Phoenix Affirmations Week 5

Here are the next two Affirmations along with scripture (links are active). We will be reflecting on these during worship this Sunday. Please leave your reactions in comments, particularly if you won't be present on Sunday to share them in person. Comments may be used in worship.


LOVING OURSELVES INCLUDES:

Affirmation 9: Basing our lives on the faith that, in Christ, all things are made new, and that we, and all people, are loved beyond our wildest imagination —for eternity;

Psalm 22:27-29; Psalm 23:4-6;Psalm 139:7-12; John 3:16-17; Romans 14:7-11; Philippians 1:20-26

As Christians, we bear witness to, and nurture faith in, all persons who are hungry for, or open to the revelation, love, and salvation of God in Christ. We do not seek to evangelize those who have no desire to explore the Christian Path.We trust, rather, that God's love, grace and invitation, has been,and will be, revealed in other paths, witnesses and times.
We affirm that the Path of Jesus is found where Christ's followers are continually discovering, and rediscovering that they — and all people — are loved beyond their wildest imagination, and they determine to live their lives according to this discovery. We find in this discovery and surrender the very essence of salvation, which is a process, not an end-point, within an eternal journey.
We confess that we have moved away from this Path whenever we have denied God's love for all people, or have denied the effectiveness of God's eternal will that all be saved. We have moved further from Christ's path when we have not actively born witness to God's love and grace with those who seek  it.

Affirmation 10:Claiming the sacredness of both our minds and our hearts, recognizing that faith and science, doubt and belief serve the pursuit of truth;

Proverbs 1:20-22; 1Corinthians 3:18-19; 1 Corinthians 14:15

As Christians, we seek to develop intellectually as sincerely as we seek emotional development. We further seek to clarify that the truths contained in Scripture are not conveyed primarily through scientific revelations, but through wisdom which may be gleaned frequently in story and song, symbol and parable.

We affirm that the Path of Jesus is found where Christ's followers value the pursuit of wisdom, which is found at the intersection of head and heart, where God seeks relationship with the human soul.

We confess that we have moved away from this Path when we have denied either the role of the mind,or that of the heart, in the seeking of wisdom. Further, we have moved off the Path when we have denigrated the role of doubt or pursuit of scientific knowledge as if they were enemies rather than  allies of faith.