our faith
As Christians, we confess that God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has created all things and all people. Mankind has betrayed God through sin, and thus has been separated from Him. Therefore God the Father, out of great love, sent His only Son to be born, to die, to rise again and ascend into heaven, that those separated from Him might be reconciled.
This gift of grace given us by Jesus through his cross and empty tomb is extended to us in many ways: The Word of God in Holy Scripture, where we read of the love of God and his plan of salvation, as it has unfolded from beginning to end; Holy Baptism, through which we are washed of our sins and brought into the Church of God; the Holy Communion, where we receive Christ's Body and Blood for forgiveness of sins; and Holy Absolution, the spoken forgiveness extended to each one of us, for each of our sins, by which they are put away and forgotten forever.
These blessed gifts are received through faith, itself a gift given by God himself, that we His children might trust in Him as giver of all good things, especially those things that pertain to our eternal life with Him.
Each week, we confess these things together in the liturgy,
in the words of the Nicene Creed:
“I believe in one God,
the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of His Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father,
by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary
and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and was buried.
And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures
and ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of the Father.
And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead,
whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified,
who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church,
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,
and I look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life ☩ of the world to come. Amen.”
This painting of Jesus is by Lutheran artist Lucas Cranach. In it, Martin Luther is depicted preaching Christ Crucified to the congregation. This Jesus is the foundation of our faith.