Credo 1: Your Responses about God

September 11, 2008

Last Sabbath we asked the question, “What do you believe about God?” We were invited to respond with our words or with our art. Here are the responses. Remember, these are not dogma. These responses are posted so that we can discuss together as a congregation, safely and free from judgement, what it is that we each believe.

Let’s get a conversation going by posting comments about the these responses. Of course, please remember to be kind and courteous about your comments. Remember, it’s a conversation!

Here are the artistic responses. You click each image to view them larger at Flickr.com. (There are a couple that were not scanned because of technical difficulties. But you can still see them at church this Sabbath!)

Here are the text responses.

Leslie Foster:

“I believe that in the Beginning, the Storyteller wove a Story of unimaginable beauty. Within the threads of the Story, she placed the heavens and the earth. 

I believe that He, in the form of Christ, came to earth to repair the broken strands of the Story. 

I believe She remains on earth, in the form of the Spirit, our Comforter and Teacher.

I believe She is far more complex and infinite than we can possibly imagine. 

I believe He dwells in the gray areas.

I believe the Storyteller will return one day to begin a new Story, more beautiful than the first, to weave us fully into the Story.”

Anonymous:

“I believe God is nature. God is a tree, the air. God is all the stars and planets and galaxies in the universe. God is all the different societies and cultures in our world. God is the touch of my wife’s hand. I don’t know if God created all of this, of if God simply is all of this. Maybe both. I believe that nobody knows. I struggle with the idea of God as a particular human incarnation. God is every human.”

Amanda:

“God gives me obvious signs when I’m too dense for subtlety. He works with me wherever I am in my life, which is the sign of a true Friend.”

Jessy Easton:

“My reason for living, growing, learning, everything. I feel, I love, I smile, I cry, I hope, I know because of Him. Without Him I would be scared, broken, and dying. He brings light into every part of my life, every insecurity, every feeling of discontentment, every fear-He shines light upon it and shows me the Good that will or can come out of it. Without Him, I would be lost in every step of life. I believe God is my reason for living. Why else would we be here? Why love? Why smile? Why hope?”

Björn Karlman:

“Enabler of all my various selves. Source of frustrated persistence.”

Anonymous:

“God is everywhere no matter what goes on in our lives. We have to trust in him that God will take care of all our sorrows or our happy moments and He will be with us always. Let’s have faith.”

Lourdes Adlersberg:

“I believe He is my creator and the creator of everything that exists in heaven and earth. Because without him nothing exists. I know He loves his creations because He is always there to take care of them, and I live because He lives.”

Anonymous:

“That God is love, our Lord and Savior, the Greatest Physician.”

Anonymous:

“God Almighty! Creator of all that is seen and unseen. (Triune). Redeeming love.”

Anonymous:

“My comforter and my strength.”

Taron:

“God is a comedian.”

Roger Bak:

“That God is in everyone, and is everywhere. That God is not necessarily a man, or woman, but rather a being that we pray to and have faith in . This faith gives us power and confidence in whatever situation one might be in. Also, it allows us to accept others and treat them with respect.”

Anonymous:

“God is a blanket and the rest I need. God is my heart and the love that both fills me and surrounds me. God is out there, but He’s here. God is alive in my mother, and in my father, and in me. God is the confidence in me. God is peace. God is music.”

Jessica Rine:

“God is everything. He is my creator, guiding me every step of the way. He is merciful and gracious, and I don’t know why He loves us so much. He is in my tears and in my laughter. He is my family. He is in my songs, and there in every move when I dance. He is someone I will never understand but I will never stop surrendering.”

Emily McArthur:

“I believe that God knows everything yet is not cynical.”

H. L. “Rico” Nicholson:

The great creator. Somewhat racist (Jewish people). Restrictive (don’t eat this). Selfish (needs to prove a point) (I am right, while humans continue to suffer). Contradictive (you don’t need to know me but then again you do). All knowing but will change things soon. Yet He does change. Expected to be understood but remains a mystery. Come Lord God and change the world and show us who you are!”

Anonymous:

God is everything good, such as Truth, Love, Forgiveness and Justice.

Kathryn Badgett:

God is forgiving, loving, gracious, gentle, all-powerful, provider of all things, patient, kind, humble, answers our prayer in the best way possible for our own good always. He reminds us he is there when we might forget for a fleeting moment in our doubts. He talks through nature, squirrels, birds. He can make us life or we can cry when we deserve to understand (and He helps us to understand all things to comfort us even when we did not understand something). He heals us as we go along in life’s new situations. He helps us grow freedom of speech. 

Mireya Peña

God is like a puzzle and we each have a piece of Him… it is our job to show our piece of God, our puzzle pieces.

God is an ever-existing being with unfathomable power, knowledge, love. He had an idea to create beings that some of His characteristics, a small piece of Him. That’s us. He like a Father, we are like His children. He intended for us to co-exist with Him. Separation happened. He sprung into action. We forgot we belonged to Him. His job is to remind us and at times convince us that we belong to Him. At this point, it is a choice for us to accept that we belong to Him. The way we accept is through His son, Jesus, and His Spirit which reminds us. Through the Son, Jesus, we accept His reminder and follow Jesus back to God.

Interactive * Multi-dimensional * Relational