God With Us Still

God With Us Still

We Don’t Believe In Much: Part 3
June 14, 2026

John 14:15-27

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

Craig J. Sefa God With Us Still

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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?

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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.

The Presence of the Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 2
May 26, 2024
Acts 11:1-18, 15:1-21

God, who knows people’s deepest thoughts and desires, confirmed this by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, but purified their deepest thoughts and desires through faith. Why then are you now challenging God by placing a burden on the shoulders of these disciples that neither we nor our ancestors could bear?  On the contrary, we believe that we and they are saved in the same way, by the grace of the Lord Jesus.”

 Acts 15:8-11 

Craig J. Sefa The Presence of the Wild Goose

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For many today, the idea of finding God in creation is especially appealing.  It breaks God out of the box of our thick-walled sanctuaries and bloated institutional religious structures.  It invites us in some ways to encounter God on God’s own terms, rather than requiring God to meet us within the prescribed times and structures of our religious tradition or community. 

For others, the ability to experience God’s presence outside the church is a dangerous and fearful prospect.  There’s a concern that without religious boundaries, we may very well delude ourselves into making God whatever we want.  There is no accountability or required set of beliefs to determine who can be counted God’s beloved community. 

While there is a beautiful freedom in all of this, we who are more open to meeting God in nature or in other contexts outside the church would do well to take the concerns of the religious community seriously.  That is not to say that we must limit our relationship with the Divine to a particular segment of the church. It is, however, to remind us that God is still God, and we are not.   

Just as God cannot be confined to a church building, a liturgy, or a set of doctrinal standards, neither can God be limited to our favorite hiking spot, mountain, stream, or park bench.  Might we also dare to seek God’s presence in the urban jungle, in a hospital, in a refugee camp; in schools and offices and coffee shops and grocery stores; or even among the rich and powerful on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley or on Capitol Hill.  Yes, despite so much evidence to the contrary, the Wild Goose is present even there.  Perhaps on occasion, we might even still find God in church.

~ excerpt from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit, 24-25

In Acts we see the Holy Spirit showing up in all sorts of unexpected places with people who nobody would expect (a lot like Jesus did).  Every time we think we understand, she shows up somewhere else and  surprises us again.  Perhaps our best bet is to pray like Thomas Merton below, confessing that we have no idea where the Spirit is leading us.  Nonetheless, we will  follow, trusting that we never walk alone.

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My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your  will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

Form Without Power

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Form Without Power
Church - Part 1
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Acts 1:2-5; Matthew 12:43-46

“When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the place vacant, cleaned up, and decorated. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and make their home there. That person is worse off at the end than at the beginning. This is the way it will be also for this evil generation.”

Matthew 12:43-45

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

Craig J. Sefa Form Without Power

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Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

In this vow we declare our belief that God not only saves us from the consequences of sin, but from the power of sin itself.  Like the person in the scripture above, we are often quick to cast out the unclean things from among us, but we do not fully allow God’s Spirit to take up residence in its place.  We do not accept the freedom and power God gives us to overcome sin and darkness.

John Wesley once wrote,

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America.  But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power.  And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast to both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.

It’s easy to develop a like-minded club or group of people who like each other and want to live good lives and keep themselves separated from the world around them.  It’s easy to have worship services and read the bible together in Sunday School and share fellowship meals.  It’s even easy to do a few community service projects… We are very good at “playing church”. 

But without the fire of the Holy Spirit and the power He gives us to live out the discipline and commitment of our Baptismal Covenant, we are not The Church.

If we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and by fire, God has consumed all evil and wickedness within us.  If we allow the His fire to burn within us, no evil can return and we will experience freedom from sin, guilt, and shame. 

Will we vow again, to live the Holy Life to which we were called, out of darkness into the marvelous light of Jesus, the Christ?  Let us pray:

Lord, I come, and I confess,

there are things in me, that are not of you

and I lay down my mess. 

I replace it with your love,

I replace it with your peace. 

I surrender all that is holding me back

from all you have for me.

Cheryl Vought, “Replace It”