Credo @ 45

It’s cold outside this morning. Really cold. It reminds me of a cold January seven years ago, when my dear friend Celeste was visiting and we got snowed in at my apartment for the weekend. That was when we both created our websites at Homestead.com, back before the days of blogging. I still maintain that site – WildFaith.com – as well as the website for the Sufi Order of Atlanta, in addition to this blog.

One of the first pages I created for WildFaith was Credo, a “statement of faith” I wrote about ten years ago. Taking a look at that page today, on this frosty morning of my 45th birthday, I find it’s still a pretty accurate summary of my admittedly-eclectic spirituality. If I were to write it today, I would probably toss in a reference to Jesus as Healer, as well as some Sufi language about God as the Divine Beloved. But here it is, in its original form. This is what I believe:

I believe in Creation.

I believe in the water that rushes over the rocks and soaks into the earth, nourishing the trees that give shelter. I believe in the starfire that shines from the sun and warms my skin and causes life to grow. I believe in the plantlife and the minerals that nourish the cells of my body and keep me alive.

I believe in the pulsebeat of love that forces the sap through the trees, that drives the rivers to unite with the oceans, that throbs between two lovers.

I believe in the coolness of water, the heat of flame, the rustle of wind, the sharpness of stone, the moistness of earth, the smooth curve of woman, the firm muscle of man.

I believe in Creation as the source of all healing.
I believe in Beauty as a gateway to Truth.

I believe in Creation and so I believe in a Creator.
I believe in divine creativity, the Lord of the Starfields – the masculine aspects of God who forges life from earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.
I believe in divine wisdom, Sophia – the feminine aspects of God who infuses that life with its own creative dance.

I believe that a Jewish carpenter named Jesus died on a cross and resurrected from the dead – not to pay ransom to a vengeful tribal deity, but to create a morphic field that bridges life and death, matter and spirit, space and time, and to make it possible for others to enter that field.

I celebrate those aspects of all religious traditions and spiritual paths that affirm Creation – and I respectfully decline those aspects which do not.

I believe in the Kingdom of God – a place of union and connectedness that exists deep within us and can be accessed by any of us who open ourselves up to love.

I believe in the Kingdom of God – a place of union and connectedness that exists as a shimmering beacon at the end of time, shaping history, bringing forth order from chaos, illuminating those who are open to being illumined.

I open myself to love, to risk, to joy, to pain. I open myself to healing, to beauty, to truth. I open myself to darkness and to light. I open myself to Creation.