A Statement of faith is commonly a list of beliefs, presented so we can determine if we agree. But humans have a long history of getting it wrong and then fighting about it. I want to present this as a snapshot of what now informs my choices and outlook. I hope that we can give more energy to learning and living in the spirit than in making dividing lines.

GOD . . .

What makes the plants grow? As clear as the sun rising each morning is the knowledge that the universe is animated by a force bigger than us and more creative, more urgent than random selection.

SPIRIT . . .

I can feel the spirit in healing, in myself when I'm given strength, in other people when they are powered by love. It is a tangible experience. Real. A physical and present manifestation of love. The Spirit brings healing, comfort, truth, and transformation. I'm drawn to it, to sharing it.

I don't expect everyone to have this sense, just as I don't expect much of my own poor sense of smell. Everyone is different.

CHRIST . . .

Jesus taught and demonstrated that love overcomes evil. The sermon on the mount are instructions to live in love. The healings are love manifested. The cross is love in action. The messiah was expected to be Lord and master by the sword, but it was through vulnerable love that victory came. This is a deeper power. The resurrection demonstrates that anything, ANYTHING can be healed, used by God and turned to love.

We are left with the record of a leader who said, "Go and do likewise." To heal, to pray, to love others, to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. What would Jesus do? His example inspires me, so I follow.

FORGIVENESS AND A RIVER OF LOVE . . .

Jesus said you are loved and you are forgiven. I'm convinced of that love because I've felt it through the Spirit and seen it in action in community. I believe the very fabric of the universe is built with love, the same as makes the plants grow. The love is real and it is available to everyone.

Love is not comfortable. Love requires responsibility, integrity, tolerance and commitment. Love is joyous, fun, easy, and passionate. Love is a tangible communion: God made manifest.

Forgiveness is accepting what is, understanding limitations. So of course we're forgiven, when we live in the love.

ARE YOU SAVED? . . .

Being saved is the transformation that occurs when one can release the burdens of guilt and fear and insecurity because now one is assured of Christ's love and one can trust in Christ for security. That's a big deal.

The reality is that some Christians have made being saved more of a threat than a welcome.

That same sense of release occurs in other spiritual paths. I suspect it is the same Holy Spirit at work.

"Are you saved," is the wrong question. Rather, the question is, "Can you trust?" There are varieties of trust: prayer, the assurance of Christ's forgiveness, the living experience of Spirit, reliance on scripture, the discipline of daily practice, knowing that I will be all right. Some discover in a life-changing moment that they can trust; I grow into it; some lucky ones are born with the trust.

PRAYER . . .

In prayer, we orient ourselves to God. Part of the power is in the shift we make in ourselves. Without the connection of prayer, a spirituality would be incomplete for me.

EQUALITY . . .

I believe in a fundamental human equality: that we all have the access and potential to hear the word of God. We all, equally, have the invitation to come to Christ, to become enlightened, to be guided by the Spirit.

Yes, some have particular gifts, but everyone has some gift. And even those who have turned away from the light still have that potential. Love is always a choice. Scriptures are full of unlikely characters who surprise people and become central to God's plans.

Therefore, as we are equal in the sight of God, we should accord each other an equality in respect.

TRUTH . . .

Some choices are true, some are not. Living in truth is swimming with the current of love, fitting into the reality much bigger than us. We are given the freedom to swim upstream, but we take the consequences.

When I live by accepting what is real, I find a peace.

I experience a guide that prompts me with intuition and a physical sense. This kind of listening is the flip side of prayer. This is added to the wisdom of other people and the good sense of my own reason.

The bible is a record of people's experience of God, and therefore contains truth. Clearly God has not stopped speaking truth. I also do not believe the bible presents the only way. This does not match my experience of God (God is better than that!), and my experience that other faiths have something.

I know that the world is complicated and we might be led astray, either by our own fears or unhelpful spirits. We can not abdicate the responsibility to evaluate what we hear and the responsibility for our own choices.