creed

Our understanding of God has great limitations,[1] but in humility this creed challenges us to live good and true lives. It is our perception of how God is moving theologically at Case Mountain Community Church. The creed is placed in our greater cultural context and has inherent biases, which impact it. It may not reflect how God has worked throughout history or how he might choose to work in the future, but it seeks to reflect his working today at CMCC. A creed can never replace God’s touch in our lives, and as a work is as prone to distortion as it is to being helpful. As such, we acknowledge that it shall be looked at often and that it must be open to the strongest criticism:

There is one God,[2] maker of heaven and earth.[3] He stood in chaos and created order,[4] a pattern found throughout his interactions with humanity.[5] He is understood in triune terms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit[6] and is beyond gender.[7] God is not like us, and our understanding is therefore circumscribed.[8] Our response to this is humility.[9] We look to God to provide a living means[10] to help us know him and to also alert us when we misunderstand or misconstrue him.[11]

Jesus as the Christ experienced life as divine and human,[12] and through his living,[13] passion,[14] resurrection,[15] and on-going intercession[16] has made way for the salvation[17] of humanity. For humans are distant from God and yet essentially recognize that they should be intimately related to him.[18] Nature[19] and our conscience,[20] as well as scripture,[21] illuminate the story of God’s good intentions for us. Each person plays a significant part in his or her salvation presently and eternally,[22] but God’s pro-activity and grace form the foundation.[23]

Our hope is pragmatic, allowing each person to live life as intended by God.[24] It is summed up in Christ’s commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with our entire mind, and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.[25] This hope is found in intimacy with God through Jesus;[26] his second coming; and points of justice, peace, and love on earth as God’s Kingdom is revealed. Authenticity of the spiritual life comes in our participation with the work of Jesus through ongoing patterns of incarnation (God touching humanity in tangible time and space and with intention), reconciliation (a mix of repentance, forgiveness, redemption, and justice/restitution), peacemaking, loving God, and loving others. Expressions of a God-life include gratitude, generosity in all realms and capacities, praise, worship, the deepest of communion and prayer, righteousness and obedience, rituals of love such as baptism and communion, and finding the beautiful wherever possible.[27] It is a life grasped by faith,[28] and this faith requires aggressive participation.[29]

Those who take God seriously will find adversity at work. This can be attributed to bad decisions believers make, the devil’s influence in a world where distance from God has given Satan counter-streams of power, others’ free will to make bad decisions or decisions in line with Satan’s counterfeit influence, or life being inherently risky.[30] Christ’s redemption allows for the overcoming of adversity.

Jesus the Christ is the Word of God, which was manifest before time[31] and continues through creation in the Holy Spirit.[32] The Bible is inspired by God through human authors[33] and provides the primary means of conceptualizing who God is and our lives in relation to him.[34] It speaks to the centrality of Jesus and helps us make sense of the world. We recognize that God uses the Bible in subtle and extraordinary ways,[35] and that humans can (sometimes) use it for manipulation and their own ends.[36] It takes careful and in-depth study[37] to understand the Bible, and through meditation,[38] it can change lives in God.

God has deep intention and love for the world, and the work of Christ is primal.[39] The full means of eternal life, reconciliation and redemption, and other matters deep within the soul are within God’s hands.[40] We look to him for wisdom on where to place our faith, where to keep speculative, where to voice, and where to remain silent. Jesus indicated that humanity was ready for God’s radical[41] message and that the problem was in believers not participating with him in the work.[42] We are compelled by this message.

We are convinced that it is within the aesthetic, joy, and pain of community that God works as well as the Spirit within us individually.[43] This community is where: faith is released, worship engulfs, healing occurs, births and deaths are ritualized, marriages are celebrated, righteousness becomes intuition, important matters are grappled with and practiced, spiritual gifts[44] and talents are released, and lovers of God are equipped to live intentional lives. Daily life is enjoyed with others. The unbeliever tastes God’s goodness as God’s lovers interact with him or her in community, and they are given room to explore their potentiality and voice in the Body of Christ. All in the community become responsible for who they existentially become: decisions reflect their lives drawing closer to Christ or distancing from him. A Kingdom community offers an honest place for this living to take place along with amazing grace to manifest, which can’t be contained in the imagination of humans.[45]

We are one locus of the Body of Christ. God is more creative and uses avenues, denominations, and personal revelation in ways that are inventive and meets the depths of people in every context. We recognize that there may be inconsistencies or even heresies in how others may work out their faith in God, but we also recognize that we could be participating in similar sin at any time. We want to be honest and live an authentic expression of God through Jesus Christ and are open to discipline when we get it wrong.[46] There is a subset of humanity that will be known as God’s children, his church, but determining who will be included in this group is the responsibility of God. [47] We choose not to conjecture.[48] Believers recognize and passionately obey Jesus’ voice[49] and our joy is to encourage this whenever possible.

