The ancient trinitarian Apostles and Nicene Creeds are foundational for the church’s faith. But through them believers cannot confess all that is important to them. Affirming biblical statements of faith helps Christian tradition remain alive and vibrant.

The following statements are formatted and adapted for worship by John.

“God is Love” from 1 John 4

P          Who is our God?

C         God is love! 

God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

P          What is love?

C         In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  

Since God loved us so much,

we also ought to love one another.

P          How do we experience God?

C         No one has ever seen God;

if we love one another, God lives in us,

and his love is perfected in us.

God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.  

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

We love because God first loved us.

All       Amen.

“Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace”  from Ephesians 4

P          People of God, what is your calling?

C          We are called by God to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

            There is one body and one Spirit, just as we were called to the one hope of our calling:

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

P          How does God empower you to work for unity?

C          Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

The gifts he gives us are varied,

but all are to be used for the work of ministry,

for building up the body of Christ.

Speaking  the truth in love, we grow up in every way into Christ,

who knits us together, and equips us to work together,

and grow together in love.

All        Amen. 

“More Than Conquerors”  Romans 8:31-39

P          If God is for us, who is against us?

C          God, who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not also give us everything else?

P           Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?

C          It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

P          Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

C          No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  

Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“What Does the Lord Require?”   (From Micah 6:6-8)

P          With what shall we come before the Lord,

and bow ourselves before God on high?

Shall we come before God with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

      Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall we give our firstborn for our transgression,

the fruit of our bodies for the sins of our soul?”

C    God has told us mortals what is good.

The Lord requires of us

 to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with our God.

“Hear O Israel”   (From Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

P          People of God, will you hear the commandments of the Lord, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you?

C          The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

We will love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our might.

We will keep these words in our hearts. 

We will recite them to our children and talk about them when we are at home and when we are away, when you lie down and when we rise.  

Amen.

“Have the Same Mind as Christ”  from Philippians 2

P          People of God, will you live your faith by encouraging, consoling, loving, and sharing with one another in the Spirit of Christ?

C          We will do nothing out of selfishness, but regard others as better than ourselves. We will have the same mind as Christ Jesus…

      who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

      but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

         he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

      Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

      so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

      and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

            “The Greatest Commandment”  from  Matthew 22.37-40

P          What is the greatest commandment?

C          The first and greatest commandment is this:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul,

and with all your mind.’

 And a second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Amen.