In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion
of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One
of Israel,
whom alone we worship and
serve. We trust in Jesus Christ,
Fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the
poor
and release to
the captives,
teaching by word and deed
and blessing the
children,
healing the sick
and binding up
the brokenhearted,
eating with outcasts,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to repent
and believe the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,
Jesus was crucified,
suffering the depths of human
pain
and giving his life for the
sins of the world.
God raised Jesus from the dead,
vindicating his sinless life,
breaking the power of sin
and evil,
delivering us from death to
life eternal.We trust in God,
whom Jesus called Abba, Father.
In sovereign love God created the world good
and makes everyone equally
in God's image
male and female,
of every race and people,
to live as one community.
But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator.
Ignoring God's commandments,
we violate the image of God
in others and ourselves,
accept lies as truth,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the
planet entrusted to our care.
We deserve God's condemnation.
Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem
creation.
In everlasting love,
the God of Abraham
and Sarah chose a covenant people
to
bless all families of the earth.
Hearing their cry,
God delivered
the children of Israel
from
the house of bondage.
Loving us still,
God makes us heirs
with Christ of the covenant.
Like a mother who will not
forsake her nursing child,
like a father who runs to
welcome the prodigal home,
God is faithful
still. We trust in God the Holy Spirit,
everywhere the giver and renewer
of life.
The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith,
sets us free to accept ourselves
and to love God and neighbor,
and binds us together with
all believers
in the one body of Christ,
the church.
The same Spirit
who inspired the prophets
and apostles
rules our faith and life in
Christ through Scripture,
engages us through the Word
proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of
baptism,
feeds us with the bread of
life and the cup of salvation,
and calls women and men to
all ministries of the church.
In a broken and fearful world
the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples
to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in church
and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples
long silenced,
and to work with others for
justice, freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
we strive to serve Christ
in our daily tasks
and to live holy
and joyful lives,
even as we watch for God's
new heaven and new earth,
praying, Come,
Lord Jesus!With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord.Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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