Spirituality - The Basics

Here are ten basics - with accompanying quotes from the Bible - that summarize what following Jesus means to Episcopalians and most other Christians:

1. God is revealed through Jesus who models life: thought, word, and deed.

"Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Matthew 9:35-36

2. Jesus came to set us free from evil and reconcile us with God and others.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." John 3:16-17
"...but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:7-9
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." 1 Peter 2:24-25

3. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, He rescued all creation from evil and death and provided for forgiveness for the evil of the world.

"God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10

4. Jesus rose from the dead, and He is alive forever more!

"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them... [And Jesus came and said to them] And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:16, 20
"We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." Romans 6:9

5. Jesus knows us intimately. He loves us totally, completely and he asks us to love one another as he loves us.

"God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them." 1 John 4:16B
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

6. Jesus offers all people complete forgiveness and totally new beginnings!

"We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him." Romans 6:6-8
"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

7. Jesus knows our flaws and our potential. His invitation offers the unlimited future for the inhibited past. It's for all people everywhere all the time.

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

8. His offer of forgiveness and new life is for all. It cannot be earned; it's just a gift.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8
"...since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed..." Romans 3:23-25

9. His followers are known as the Church. That is where we learn together to be the people of God who carry the Good News (i.e. the Gospel) everywhere.

"Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world." Philippians 2:14-15
"For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings." 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

10. In trusting and following Jesus, we find eternal life. Death does not have the last word in God's Kingdom. Jesus leads us through death to resurrection in God's eternal Kingdom. This is Good News for all people!

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." John 6:51
"Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever." 1 Thessalonians 4:17
"Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." Revelation 3:20

Other good summaries are found in the Creeds and in the Eucharistic prayers in the Book of Common Prayer.