Note from the Pastor

"The good news" of Jesus is that we are all God's beloved children, created to "grow in Christ."

We grow into our true selves as revealed through Jesus -- destined for immortality with all the privileges and responsibilities inherent in that exalted identity.

Our mission is to let people know that.

Belief and Membership at the Church of the Foothills

Someone once asked me, "What are all the things I have to believe to become a member here?" This question prompted an instant, involuntary remembrance of the phrase in our Church Covenant that says: "We pledge ourselves to love each other in our differences of belief.. ." I am told that someone actually left our church when that covenant was formulated over that phrase, believing we should all have exactly the same belief. I have come to realize that if it were possible to sum up Church of the Foothills in one phase, this phrase would be the one I would choose.

The beliefs of our membership span the theological spectrum from conservative to agnostic. I have yet, however, to discover any significant correlation of a member's theological belief and their behavior. I have found that some of our members holding very different beliefs on such matters as the nature of God, the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection are remarkably similar when it comes to caring for other people.

I wonder whether if God is as concerned as was John Calvin in the orthodoxy of our beliefs? John Calvin was so concerned that he burned Michael Servetus at the stake because Servetus believed that Jesus was "the son of the Eternal God" rather than the "Eternal Son of God." Would Jesus have burned Servetus at the stake or reject him from Heaven? I don't think so. We ask of those wishing to join the church: "Do you confess your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?" To me, Jesus is my Savior because I believe he is God's ultimate revelation of God's love, which is so strong that it forgives our sin of crucifying Jesus. In return for this great love, God asks no praise or glory or even gratitude to Him, but rather gives us the New Commandment to love one another as He loves us. In raising Jesus from the dead after we have killed him, God shows us how much He does love and forgive us, thereby setting the standard for how self-sacrificially we are to love and forgive others.

Jesus is my Lord because he sets the standards of love and forgiveness to which I hold myself accountable. That is what "Lord and Savior" means to me. There is no "one size fits all" belief in the Christian tradition, as our thousands of different churches, sects and denominations testify.

-- Rev. John Martin