Christians believe that the world and everything in it is created by a loving God who gives meaning and purpose to each person and thing.

No person has ever seen God, and no one is able to understand God fully. But we believe we know what God is like through the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus

Jesus was born in about 4BC in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, both places being in present-day Israel.

He learned a trade as a carpenter-builder. At the age of 30, he became a teacher for three years, until he was executed by crucifixion as a common criminal, probably in 3OAD in Jerusalem.

Against all the expectations of his friends, he rose from death, and this one thing compelled his followers to tell people far and wide about him.

Christian Life

Christian life is lived in relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and in common with other Christians in the church seeking to deepen that relationship and to follow the way that Jesus taught.

For Christians God is understood and known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Father… God is love, caring for creation and for every human being as God's beloved child.

Son… God is as he has revealed himself to be in the historical person of Jesus Christ. Jesus' life, death and resurrection holds the key to knowing and loving God, and to making sense of life, before and after death.

and Holy Spirit… God is alive, loving and active today, inspiring faith, justice and truth, sustaining the life of the world, giving spiritual gifts to the church and bearing his spiritual fruit in the world - changed lives and a transformed society

The Church

His followers, who were all Jews at first but later included non-Jews, formed a community known as the Church. Its task was to continue the work he had begun. We believe that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Jewish scriptures and therefore we believe that the Church has vital role in the unfolding purpose of God.

We become members of this community through the ceremony of baptism whereby we are ‘born again’ into a new relationship with God through Jesus.

God as Father

Jesus taught people to think of God as a loving Father - he creates us, loves us, protects us, provides for our needs, and guides us through life. He is Love. Jesus taught us to speak to Him in prayer as “Our Father”. The word he uses for ‘father’ is ‘abba’ which means ‘Daddy’.

Jesus as Divine

Jesus called himself Son of Man, not Son of God, but he did in fact claim to be divine. He said that whoever saw him had seen the Father. He was the human expression of God, showing God’s will for peace and healing and goodness by his actions and supremely showing God’s love for the world by his death on the cross. After his resurrection, one of his friends could say of him, “My Lord and my God”.

God's Spirit

Jesus wants his followers to know that God is with them always. We call his presence the Holy Spirit. God inspires us through His Spirit and gives us gifts to minister His name to others.

The Bible

Christians use the Jewish scriptures believing that they reach fulfilment in the coming of Jesus into the world. We accept some of the writings of the early Christians also as scriptural - the accounts by his friends of his teaching, death and resurrection, and letters written by the Apostles to the first Churches. We believe that the writers of scripture were inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, and we regard the Old and New Testaments as sufficient to contain our beliefs.

Salvation

We believe that by dying on the Cross Jesus has won for us forgiveness from the effects of sinfulness. We hope that beyond this life, therefore, we shall be in the presence of God and be united with our loved ones, and that we shall find our fulfilment as human beings in the heavenly life of Eternity.

“God so loved the world

that he gave His only Son

that whoever believes in him

should not perish but

have eternal life.

For God sent the Son into the world

not to condemn the world

but that the world

through him might be saved.”

(John 3, 16-17)

“In this is love,

not that we loved God

but that He loved us

and sent His Son to be

the expiation of our sins.

Friends,

if God so loved us,

we also ought to love

one another.”

(1 John 4, 10-11)

If you would like more help ask your local Vicar, Minister or a Christian friend. They will be delighted to help you.

Or write to: The Christian Enquiry Agency (Nor), Freepost, London SEI 7YX

Tel. 0171 6200718

Written by The Revd Philip Norwood

St Mary’s dates back to the time when most people could not read. It made sense to give people easy ways of remembering the essentials of the faith.  Even those who can read may benefit from reminders in memorable form. We offer these lists –with short commentaries – as aids for those who want a checklist.

 Their significance in the life of the community, as of old, depends on their implications being spelt out within that community. It is within the community of faith that our lives have meaning and purpose.

Five Sevens

The Fourteen Articles of Faith – (two sevens)
These were formulated by the so-called Angelic Doctor, the thirteenth century monk and Christian writer, St Thomas Aquinas. Each article is connected with the others and all are derived from the Creed, a statement of faith recited every Sunday in church as part of the service and which dates from the fourth century.· They all depend, says Thomas, on the basic belief that ‘God exists and that he rewards those who seek him’. The first Seven are about the being of God. The second Seven are about God in Christ.

