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Theological Diversity

As part of the process of writing his sermon, Pastor Don Portwood sent out an E-mail to the congregation, asking, “If someone asked you to explain the essence of Christianity in two or three sentences, what would you say?”. Here are the responses from members in their own words – testimony to the fact that we embrace and embody theological diversity at Lyndale United Church of Christ.

1. The essence of Christianity is knowing God and how to respond to God by way of the teaching and witness of Jesus.

2. I believe that there is a spiritual being, God, who is present in me and everyone and everything around me. I choose to follow the teachings of Christ to the best of my ability and know that God is merciful, loving and forgiving when I fail.

3. Jesus led a life that included everyone who chose to follow him and emphasized justice and mercy for the downtrodden. His message was clear: the world's values are perhaps the opposite of God's, and many will be surprised the wrath of God will be aimed at them when their final justice (evaluation) comes.

4. Love for one another (not commandments) is the priority and joy is the reward.

5. Open minds. No judgments. Unconditional compassion. Unconditional good stewardship of the environment. Wisdom to know I just don't know. Feasting on friendship and laughter and joy in a communion of bread, wine, honesty, trust and integrity. Community devoted to non-violence, shared responsibility for the well-being of all creatures and earth.

6. I would say that it means actively working to improve the lives of the poor and dispossessed - "the least of us." Christianity not only calls us to do this, it provides a philosophical framework for why to do it, and an underpinning of faith to help us keep at it when the struggle seems without hope.

7. When I think of Christianity, I think of Christ and how he presented himself on earth. He was a loving and caring man. He welcomed and accepted everyone with love, understanding, and passion.

8. A belief that Christ died for our sins. Living a life of love towards your neighbor that is in keeping of the message "love you neighbor as yourself, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

9. Love and connection. The practice of love -- an active verb and lifelong challenge/journey. How do we manifest love for neighbors and self? Connection with: others, community, the universe, and innerlife, the "queendom/kingdom of God within". Sparks of the divine in our physical bodies connecting with the sparks of
others.

10. It's about the steadfast love of God. It's about the real possibility of transformation through Jesus Christ. And it's about the daily workings of the Holy Spirit. In my mind/heart/soul, you gotta have all three for it to be Christian.

11. To love one another.

12. Christianity happens to be my tradition; a tradition that is dear to me in terms of its founder, some of its teachings, and much of its ritual. But it is tradition I find burdensome because I see Christianity at the core of our ethnocentric culture and as a primary carrier of domination and exclusion at home and across the planet.

13. The first two questions that come to MY mind are:
1. Why Paul?
2. Why not Mary Magdalene and Jesus, the goddess and her consort following the eight-fold path to enlightenment, guided by the insight of divination?

14. For me, the sentence "God is love" sums up everything about Christianity.

15. Ohhh... my more cynical self would say that Christianity is a political tool used to create a moral facade for right-wing politics. Perhaps that was not what you're looking for? In my heart, the essence of spirituality is this: do justice, love kindness, walk humbly.

16. Christianity is, at its core, the collective attempt to follow in the footsteps and ministry of Jesus. His ministry was to hearken the realm of God by living in radical communion with God and practicing the disciplines of Sabbath, prayer, justice-making, radical love-making (wasteful, extravagant and without regard for the "qualifications" of the recipient), and confronting whatever systems that work against all of the above.

17. It is love, hope and acceptance of all humanity. To bring new life in the oppression of darkness and sorrow that weakens one’s soul, and to give hope to those who need it most.

18. Humans are .... well, just so darn human. We are not perfect. We sin. Christianity recognizes this reality and while it gives us some pointers on how we can be closer to perfect, it doesn't demand perfection. It teaches that Christ died so that we can achieve ultimate peace for eternity, despite our "humanness".

19. God raised Christ from the dead. Love your neighbor as yourself.

20. "To seek justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with our God."

21. A trio of divinity, ruled by God, who created the universe and everything within it. Mankind started messing things up, so God sent his son Jesus to live among us, leading by example, but ultimately, he had to sacrifice his life in order to redeem us. He'll be coming back when things have once again gotten too far out of control. (which we apparently haven't achieved yet...)

22. The essence of Christianity is accepting and loving without judgment.

23. Belief that God's fundamental orientation toward humanity is grace, and our subsequent striving to replicate that grace in our relationships with each other and in the rest of the world. I would add that such belief and striving require leaps of faith that make it hard for us always to see eye to eye or to "believe" in exactly the same way, but as long as we cling to God's grace, we can somehow weather the storms!

24. Christianity can be summed up essentially by two principles- 1) "Golden Rule" (variously explained as : "do unto to others as you would have them do unto to you" or "Love your neighbor as your self" or "treat the least of all creatures as you would treat the greatest or most beloved of all" ) and 2) Love God. (which I interpret to mean: Keep focused on the big picture, on always striving to align oneself with the "universal force for good"). These two ideas take continual effort and concentrated awareness because the default mode for human beings is to focus on the petty and mundane such as "mine, all mine! me first! I want more! I'm better than you. I'm bigger than you. I want it all and I'm going to take it".
Thus the essence of Christianity is groups of people who endorse the two principles above and strive to live their lives according to those principles and help others to do the same.

25. Christianity for me is following the way of Jesus and living out his vision of God's radical, welcoming, and transforming love in the world and in community with other followers of Jesus.

26. "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so." For me it is simply: God is Love.

27. God's salvation (for anyone who chooses the Christian way) through faith in Christ.

28. Living by the basic rules that Jesus taught: kindness, compassion, giving much to those less fortunate, service, simplicity, and appreciation.

29. Hope.

30. Knowing God and how to respond to God by way of the teaching and witness of Jesus.

31. For me Christianity is about love and acceptance - of others and myself. I stayed at Lyndale because I felt this strongly in this community. I had been raised in a much more conservative environment and was looking for an environment that focused less on guilt and more on God's love!