The Rev. Claudia Smith
Rector St. Francis by the Sea
Recently our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Michael Curry, joined with other faith leaders to publish a statement of faith in a time of religious and political turmoil. It follows here in its entirety for your prayerful consideration. As you will see it is a sweeping statement that calls us into deeper conversation about what exactly it means to be followers of Jesus. My hope is that as many of us as possible will gather to begin this conversation in a series of Adult Forums (after the 10 am worship service) beginning on June, 10th. [Please note this is a change from what was announced last Sunday] I hope many of you will join me in a serious discussion about what it means to be a Christian by reclaiming the teachings of Jesus.
Faithfully,
Claudia+
Reclaiming Jesus
A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis
We are living through perilous and polarizing times as a nation, with a dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches. We believe the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith are now at stake.
It is time to be followers of Jesus before anything else—nationality, political party, race, ethnicity, gender, geography— our identity in Christ precedes every other identity. We pray that our nation will see Jesus’ words in us. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
When politics undermines our theology, we must examine that politics. The church’s role is to change the world through the life and love of Jesus Christ. The government’s role is to serve the common good by protecting justice and peace, rewarding good behavior while restraining bad behavior (Romans 13). When that role is undermined by political leadership, faith leaders must stand up and speak out. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “ The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.”
It is often the duty of Christian leaders, especially elders, to speak the truth in love to our churches and to name and warn against temptations, racial and cultural captivities, false doctrines, and political idolatries—and even our complicity in them. We do so here with humility, prayer, and a deep dependency on the grace and Holy Spirit of God.
Jesus is Lord. That is our foundational confession. It was central for the early church and needs to again become central to us. If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar was not—nor any other political ruler since. If Jesus is Lord, no other authority is absolute. Jesus Christ, and the kingdom of God he announced, is the Christian’s first loyalty, above all others. We pray, “ Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Our faith is personal but never private, meant not only for heaven but also for this earth.
The question we face is this: Who is Jesus Christ for us today? What does our loyalty to Christ, as disciples, require at this moment in our history? We believe it is time to renew our theology of public discipleship and witness. Applying what “Jesus is Lord” means today is the message we commend as elders to our churches.
What we believe leads us to what we must reject. Our “Yes” is the foundation for our “No.” What we confess as our faith leads to what we confront. Therefore, we offer the following six affirmations of what we believe, and the resulting rejections of practices and policies by political leaders, which dangerously corrode the soul of the nation and deeply threaten the public integrity of our faith. We pray that we, as followers of Jesus, will find the depth of faith to match the danger of our political crisis. Continue reading
On Palm Sunday during his visit to the Holy Land, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry delivered his Easter 2018 Message while standing outside of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem.
