There is a person (and more than a person) within, beneath and beyond all things, who makes and loves us. This someone always works through a special kind of relationship called a covenant, in which people trust and love each other. This someone always works for freedom, community and wholeness for all people, all creation, and especially the weak.

Jesus embodies God's deepest love. By being broken on the cross, Jesus entered our brokenness----the least free, least whole, most destructive parts of us----and healed us there. By rising from the dead, Jesus changed death into a gateway to life. Christ is still present even in the most terrifying and destructive situations. God loves even the most terrifying and destructive parts of us. That love challenges, heals and changes us.

God's love challenges, heals and changes us in the same way that anyone is truly challenged, healed, and changed: through relationships in which we trust each other. Faith is a relationship in which we trust God. When we trust Jesus Christ to really be there in both darkness and light, our illusions of fear and hatred shatter and hope fills us. In a way, we are destroyed and reborn, new.

All of this is a GIFT. It is not something we earn by doing the right things, feeling the right way or subscribing to the right doctrines. In the same way that relationships of love and trust should be gifts from our parents, God's relationship of love and trust with us is a gift from God. The Holy Spirit gives that gift.

Sin is anything that we allow to fool us into thinking that God is not really there, we are not really human, or others are not really worth it.

We do not believe in the Bible as a history book or a science text. We believe in Jesus Christ. The Bible helps us understand who Jesus is, who we are, and who God is.

There is a heaven and a hell. Most of us have seen glimpses of both. God promises that we will be saved from hell and brought to heaven. That saving reaches beyond death into eternity.

Some parts of the Bible say that women should not speak in church. Some parts of the Bible also support slavery and the death penalty for disobedient children. We interpret the Bible according to Jesus. Jesus treated women with great respect, sometimes affirming their faith as greater than that of the disciples. Women may hold any position in our church.

Church happens anytime people gather to share their journey of faith in Jesus Christ together. When church happens, all God's people are present too.

When Lutheran churches gather, they emphasize learning about Jesus through the Bible, sharing communion and remembering baptism.

Other churches have other emphases. We may respectfully disagree with some of them. We are all a part of God's family, and we frequently work together closely.

God works through other religions to help people live in wholeness and peace. Christians can learn about God and about Jesus from people who believe differently. Sometimes we disagree respectfully. We can also work together on projects of compassion and social justice.