BELIEFS - THE STORY
PART I: GOD AND CREATION
The triune God - Father, Son, and Spirit - created heaven and earth and the whole cosmos and all that is in it, from the tiniest sub-atomic particle to the blue whale to the Himalayas to the galaxies at the farthest reaches of space, and declared it all very good. Finally, God created humanity in his image, male and female, that they might reflect his being in the creation, that he might relate to them with trust and freedom, and that they might relate to one another and within themselves in wholeness and purity. God gave humanity the task of stewarding the very good creation, to be its caretakers, filling the earth and expanding his rule and order throughout it. (See especially Genesis 1 and 2)
PART II: THE FALL
Humanity, however, rebelled against the God who created them, who loved them, and who had called them to loving relationship with himself and with one another. With this rebellion, sickness and death entered the creation. The very good creation began to become unraveled. Where there was health and wholeness, sickness and death emerged. Where there was intimate relationship between God and his people, the people hid from their Creator and from one another in shame and guilt. Shame and guilt gave way to anger, enmity, hatred, jealousy, infidelity, disloyalty, theft, murder, and all the rest - and finally to death. Like a genetic sickness, this slavery to sin and rebellion has been passed through all generations of humanity, along with its consequences. (See especially Genesis 3 and Romans 8.18-39)
PART III: THE RESCUE - ISRAEL
But God, not willing to abandon his creation, had a rescue plan. That rescue plan involved one man, one family, one nation. God chose Abraham and called him to get up and go. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him that through his descendants he would perform his rescue of his very good creation, and release all humanity from its bondage to sin, sickness, and death. Abraham and the Israelites were called to join him as agents of his rescue. Following their own rescue by God from slavery in Egypt, they were called to be a people of abundant, flourishing life, set apart as a community of contrast, to be a light that would lead all nations, all tribes, all peoples, back into intimate communion and relationship with him and with one another. Unfortunately, Israel quickly lost its distinctive nature, trading the abundant, flourishing life God had intended for them for a cheap imitation. They worshiped their neighbors' gods. They acted like their neighbors. They became part of the darkness into which they were supposed to shine God's light. (See especially Genesis 12.1-9; Exodus 12.31-42; Isaiah 42.5-9)
PART IV: THE RESCUE - THE COMING OF THE KING (JESUS, THE CROSS, AND RESURRECTION)
But God was still unwilling to abandon his people to death and creation to decay. Even if Abraham's descendants had failed to live into and live up to their rescue by God in the exodus, and failed to join God in his rescue mission, God would carry on his rescue. He would do it himself. In Jesus the Messiah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob took on human flesh. In Jesus Christ, God came into the world to fulfill all the hopes and longings of the descendants of Abraham, and all of humanity. Jesus' mission was clearly articulated by the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." His mission was to announce and make reality nothing less than the arrival of God's kingdom, in which Jesus is King. Within himself, Jesus faithfully fulfilled Israel's mission to be a light to the nations. Jesus, within himself, in his road of suffering service culminating in crucifixion on the cross in which he took on the faithlessness of humanity, brought about a new exodus that has opened the way for the whole of humanity to be reconciled to God and one another, a restoration of the original creational purpose in which God's justice and peace reigned. In his resurrection, Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection of all God's people, and the firstfruits of new creation. As Paul says, "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." In Jesus' death and resurrection "death is swallowed up in victory." (See especially John 1.14; Luke 4.14-21; 1 Corinthians 15.20-26 and 15.50-58)
PART V: THE RESCUE - THE CHURCH
Following his resurrection, Jesus entered into the heavenly realm to rule over creation from the Father's right hand, calling the people who are found in him to be the agents of his rescue. He did not, however, leave his people on their own. He left a helper, the Holy Spirit, who calls, indwells, empowers, and equips God's people and gathers them together into the Church. It is through local congregations and the global, universal Church that Jesus carries on God's rescue mission in this world, empowering those individuals and congregations to proclaim the good news and practice the peace, reconciliation, renewal, forgiveness, generosity, hospitality, grace, and joy that comes with resurrection and new creation life. The Church, corporately and individually, does this and is this in all the places to which God calls it - in the gathered local congregation, in families, in neighborhoods, in places of work, in the coffee shop, and in the park. The Church, in the power of the Spirit and guidance of the Word and nourishment of the sacraments, is the hope of the world, a community set apart to be a light to the nations that embodies and leads all peoples to the abundant, flourishing, salvation life that God has made possible in the reign of Jesus Christ. The local congregation is an advanced outpost of God's resurrection and new creation - of God's kingdom - in this world. (See especially Matthew 28.16-20; John 17.13-21 & 20.19-21; Acts 1 & 2)
PART VI: THE RETURN OF THE KING (CREATION RENEWED)
However, the universal and local church outposts are only outposts. God's kingdom is here, but it is not complete, not fulfilled. Brokenness and death remain mingled with these foretastes of God's kingdom. As Paul says in his letter to the Christians in Rome: "the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." The creation continues to groan, and we continue to await the fulfillment of our adoption as God's children and heirs. We wait for Jesus' coming into this world to bring his sovereign reign over all things to fulfillment. In a hope that is based on the certainty of Jesus' own resurrection, we await the day when the vision John was given in Revelation 21 will be fulfilled on this earth reconciled, restored, and made new: "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'” (See especially Isaiah 2.1-4, 11.6-10, 65.17-25; Romans 8.18-25; Colossians 1.15-20; Revelation 21.1-5)
* The passages listed above are provided as representative examples; they are not intended to be exhaustive.
