stand out for me.
1. The book presents an image of God that is extremely attractive. God is depicted as being loving, kind, patient and forgiving. God is not presented as being mean, judgmental, and harsh. I believe these characterizations of God are accurate. I believe that they are consistent with the character of God described in the Bible.
A vast number of people are turning away from the Christian church today. Many are turned off by Christians and Christianity. They say that Christians are unloving, mean-spirited, judgmental, rigid and un-thinking. They believe that becoming a Christian will make them a worse person not a better person. In far too many cases, I’m afraid that their assessment is accurate.
As followers of Jesus we are living representatives of God in the world. Many Christians are misrepresenting God. Our character doesn’t match His. We have convinced ourselves that it is more important to believe rightly than it is to behave rightly. We have forgotten the Great Commandment. As a result, many people don’t think that God is good.
In the book, God lovingly and gently helps Mack confront his own brokenness and then He woos Mack toward wholeness. Again, I believe this accurately describes how God works in all of our lives. Because God is presented in such a loving way, many people who normally wouldn’t read anything about God are reading and enjoying this book. I love when God says “I’m especially fond of you.”
2. The book depicts God in ways that are different from our typical stereotypes about him. God the father is depicted as a woman for example. I love this! It seems to me that far too many people think that they have God all figured out. They seem to think that God can’t possibly be any different than their image of Him. I think we need to be reminded that in the Bible God revealed himself in a variety of ways. We need to be reminded that the word “Holy” carries the idea of being completely “other.” God leaves us with much mystery about himself. Even the great apostle Paul acknowledged his limited understanding in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12. Paul said “We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.” And here is a quote from The Shack “faith does not grow in the house of certainty.” I believe we will be in a much better place when we embrace the mystery of God and when we remember that whatever we say is only a portion of the truth.
3. I really like the way the book depicts the personal relationship between the Trinity and Mack. The book described a personal relationship that was deep and intimate. I want to relate to God in that way. Often we talk about God, read about God, sing about God, and form beliefs about God, but we don’t really relate to God. We don’t engage him in a daily relationship.
Here are two quotes from the book that stood out for me:
“Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me.”
“Mack, I don’t want to be the first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life – your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities – is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.”
What are your thought?
Jesus often used Parables as his preferred teaching method during his earthly ministry. I believe the Shack is a modern day parable. It’s a story that can be used to teach important ideas about God. Here are three ideas from this parable that stand out for me.
1. The book presents an image of God that is extremely attractive. God is depicted as being loving, kind, patient and forgiving. God is not presented as being mean, judgmental, and harsh. I believe these characterizations of God are accurate. I believe that they are consistent with the character of God described in the Bible.
A vast number of people are turning away from the Christian church today. Many are turned off by Christians and Christianity. They say that Christians are unloving, mean-spirited, judgmental, rigid and un-thinking. They believe that becoming a Christian will make them a worse person not a better person. In far too many cases, I’m afraid that their assessment is accurate.
As followers of Jesus we are living representatives of God in the world. Many Christians are misrepresenting God. Our character doesn’t match His. We have convinced ourselves that it is more important to believe rightly than it is to behave rightly. We have forgotten the Great Commandment. As a result, many people don’t think that God is good.
In the book, God lovingly and gently helps Mack confront his own brokenness and then He woos Mack toward wholeness. Again, I believe this accurately describes how God works in all of our lives. Because God is presented in such a loving way, many people who normally wouldn’t read anything about God are reading and enjoying this book. I love when God says “I’m especially fond of you.”
2. The book depicts God in ways that are different from our typical stereotypes about him. God the father is depicted as a woman for example. I love this! It seems to me that far too many people think that they have God all figured out. They seem to think that God can’t possibly be any different than their image of Him. I think we need to be reminded that in the Bible God revealed himself in a variety of ways. We need to be reminded that the word “Holy” carries the idea of being completely “other.” God leaves us with much mystery about himself. Even the great apostle Paul acknowledged his limited understanding in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12. Paul said “We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.” And here is a quote from The Shack “faith does not grow in the house of certainty.” I believe we will be in a much better place when we embrace the mystery of God and when we remember that whatever we say is only a portion of the truth.
3. I really like the way the book depicts the personal relationship between the Trinity and Mack. The book described a personal relationship that was deep and intimate. I want to relate to God in that way. Often we talk about God, read about God, sing about God, and form beliefs about God, but we don’t really relate to God. We don’t engage him in a daily relationship.
Here are two quotes from the book that stood out for me:
“Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me.”
“Mack, I don’t want to be the first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life – your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities – is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.”
What are your thought?
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