Ponder these affirmations about what the church can and should be from the book The Phoenix Affirmations. Click on the this link to see a more detailed version:==================================
The public face of Christianity in America today bears little connection to the historic faith of our ancestors. It represents even less our own faith as Christians who continue to celebrate the gifts of our Creator, revealed and embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Heartened by our experience of the transforming presence of Christ’s Holy Spirit in our world, we find ourselves in a time and place where we will be no longer silent. We hereby mark an end to our silence by making the following affirmations:
As people who are joyfully and unapologetically Christian, we pledge ourselves completely to the way of Love. We work to express our love, as Jesus teaches us, in three ways: by loving God, neighbor, and self.
Matt 22:34-40 // Mk 12:28-31 // Lk 10:25-28; Cf. Deut 6:5; Lev. 19:18
Loving God Includes:
Affirmation 1: Walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths God may provide humanity;
Matthew 11:28-29; John 8:12; John 10:16; Mark 9:40
Affirmation 2: Listening for God’s Word which comes through daily prayer and meditation, through studying the ancient testimonies which we call Scripture, and through attending to God’s present activity in the world;
2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 13:12
Affirmation 3: Celebrating the God whose Spirit pervades and whose glory is reflected in all of God’s Creation, including the earth and its ecosystems, the sacred and secular, the Christian and non-Christian, the human and non-human;
Genesis 1:31a; Psalm 96:1,11-12; Acts 17:23
Affirmation 4: Expressing our love in worship that is as sincere, vibrant, and artful as it is scriptural.
Genesis 2:7; Exodus 31:2-5l; Revelation 18:22
Loving Our Neighbor Includes:
Affirmation 5: Engaging people authentically, as Jesus did, treating all as creations made in God’s very image, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental ability, nationality, or economic class;
Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-5; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7
Affirmation 6: Standing, as Jesus does, with the outcast and oppressed, the denigrated and afflicted, seeking peace and justice with or without the support of others;
Micah 6:8; Luke 12:48
Affirmation 7: Preserving religious freedom and the Church’s ability to speak prophetically to government by resisting the commingling of Church and State;
Luke 20:25; 1 Peter 2:17
Affirmation 8: Walking humbly with God, acknowledging our own shortcomings while honestly seeking to understand and call forth the best in others, including those who consider us their enemies;
Luke 18:9-14; Luke 6:27-29; Galatians 5:22-23; John 15:18-19
Loving Ourselves Includes:
Affirmation 9: Basing our lives on the faith that, in Christ, all things are made new, and that we, and all people, are loved beyond our wildest imagination – for eternity;
Psalm 22:27-29; Psalm 23:4-6; Psalm 139:7-12; John 3:16-17; Romans 14:7-11; Philippians 1:20-26
Affirmation 10: Claiming the sacredness of both our minds and our hearts, recognizing that faith and science, doubt and belief serve the pursuit of truth;
Proverbs 1:20-22; 1 Corinthians 3:18-19; 1 Corinthians 14:15
Affirmation 11: Caring for our bodies, and insisting on taking time to enjoy the benefits of prayer, reflection, worship and recreation in addition to work;
Exodus 5:4-8; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19
Affirmation 12: Acting on the faith that we are born with a meaning and purpose; a vocation and ministry that serves to strengthen and extend God’s realm of love.
Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 5:15-16; Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-31
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