[1] 1 Corinthians 13:12; John 3:31

[2] Deuteronomy 6:4-6; 1 Corinthians 8:6, 12:4-6; James 2:19

[3] Genesis 1:1, 14:19; Psalm 115:15

[4] Genesis 1:2-3; Isaiah 45:18

[5] Genesis 22; Job 26:7

[6] Genesis 1:26; Proverbs 9:1; Matthew 6:9, 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14

[7] Genesis 1:27; Luke 13:34. The biblical account typically uses male pronouns, although female imagery is also present (Isaiah 64:8; Matthew 6:9; Isaiah 49:15-16; Luke 13:34)

[8] Proverbs 3:5; Isaiah 55:8-9

[9] Job 42:1-6; Matthew 11:25, 21:16

[10] 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 1:1-3

[11] Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2

[12] John 1:14, 6:68-69, 20:28; Matthew 2:1-4, 16:16;

[13] John 1:14, 8:12

[14] Mark 14:3-15:47

[15] John 11:25-27; Matthew 28:2-10; Acts 1:3

[16] Romans 8:34; Hebrews 2:17, 4:15

[17] Psalm 98:2-3, 106:21; Song of Solomon 2:4; Isaiah 12:3, 25:6-9, 45:22; Matthew 19:21-30, 22:1-15; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 14:13-27, 13:22-30; John 5:39-40, 17:3; Acts 4:12, 28:28; Romans 10:5-20; Philippians 2:12; 2Corinthians 7:8-11; Titus 2:11-15; Hebrews 2:14-18, 1Peter 1:6-30; Revelation 19:9

[18] Acts 17:22-26; Luke 10:25-29; 18:13; Romans 5:12-20

[19] Romans 1:20, 8:19-22

[20] Job 27:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Corinthians 1:12

[21] John 7:38; Acts 17:2; 1 Timothy 4:13; 5:18; 2 Peter 1:20

[22] Philippians 2:12; Luke 3:4-9; John 8:46; John 14:6; Romans 6:8, 10:9; 2 Timothy 4:10; Acts 5:3-5; 1 Peter 1:13

[23] Zechariah 12:10; John 1:14-17, 4:11-30; Acts 4:11-12, 15:10-12, Romans 5:6-21; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 1:10-12

[24] Exodus 9:16; Psalms 57:2, 138:8; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 14:26; Ephesians 1:1-14, 2:10; Hebrews 4:12

[25] Mark 12:29-31

[26] Romans 5:1-5, 8:31-35, 38-39

[27] Philippians 4:8

[28] Mark 2:5; Luke 17:9; 1 Corinthians 12:7,9; Galatians 5:5; Ephesians 2:8-9, 4:4-5; Colossians 2:12; Hebrews 11, 12:2

[29] Genesis 22; 1 Chronicles 10:13; Matthew 8:5-13, 11:12; Romans 1:17; 1 Timothy 3:9, 6:12; James 1:6, 2:22; Revelation 14:12

[30] Genesis 4:6-8, 25:32-36; Job 6:1-12; Jonah 3 and 4; Matthew 16:23; Mark 4:15; Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 2:11, 11:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:9- 12; Galatians 2:11-14

[31] John 1:1-5, 17:17; Genesis 1:2-3, 2:7; Romans 10:8, 17; Hebrews 1:3

[32] John 1:9-10; Acts 17:25; Hebrews 1:2

[33] Luke 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 7:10,12; Titus 1:1

[34] Matthew 22:29; Luke 4:21; Romans 4:3, 10:11, 15:4

[35] 2 Timothy 3:16

[36] 2 Peter 3:16; John 5:39

[37] Technically, exegesis and hermeneutics - Ezra 7:10; 2 Timothy 2:15

[38] Merton’s definition of meditation that includes experience beyond one’s capabilities through Christ

[39] Matthew 28:18-20; John 3:16; Romans 8:19-24; 1 John 4:9, 17

[40] Isaiah 55:8; Jeremiah 33:3

[41] “arising from or going to the root” from Visual Thesaurus by Plumb Design

[42] Matthew 9:35-38

[43] Romans 8:16- 17; Colossians 3:16

[44] 1 Corinthians 12 and 14

[45] Acts 2:42-47

[46] Deuteronomy 8:5; Proverbs 13:24, 19:18; Acts 17:11; Hebrews 12:3-11; Revelation 3:19

[47] Matthew 7:20-27, 13:24-33; Mark 10:31

[48] Romans 10:6-7

[49] John 10:3-18, 10:27, 14:23