Creeds and Dogmas

The United Methodist Church (UMC) is not traditionally a creedal faith tradition, nor do we subscribe to particular dogmas or statements of faith. The UMC has often been celebrated as a “big tent” church with a wide spectrum of theologies allowing for diversity of thought, diversity of faith, and diversity of community. John Wesley once said, “Though we may not think alike, may we love alike.”

This concept is one of the reasons why the UMC has not declared particular statements of faith; when a faith community does that, invisible fences a created delineated some who are in and others who are out.

Instead of declaring “this is what United Methodists believe,” the people of the UMC have instead identified areas where our faith in our current social and contemporary contexts calls us to live in ways nurturing to our discipleship in our day to day lives. We have traditionally engaged these topics that cross our faith and day-to-day lives in a document called The Social Principles. Unlike statements of faith or creeds, a person can choose to not agree with or believe parts of the Social Principles, and yet they are guideposts for all United Methodists on their journey to perfection. They work as ethical points of reference for us to work from as a faith community.

This week I’d like to share a small portion of the UMC’s Social Principles as we enter into a sermon series called, “Care of Creation.”

*The Natural World, ¶160*
All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and con- served because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect. Economic, political, social, and technological developments have increased our human numbers, and lengthened and enriched our lives. However, these developments have led to regional defoliation, dramatic extinction of species, massive human suffering, overpopulation, and misuse and overconsumption of natural and nonrenewable resources, particularly by industrialized societies. This continued course of action jeopardizes the natural heritage that God has entrusted to all generations. Therefore, let us recognize the responsibility of the church and its members to place a high priority on changes in economic, political, social, and technological lifestyles to support a more ecologically equitable and sustainable world leading to a higher quality of life for all of God’s creation.

As we journey through this series to start 2020, I invite you to consider the question: How do you steward God’s creation?

Peace,
Rev Elizabeth