This tweet arrived on Sunday without any explanation or background. Why is General CounciI, the national part of our country-wide denomination issuing a vision statement at this juncture of our life together? read it and by and large agreed with it because I certainly want to be hopeful and daring and spiritual within the context of the United Church. It took a bit of pondering to come up with why I wasn't altogether enthused by what I read. It seemed as though the God aspect of our vision was given short shrift, a total of seven words, before moving on, and those few words felt more unitarian than trinitarian. Isn't the God stuff why we are about the other stuff, and isn't it important to affirm that our faith is the mystery of God, three-in-one?
I mused a bit more and came up with: Called by the Creator God, as disciples of the living Christ, animated by the Holy Spirit... and then off to the races we go.
All may be revealed as time goes on, and I'll look forward to hearing about what has inspired this latest vision statement. In the meantime I'm inclined toward the Statement of Faith which first saw the light of day back in 1968, has undergone some important tweaks and additions, and which has lots of vision within its phrases, thanks be to God:
We are not alone,
we live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
A New Creed is a brief and well-loved affirmation of faith used widely in our worship (1968; rev. 1980, 1995).
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