As trite as the message board illustration can appear, its visual clarity has lingered with me lately. The image of offering to meet our human needs publicly--for all passersby as well as identified believers--stands as a ready snapshot of God's freely-offered grace. Though our faith will not be reduced to bumper stickers and posters, we may let an image remind us of what scripture takes volumes to say: we are beloved.
God has used the Law and the prophets to call us to relationship and to draw us unto Himself, and continues to draw us through the Spirit.
A favorite statement of faith is known as the Modern Affirmation:
We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, power and love, whose mercy is over all his works, and whose will is ever directed to his children's good.
We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man, the gift of the Father's unfailing grace, the ground of our hope, and the promise of our deliverance from sin and death.
We believe in the Holy Spirit as the divine presence in our lives, whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance of the truth of Christ, and find strength and help in time of need.
We believe that this faith should manifest itself in the service of love as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord, to the end that the kingdom of God may come upon the earth.
Amen.
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