Saturday, April 20, 2013

My Credo: First, Life and Love. Then, as secondary object, God, Jesus, etc.

There is a difference between what can be called "secondary" religion and "primary" religion. The former is "secondhand," that is, received from another but not truly one's own. Only when someone makes a belief system one's very own can this be called "primary" religion. One helpful way to foster a primary kind of religion (one that will sustain one through the different vicissitudes of life) is to have a personal 'Credo' or a personal statement of faith. Here's the Credo (Latin, 'I believe') that lies behind the blog postings on this site.


JKK - Credo and Commitment

(First of all,)
I believe in Life!
I believe in Love!

[I believe that “God” (or any kind of theism) should never be the ultimate requirement for humans. Life and love are primary; God/Yahweh … Jesus … etc. should be a “secondary object,” to be treasured in humble trust (aka, faith - with a big accent on the “humble”)]

(Still, having said that,)
I trust that Reality is ultimately both mysterious and gracious
In other words, I TRUST

(This is what I intend to say by the word "believe" or "faith." It's a trusting in something I cannot perfectly prove or see)

that there is a God
who is:

Source
Sustainer
Redeemer-Healer and
Perfector
of all life and love
of all the other beautiful things that come together with life and love


Baruk attah adonai melek ha-olam
Blessed are you, Lord, matrix-womb of everything, forever and ever
Arigato, Salamat

We give you thanks for life, for love, and for all the manifold blessings contained in them!
Thank you, in particular, for ...


I believe in incarnations of the Gracious Mystery who is Womb-Matrix of all
In particular, I believe in Jesus as the Christ (the chosen - not in the exclusionary sense though) of God, 
born of Mary, 
He lived and worked in Nazareth where he experienced the joys and challenges of ordinary, peasant life,
He responded to a special call to proclaim the reign of God through his person, 
in deed and in word,
and spent a short yet intense period of his earthly sojourn doing so.

This Jesus -deeply united with you, courageously prophetic, a teacher of wisdom, performer of deeds that realize your REIGN, founder of communities which reflect your REIGN- 

this Jesus, I acknowledge as: my model, the messiah, the Lord, the one who realizes your REIGN in me, in us and in the whole world (Savior).


In the end, his prophetic life-style and teaching clashed with those who had a different vision of what they thought the reign of God consisted of.

Jesus' vision of the reign of God was marked by compassion, forgiveness, inclusiveness, graciousness and justice.
The vision of those who opposed him seemed to focus on fulfilling conditions to be deemed worthy of God's favour.
This clash led the powers-that-be to condemn Jesus to death on a cross.

But the matter did not end there.
God raised Jesus from the dead and showed that he is alive and active forever.
Thus, God put a seal of approval on all what Jesus stood for, especially the option for God's reign as coming not through violent means but through loving-compassionate means.

I choose and commit myself to the vision of Jesus
I furthermore entrust and commit myself and all my dear ones to this Jesus 
who, through the divine Spirit, is continually present within and among us,
who, for me and communities I belong to, is the incarnation par excellence of God.

Christian tradition has positioned Jesus as close as possible to the one God that Israel believed in,
calling Jesus by titles such as "God," the 2nd person of the Trinity, the divine Incarnation. 
As a Christian, I treasure and use this language
I keep in mind however that it is deeply symbolic and limited 
and that words can never exhaust the gracious mystery called God.

(Orthopraxis)
Believing in God's sustaining grace; I renew my resolve to do my utmost to advance the further realization of the reign of life, love, justice, peace and all that is contained in the dream of the God of Jesus 
for me, for my direct and extended families, for all our communities, for the world and the whole universe.

Lord, fill me and all my dear ones with your SHALOM (十善 ju-zen [or in the Hebrew sense] the totality of all good things)
Make us peaceful, joyful, determined and courageous INSTRUMENTS-CHANNELS-ENABLERS of this SHALOM.


I also believe, however, that, because you, O God, incarnate your gracious Presence so profoundly and inextricably with humanity and with all creation in each particular circumstance (haeceitas),
there cannot be just one perfect divine “incarnation” for everyone and everything.
Your gracious Presence incarnates itself in so many varied ways in this our gloriously diverse world 
in order to reach everyone and everything.

Wherever there is someone or something that fosters and furthers life and love and all the other beautiful things associated with them,
there also is an incarnation of your gracious Presence. Thank you!

(the Buddha)
For me, the Buddha and all that he stands for is also a special incarnation of your presence. 
I also commit myself then in a special way, to the Buddha (the concrete and personal embodiment of the divine), the Dharma (teaching), and the Sangha (community).
I commit myself to further the Buddha's cause: enlightenment, the lessening of suffering, and profound peace for all sentient beings.

Thank you for everything:
for your gracious Presence which furthers life and love in me and in all beings.
May your grace continually bring us forth into a fuller life,
heal and save us from sin, evil, woundedness, unhelpful suffering and everything else alienating us from life and love
Forgive us for our shortcomings, failures, weaknesses and sins
May we attain one day the fullness of life and love with you and everyone else in a "world" in which your REIGN is realized in a perfect way.
AMEN.




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