God With Us Still
We Don’t Believe In Much: Part 3
June 14, 2026
I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can't receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.
~ John 14:16-17
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The Apostles Creed (Traditional) – Part 3
… I believe in the Holy Spirit
the holy catholic (universal) church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Nicene Creed – Part 3
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. AMEN.
An Open & Relational Creed – Part 3
by: Michael Rose
see insert for complete creed
One of the primary goals of these reflections on the creeds is to help us move beyond belief to practice. As James writes, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14).
I have framed these reflections through an open-relational lens to remind us that God is not merely an object of faith, but a living, relational, and responsive presence in our lives and in all of creation. When we say, “the Word became flesh,” we are saying that God cannot be contained in a static set of doctrinal statements but can only be known in a living relationship with the person of Jesus. God’s love must be embodied, both in Jesus and in the church. The Holy Spirit is the ongoing expression that same loving presence in all of creation and in our own lives and relationships.
Michael Rose's reframing of the traditional creed names three practical implications of that faith.
1. God is not a distant controller but a faithful, self-giving love that works within the genuine freedom of creation, which means our choices and our love actually matter to God and in the world.
2. Jesus shows us what that love looks like with skin on: healing without force, truth with compassion, mercy that widens the circle rather than drawing it tighter.
3. The Spirit does not compel but calls, lures, and empowers, which means the life of faith is less about compliance and more about learning, over a lifetime, the holy practice of loving well.
Where is God inviting you to more fully embody this loving presence in your daily life?
An Open and Relational Creed
Michael M. Rose, February 2026
mrose.substack.com
Author’s note: “Consider it a kind of royal we, a personal confession voiced in the plural, not a claim to speak for all (or any) Open and Relational thinkers. When I speak of Father, Son, and Spirit, I am using Trinitarian language as a set of relational images, windows for naming the depth and diversity of the One God’s life.”
We believe in God,
the living Source of all that is,
whose very nature is love,
not indifferent, not self-limiting, not all-controlling,
but present, purposeful, and responsive,
always seeking the flourishing of life.
We believe God’s power is not control,
but faithful self-giving love
working within the law-like regularities
and genuine freedom of creation,
never abandoning the world God loves.
We believe God creates by invitation,
calling a universe into being
unfinished, evolving, and alive,
a world where creative possibility is real,
and where the future is still being formed.
We believe in Jesus, the Christ,
born of God’s love and fully human among us,
the clearest human expression of who God is,
and the embodied example of our becoming.
In his life, we see love in the flesh,
healing without force,
truth spoken with compassion,
mercy widening the circle of belonging.
In his suffering, we see God suffering with us, taking our pain into God’s own life.
In his death, we see love refusing the way of violence.
In his resurrection, we see God’s enduring commitment to life,
a promise that love continues,
that meaning is not extinguished,
that the story is not over.
We believe the Spirit is God’s living presence,
moving in and through all things,
awakening conscience, stirring courage,
inspiring novelty and beauty,
greater justice, and more abundant life,
drawing creation toward deeper unity,
where difference is held, not erased.
The Spirit does not compel,
but calls, lures, and empowers,
working patiently within each moment
to bring forth what can be made whole,
what can be reconciled,
what can yet become.
We believe the church is a community of practice,
formed not by certainty,
but by love,
called to listen deeply,
to tell the truth,
to tend wounds,
to celebrate life,
and to join God’s healing work in the world,
as companions and co-creators of the overall good.
We believe salvation is not escape from the world,
but the deepening and healing of relationship,
with God, with one another, with ourselves, and with the earth,
as love restores what has been broken,
renews what has grown weary,
and nurtures the becoming of the beautiful.
We believe we are drawn into this life of love,
to share in God’s own nature,
and to learn, over a lifetime,
the holy practice of loving well.
We believe the future is open,
held within God’s unwavering faithfulness
and shaped by the real choices of creatures.
What we do matters.
How we love matters.
The good we choose matters.
We trust that God is always at work,
not above the world, but within it,
bearing patiently the risk of sorrow and joy,
gathering what is scattered,
carrying all things forward
toward deeper communion and fuller life.
And so we live not in fear,
but in hope,
participating in love’s unfolding work,
joining the long labour of becoming,
until all things are made whole in Christ,
and creation awakens to its deepest unity in God.
As it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be:
Love without end.
Sola Caritas.