Foundations

Foundational principles:

1.) All people are made in God’s likeness and image.

               From the beginning of the Book of Genesis, in the beginning of the Hebrew Bible, what we in the Church call the Old Testament, we affirm this truth

                Gensesis 1:27  So God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them.

2.) Love God with everything you’ve got and love your neighbor as yourself.

                 Matthew 22:37-40 ” You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: ‘ You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

3.) All people, all 7 billion of the world’s inhabitants, are temples of the Holy Spirit.

4.) Every human being, all 7 billion of the world, is one of God’s Saints.

5.) Leaders in the Church and in the world are ” called to equip the saints for the work of ministry” ( Ephesians 4:12 ) for building up the kingdom of God.

6.) God is always, always with us, Immanuel. God is within each of us, beside each of us, and in the midst of all of us. God never abandons us. No matter what.

7.) God does not want us to suffer and never afllicts suffering upon our world. Nor, does God, sit by , uncaringly as we suffer. Rather, suffering happens- perhaps because of the nature of sin, perhaps because of free will, perhaps because of the working out of the world.

8.) We don’t know why horrors, and tragedies, ilness, suffering, sin, and evil occur.

9.) However, we do know that God is always with us through the tragedies/ suffering/ alienation/ sin/ evil/ and terrors of our lives. God promises to keep us company and to accompany us through whatever occurs, giving us the resources to cope, giving us the resources not to loose hope.

10.) God calls us to love our neighbors near and far.

                    This means caring for yourself, recognizing that you are made in God’s likeness and image, that you are a Temple of the Holy Spirit, and that you are worthy of God’s love, joy, and peace.

                     It also means that you are called to care for each person you encounter, from those closest to you- family, neighbors, friends, workmates, schoolmates, etc., to people in your local community; to people around the country; and to people around the world.

                     Loving your neighbor means: Recognizing the presence of God in the eyes, in the face of everybody you encounter; remembering that everybody is a child of God.

                     Loving your neighbor means: ( in the words of the Baptismal Covenant in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, pg. 305, ” Seeking and serving God in all persons; striving for justice and peace among all people; and respecting the dignity of every human being. “

                       Loving your neighbor means the steadfast commitment to make sure that  your neighbor always has enough and that none go without. And this means, assuring that your neighbor has adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical care, educational and work opportunities, peace, safety, justice, freedom from: want, persecution, hatred, oppression, or any kind of injustice or violence.

                       Loving your neighbor means the steadfast belief: in the paraphrased words of the United States Declaration of Independence, ” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are all endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

11.) Loving your neighbor means living a life of kindness, justice, and compassion

12.) Loving your neighbor is to live a life embodied by The Sermon on the Mount, or the Beatitudes as found in Matthew 5:3-10

             ” Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

                Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

               Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

               Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

                Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

                Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

                Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

                 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

13.) Loving your neighbor means a broad and deep tolerance, acceptance, and welcome to all people regardless of their skin color, their race, their religion, their politics, their ethnic or national background, their sexual orientation

14.) Loving your neighbor means, in the words of Matthew 5:43, ” Loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. “

15. ) Loving your neighbor means, as in Matthew 7:1-5, ” Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”

16.) God calls us to use the skills, talents, passions, and interests we have to make our world a better place- a more holy, more just, more kind, more equitable, more safe,more peaceful place.

17.) Tikkun olam:   Hence, I believe passionately that we are all called to the Hebrew phrase of tikkun olam, to heal and to fix the world. This is the greatest of all human and Christian responsibilities.