April 15 - "This We Believe”  Part 1:  in God We Trust
"What do you believe? Are you able to give a clear confession of faith for yourself?"
Acts 17:22-31
John 19:19-31
"We Believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth..."
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner

April 22 - "This We Believe”  Part 2:  Who is This Man?
"Who is Jesus Christ to you? Who is He to me?
God the Father came to us in the person of Jesus. In Jesus God came to us to KNOW us,
to LOVE us, and to SAVE us.  He was obedient unto death, even death on the Cross.
God in Jesus knows our suffering because He lived it, knowing the deepest
depths of pain and despair (what we call Hell) ."
Acts 17:22-31
Phillipians 2:5-11 1
Mark 8:27-33
"We Believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell; [...]"
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner

April 29 - "This We Believe”  Part 3:  The Up and Coming Christ
"In His son Jesus God suffered everything we face and descended into Hell, the very depths of desolation, suffering
and separation from the Father, crying out 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'
BUT
on the third day Jesus was RESURRECTED!  He AROSE from the dead. In Jesus, God is telling us
'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last and the Living Word.'
Nothing can ever separate us from the LOVE of God.
The Apostles' Creed affirms the spiritual glorification of Jesus.
If Jesus is Lord, then there is always Hope. The Creed affirms that Jesus, who rose from the grave, is still with
us and before us leading us into the future. Jesus is the judge of the quick (= the living) and the dead.
Because God loves us, we'll be seen as God sees us and we should take comfort in that.
Because God LOVES us we may come into the fullness of God's MERCY.
THIS WE BELIEVE!"
Psalm 22:1-11
1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 17-23
"We believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, as crucified, dead and buried.
He descended into Hell; the third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead." [...]
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner

May 6 - "This We Believe”  Part 4: Who is this Holy Bird?
"Who is this Holy Spirit, this Holy Ghost?
The 'Trinity' represents our God whom we've come to know in three ways: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Father is the Creator, the Son is the Savior.
What does the Holy Spirit do?
The Spirit is the creative power of God ('hovering over the waters' at the time of Creation - Genesis 1:2).
The Spirit is the energy, the love that gives life, the mystery of God present in our lives.
The Spirit is the 'Counselor' promised by Christ,  descended at Pentecost and with us always.
The Holy Spirit is God loose among us, enabling us to do incredible things.
Every time we are filled with compassion we are experiencing the presence of the power of the spirit.
This power of the Spirit guides and comforts us in our most discouraging hours and brings us to Christ.
And it is Christ coming to us by the power of the Spirit who touches our hearts, opens our minds,
enables us to fogive and puts the wind back in our sails."
Genesis 1:1-5
John 14:15-27
"...We believe in the Holy Ghost" [...]
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner

May 13 - "This We Believe”  Part 5:  A Good Word for the Church
"...We Believe in the Holy Catholic Church...
and this is the church in which we gather so that we can practice holiness...
In this we believe!"
Matthew 16:13-20
Ephesians 4:16
"... We believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church..."
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner

May 20 - "This We Believe”  Part 6:  Friends in High Places
"Tell me, what is it that you believe?"
"...We Believe in the Communion of the Saints..."
"Sharing together is a common fortress of believers. ...You and I, we are the Saints of Salisbury, because of our faith in Jesus Christ,
A Saint is not a person of a halo, but everyone who believes in Jesus Christ ---Holy and set apart to serve Christ's cause and the church.
We believe we have been chosen by God with all who seek to serve Jesus Christ in the world along with all of those who have gone before.
... We never know what the day will bring, but we know that we are surrounded by those who have run the race and completed the course.
... God is with us at all times on earth as well as in Heaven. ---And Heaven is as close as those that we carry in our hearts. "
Matthew 16:13-20
Ephesians 4:16
"...We Believe in the Communion of the Saints..."
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner

May 27 - "This We Believe”  Part 6:  The Mathematics of Forgiveness
"Tell me, what is it that you believe?"
"... We Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins..."
1 John 1:5-22
Matthew 18:21-22
"'How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as 7 times? '
---Jesus said to him. 'I do not say to you 7 times but 70 times 7.'"
"Forgiveness is beyond calculating. Jesus is being generous, but Jesus is the Son of God. ...To forgive is the highest and most beautiful
form of love and one of the foundational blocks of faith. ...We are called to immitate the forgiving spirit of God. However, the
the problem is recognizing the need for forgiveness and putting it into practice. ... First we need to recognize our own need for
forgiveness. Then, if God is able to forgive, we need to enable ourselves to be forgiven. ...If we truly believe in the
forgiveness of sins, then we know that if we confess our sins, that means God will forgive us.
We need to accept God's gift of forgiveness and then pass it on to others! ...The power
of forgiveness is the cure for healthy living and redemptive dying."
"... We Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins..."
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner

June 3 - "This We Believe”  Part 7:  The Best Is Yet to Come
"Is there more to life than death? What happens to us when we die?
Tell me, what is it that you believe?"
"... We Believe in the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting. "
John 11:17-27
25. "Jesus said to her [Martha, Lazarus' sister], 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me,
though he die, yet shall he live, 26. and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.'"
1 Corinthians 15:15-57
35. "But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? 36. "You foolish man! what
sow does not come to life until it dies. 37. "And what you sow is not the body which is to be... 38. "But God gives
it a body ashe has chosen..." 40. "There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies. ...
42. "So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is taised is
imperishable... 44. "It is sown a perishable body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. ..."
"Because of my faith, I live in the confidence that when I die I will do something more than just decay. Because
of my faith in God the Maker of Heaven and Earth, because of my trust in God's only Son Jesus Christ Our Lord,
and because of the work of the Holy Spirit, I live with the assurance that there is more to life than death.
I believe in the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting, and because I do so believe, I am not
afraid to die. Because of my brushes with death, I have learned that death is not the last word. ... "

"We Believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church,
the Communion of the Saints. the Forgiveness of Sins,
the Resurrection of the Body and
the Life Everlasting. Amen. "
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Chottiner