Our Roots

Nativity grows from seven Roots. God, Grace, Sacraments, Justice, Inclusive Community, Practice and Humor:

God

We are rooted in God. God creates and loves everything that exists. God is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, the wonder of science, the beauty of art, the love of friends and family, and the mystery of what we don’t know. Chiefly, God is revealed to us most completely in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus, we can discover the heart and mind of God.

We affirm with our Jewish brothers and sisters the “otherness” of God. We can never fully know all that there is to know about God and so we try to remain mindful of this fact when we talk about God.

Grace

We are rooted in grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favor that forgives our sins and restores us to fullness of life. We can’t earn it. We can’t make a deal for it. We can’t control it. It is given as a gift born in the love that God has for all people.

We reject any theology that makes God’s grace dependent on any action on our part. It is not dependent on our ethics, our beliefs, or our rituals. It is a free gift of our loving God. Grace means that we are fully accepted by God right now, even while we are still struggling with our faults.

Sacraments

We are rooted in the sacraments. Sacraments are visible signs of invisible realities. They are tangible reminders of the intangible things of the Spirit. In the Lutheran tradition, we celebrate two of them in worship. They are Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. In baptism we witness God’s welcome of a person into the family of God and the care of the church as water is poured over a person’s head. In communion, we eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Jesus. We receive healing, forgiveness and new life. Everyone receives equally the healing and nourishing gift of God’s presence.

It is expressly intended that practicing these sacraments will help us treat all of life as a sacrament. Every birth is a holy birth. Every meal becomes a holy meal. All water becomes holy water. The earth is again recognized as the Divine garden.

Justice

We are rooted in justice. Scriptures tell us that God cares deeply about justice on both the personal and societal levels. Interpersonal justice includes honest and open communication, confession and reconciliation. Societal justice requires us to speak truth to power, and to work to eliminate structural injustices like racism, sexism, homophobia, and economic exploitation.

This hard work begins with an examination of the ways in which we have benefited from unjust systems. The good news is that God allows us to begin anew and join in God’s work of restoring a more just world.

Inclusive Community

We are rooted in inclusive community. We lament that in the past the church has been a place of segregation, patriarchal dominance, and inhospitable to people of various sexual orientations. In the Gospels, we witness the inclusive work of Jesus as he welcomed those on the margins of society. In Acts we see a church born of people of all places that dared to include non-Jews and slaves.

We affirm the inherent dignity of all people. All of us bear the image of God and should be treated accordingly. There are no barriers or “glass ceilings” in our congregation. All are encouraged to use the gifts that God has granted them.

Practice

We are rooted in practice. It is not enough to simply amass intellectual knowledge about God to develop as disciples. The spiritual practices of prayer, study, service, giving, and fellowship serve us as we grow in Christ. We believe that we need to act on what we have received through the reading of the bible or the teachings of the church. As we act, we deepen our understanding. That deeper knowledge is brought back to the community for testimony and further teaching.

This cycle of “community learning – action – reflection – community learning” is found in the early church and has been rediscovered in the developing world. It is a good counterpoint to the “consumer mentality” approach to church in which we learn but never deepen with action. We find that when we act on what we have learned we meet God in new and exciting ways.

Humor

We are rooted in humor. It is a constant danger for religious communities to take themselves too seriously. We celebrate laughter, even laughter at our own mistakes.

Humor comes from the same root word as humus (earth) and human. Therefore, to be a community that laughs together we are literally more grounded and more human. Besides, it’s more fun that way!