We believe we are created in the image of God, male and female.
Believing that God’s will for us is goodwill, we follow in the footsteps of God’s beloved Son,
Jesus the Christ.
We believe Jesus lived to forgive, and showed us that by serving one another,
we are connected to the heart of God.
We believe we share Jesus’ mission to bind up and heal the broken hearted.
We believe that Jesus took the burden of our regrets and sorrows upon his own shoulders,
and bore them to the cross where they died with him.
Jesus was buried, but on the third day God raised him from the dead, as promised.
After Jesus’ resurrection, we believe God sent the Holy Spirit to empower Jesus’ followers.
The Holy Spirit was their ever-present advocate, counselor of truth, and companion.
We believe that same Spirit resides with us, interceding for us,
and empowering our work in the name of the Christ.
The Spirit reminds us daily to love God and one another as
the Christ loved us. Amen.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Loving and Generous Lord, today is the final Sunday of Eastertide, the day of Christ’s ascension to that heavenly seat at your right hand. Before his death and after his resurrection, the gospels tell us how Jesus prayed mightily for his disciples and the work that they would carry on his name. As we embrace our future open our eyes as you did the eyes of the first disciples. Let us see all of the new and glorious ways there are to serve you in this day and age. Because we have needed you in our lives, we believe others we meet along the WAY will need you as well. As we share stories of how we came to be your friends through Jesus, may those who are listening believe your friendship also belongs to them. All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
INVITATION TO THE OFFERING
It was my mother who first quoted these verses from Hamlet: “To Thine own self be true.” I assumed she was telling me to be truthful, honest, and ethical, never being afraid to stick to my guns, to keep my own counsel, not follow the of the crowd. If I marched to a different drummer so be it. The full verses of Polonius to Laertes read: “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” I learned that this fatherly advice to be loyal to his own best interests first, and take care of others later, finds Laertes betraying his best friend. Contrary to modern day interpretation “To thine own self be true” was not written by Shakespeare as an ideal to be lauded or emulated. Judas was true to himself. Jesus taught us to put others before ourselves.
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