The triune God - Father, Son, and Spirit - created heaven and earth and the whole cosmos and all that is in it, from the tiniest sub-atomic particle to the blue whale to the Himalayas to the galaxies at the farthest reaches of space, and declared it all very good. Finally, God created humanity in his image, male and female, that they might reflect his being in the creation, that he might relate to them with trust and freedom, and that they might relate to one another and within themselves in wholeness and purity. God gave humanity the task of stewarding the very good creation, to be its caretakers, filling the earth and expanding his rule and order throughout it. (See especially Genesis 1 and 2)
PART II: THE FALL
Humanity, however, rebelled against the God who created them, who loved them, and who had called them to loving relationship with himself and with one another. With this rebellion, sickness and death entered the creation. The very good creation began to become unraveled. Where there was health and wholeness, sickness and death emerged. Where there was intimate relationship between God and his people, the people hid from their Creator and from one another in shame and guilt. Shame and guilt gave way to anger, enmity, hatred, jealousy, infidelity, disloyalty, theft, murder, and all the rest - and finally to death. Like a genetic sickness, this slavery to sin and rebellion has been passed through all generations of humanity, along with its consequences. (See especially Genesis 3 and Romans 8.18-39)
PART III: THE RESCUE - ISRAEL
But God, not willing to abandon his creation, had a rescue plan. That rescue plan involved one man, one family, one nation. God chose Abraham and called him to get up and go. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him that through his descendants he would perform his rescue of his very good creation, and release all humanity from its bondage to sin, sickness, and death. Abraham and the Israelites were called to join him as agents of his rescue. Following their own rescue by God from slavery in Egypt, they were called to be a people of abundant, flourishing life, set apart as a community of contrast, to be a light that would lead all nations, all tribes, all peoples, back into intimate communion and relationship with him and with one another. Unfortunately, Israel quickly lost its distinctive nature, trading the abundant, flourishing life God had intended for them for a cheap imitation. They worshiped their neighbors' gods. They acted like their neighbors. They became part of the darkness into which they were supposed to shine God's light. (See especially Genesis 12.1-9; Exodus 12.31-42; Isaiah 42.5-9)
PART IV: THE RESCUE - THE COMING OF THE KING (JESUS, THE CROSS, AND RESURRECTION)
But God was still unwilling to abandon his people to death and creation to decay. Even if Abraham's descendants had failed to live into and live up to their rescue by God in the exodus, and failed to join God in his rescue mission, God would carry on his rescue. He would do it himself. In Jesus the Messiah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob took on human flesh. In Jesus Christ, God came into the world to fulfill all the hopes and longings of the descendants of Abraham, and all of humanity. Jesus' mission was clearly articulated by the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." His mission was to announce and make reality nothing less than the arrival of God's kingdom, in which Jesus is King. Within himself, Jesus faithfully fulfilled Israel's mission to be a light to the nations. Jesus, within himself, in his road of suffering service culminating in crucifixion on the cross in which he took on the faithlessness of humanity, brought about a new exodus that has opened the way for the whole of humanity to be reconciled to God and one another, a restoration of the original creational purpose in which God's justice and peace reigned. In his resurrection, Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection of all God's people, and the firstfruits of new creation. As Paul says, "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." In Jesus' death and resurrection "death is swallowed up in victory." (See especially John 1.14; Luke 4.14-21; 1 Corinthians 15.20-26 and 15.50-58)
PART V: THE RESCUE - THE CHURCH
Following his resurrection, Jesus entered into the heavenly realm to rule over creation from the Father's right hand, calling the people who are found in him to be the agents of his rescue. He did not, however, leave his people on their own. He left a helper, the Holy Spirit, who calls, indwells, empowers, and equips God's people and gathers them together into the Church. It is through local congregations and the global, universal Church that Jesus carries on God's rescue mission in this world, empowering those individuals and congregations to proclaim the good news and practice the peace, reconciliation, renewal, forgiveness, generosity, hospitality, grace, and joy that comes with resurrection and new creation life. The Church, corporately and individually, does this and is this in all the places to which God calls it - in the gathered local congregation, in families, in neighborhoods, in places of work, in the coffee shop, and in the park. The Church, in the power of the Spirit and guidance of the Word and nourishment of the sacraments, is the hope of the world, a community set apart to be a light to the nations that embodies and leads all peoples to the abundant, flourishing, salvation life that God has made possible in the reign of Jesus Christ. The local congregation is an advanced outpost of God's resurrection and new creation - of God's kingdom - in this world. (See especially Matthew 28.16-20; John 17.13-21 & 20.19-21; Acts 1 & 2)
PART VI: THE RETURN OF THE KING (CREATION RENEWED)
However, the universal and local church outposts are only outposts. God's kingdom is here, but it is not complete, not fulfilled. Brokenness and death remain mingled with these foretastes of God's kingdom. As Paul says in his letter to the Christians in Rome: "the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." The creation continues to groan, and we continue to await the fulfillment of our adoption as God's children and heirs. We wait for Jesus' coming into this world to bring his sovereign reign over all things to fulfillment. In a hope that is based on the certainty of Jesus' own resurrection, we await the day when the vision John was given in Revelation 21 will be fulfilled on this earth reconciled, restored, and made new: "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'” (See especially Isaiah 2.1-4, 11.6-10, 65.17-25; Romans 8.18-25; Colossians 1.15-20; Revelation 21.1-5)
* The passages listed above are provided as representative examples; they are not intended to be exhaustive.