". . . That what I see is not all there is and that underpinning all that I call reality is a mystery infinitely greater and wiser than I am.
". . . That this mystery causes all things to unfold in wisdom and toward the greater fullness of life, that this mystery means well with us and strives constantly to bring the more life-giving outcome from all that happens, drawing our poor to better and our better to best. I call this mystery God. Yet I see the effects of the opposite dynamic also at work, dragging our best down to mediocre and our poor to worst. Everything in the story so far convinces me that life will prevail over death and light over darkness.
". . . That we are all invited to cooperate in this great adventure we call life, as partners in the ongoing creativity of God on planet Earth, and that we have the power within us to choose, continually, the drawing of God over the drag of the darkness. I believe this is what discernment means.
". . . That two thousand years ago a child called Jesus was born to humble parents in the Middle East, that in his life he revealed what the fullness of God's unfolding dream looks like in human form when it is fully evolved, showing us the way to live so that our lives, too, reveal and incarnate some small but uniquely precious fragment of God's dream for humanity.
". . . That Jesus was killed on the cross because he lived absolutely true to God's dream for life on the earth and thus challenged the powers of darkness and the systems of domination of his time, and that those same powers of darkness and domination destroyed his earthly life. I believe that this is the cost of living true to God's dream, that the dynamic of darkness lurks both within us and beyond us, and that anyone who tries to live true to God in his or her own life will also encounter a cross in some form.
". . . That although Jesus died, he transcended death in ways we cannot understand, and that his Spirit lives on and flows through the lives of all who are willing to be channels for that transforming power.
". . . That it doesn't matter so much what I believe about Jesus, as it does that I am willing to follow in the path he models, knowing what it may cost. I believe that if I do try to follow him, his Spirit will constantly guide, energize, and shape my journey and that of the whole human family.
". . . That, although I am an individual, called to give expression to some fragment of God's dream, I have no meaning except in relationship. I believe that the relationship among God the source of all being, Jesus the one who reveals this mystery in human form, and the Spirit who brings the source of life into our everyday living is a model of a relationship in which all of us are called to participate, a dance of life we are invited to join.
". . . That, at the end of the day, 'to believe' means to trust the mystery I call God and not try to define it.
"Try writing your own 'I believe . . . ' "
