Pineridge Blog

What We Believe - Take 2

Thanks for all of the feedback. Here is another draft of the What We Believe statement for the website. Let me know what further reflections you have jgordon@pineridge.org.

This may sound crazy, but we really believe that until we learn what it is to love you, for you to love us, and what it is for us together to be loved by God and to love others, there will always be more for us to learn about what we believe.

It’s important to say at this point that we’re not the ones who have “finally gotten this whole faith thing figured out.” We are simply and powerfully drawn to the love of the Trinity (the community of love that is the Living God; traditionally Father, Son and Holy Spirit) made most real in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Though to be fully honest, we don’t always agree on how to best to do that. 

So we are experimenting, and sometimes failing, and building a church that collectively follows the Way of Jesus. Although we don’t always agree, the one thing we are certain of is that the Way of Jesus is first and last loving and being loved, so we are trying hard to build a community of love and hope that is a blessing to God, our neighbors and each other. 

We also agree this kind of community of love and hope is what the world most needs at this transitional moment in our history. And we think the world is tired of religious people who claim to believe a list of ideas when those very ideas don’t translate into any kind of personal or communal transformation. Plus, we see belief as something that is lived out in community, which doesn’t translate well into a few paragraphs on a website.

The Way of Jesus’ love is a lifestyle of holistic healing for individuals, families, neighborhoods, nations and the earth. It is a gift from God, which comes with some assembly required. To follow Jesus’ Way is to open our hearts and trust the Spirit’s leading down a countercultural road of relentless forgiveness, radical acceptance, nonviolent peacemaking, abundant generosity, vital worship, compassion for the Creation, searching prayer, sacrificial love and quiet joy. 

Salvation is not a reward for filling in the right theological answers on a final exam or even good behavior, but salvation is the word that best describes the experience of God in an ongoing covenantal relationship. It is opening our hearts to trust the Spirit in loving others and ourselves because we are first loved by God. So faith is not even about finally understanding, it is about union with God, which simply ‘is’ because of Jesus. 

As a community of Jesus’ followers on the Way of love, we welcome all persons who are willing to have more questions than answers and who feel called to accept Jesus’ invitation to journey with us. In fact all God’s children, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, political affiliation, physical or mental capacity, education, sexual orientation, nationality, socioeconomic or marital status or previous faith experience are encouraged to join us as we find the Way together.