1. There is One God
2. God is Our· Father
3. God is the Divine Son
4. God is the Holy Spirit
5. God created all things and all creatures.
6. God makes us holy by his grace
7. God will raise us up to live forever in his glory

1. Christ took our flesh
2. He was born as a human being
3. He suffered through death and was buried
4. He descended into hell
5. He was raised from the dead
6. He ascended into heaven
7. He will come to judge the living and the dead

The Seven Deadly Sins
Sin, according to Christian teaching, is a distortion or falling short from the true good to which Christians are called. Sinful thoughts and actions therefore need to be redirected rather than simply dammed up.

1. Pride - setting yourself above others because you think them less worthy of consideration or less important than you are - not the same as making the best of your abilities and enjoying what you do well which are clearly good.
2. Covetousness - the avaricious thoughts that lead to stealing if satisfied or, if not satisfied, make for a corroded inner self. Good things can be enjoyed and other people’s pleasure in them can be a matter of pleasure.
3. Lust - the sexual feelings, which when allowed to have free rein, prevent respect for and responsibility towards another person and inhibit genuine love, because personal gratification is the objective. Love recognises the wholeness of another person and chastity directs our love in faithfulness and honour.
4. Envy - dissatisfaction with one’s own self which leads to resentment towards others who are thought to be more blessed than we are. Openness to others and a generous spirit towards their aptitudes and condition may also lead us to notice the needs of those who have less than we have as well as those who have more.
5. Greed - the narrowing of concern to our own physical need which fails to acknowledge that all things come from God and belong to him, so that they are to be shared. This applies to food but can apply to other things. Moderation does· not lessen enjoyment but can sometimes increase it.
6. Anger - the loss of control of the self-righteous who therefore have no insight into how it feels to be another person. It differs from the passionate response to injustice which is vital to the defence of the vulnerable.· Patience with others often allows us to understand them better.
7. Sloth - the waste of time and personal energy which may be either laziness or sheer indifference to the needs of others. Diligence in the performance of tasks is a right use of our abilities.

The Seven Virtues
These derive from several sources. The last three are from the New Testament; the first four were taken by St. Thomas from classical sources, but they can be found throughout Scripture.
Justice – this is a ‘hinge’ on which the good life hangs based as it is on the love of God for all people. Unlike some modern ideas, it is not a competition between claims or rights. Its emphasis is on the meeting of need, on mutuality of action and collaboration, on responsibility as much as ‘rights’.

1. Mercy is therefore not its opposite but an essential element of it.
2. Courage – not only physical courage but those acts of will to do what is right and to resist evil. The tempering of the will is one of disciplines of being a Christian.
3. Moderation – sometimes called temperance it sees in the avoidance of extremes the path to wise living. Sometimes called the golden mean, it is a recognition that in human interaction, there are often no absolutes.
4. Wisdom – whose old name of Prudence reminds us that virtue entails not just habit but also decision making, either between different conflicting goods or in the avoidance of greater or lesser evils.· Some people contend that because of the conflict of want and need, human actions can never be reconciled. Christians believe that there is always better and worse and that they should seek out the former.
5. Faith – gives us a reason to be good, drawing us toward God who is our origin away from the tendency to do evil and the distractions which uncontrolled passions may lead us towards.· Those who believe know that they are accountable. They know that they must not be both advocate and judge in the court of their own actions, because we are always subject to self deception.
6. Hope – gives us an expectation that our good actions have a purpose and will be vindicated. It opposite is despair whose pains lead us to all kinds of harms, often inflicted on ourselves.
7. Love – is the foundation of all virtue which knows of the possibility of friendship with God and with others. It is the basis of all judgements and softens the harshness which decision making can otherwise lead to.

Seven Corporal works of mercy
Most of these come from Our Lord’s teaching in St. Matthew’s gospel, the last from the book of Tobit. There they define the actions of those who would be saved. They were the basis of common action within the life of a parish community and should be so now. (They can easily be added to – help the needy, act courteously to strangers, listen to the distressed, support the aged and so on.)

1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Clothe the naked
4. Shelter the Homeless
5. Visit the imprisoned
6. Visit the sick
7. Bury the dead

The Ten Commandments
At the Reformation, the images which decorated most churches and which were the focus of devotion were removed and, in many churches, the Old Testament Ten Commandments were placed on the chancel wall as another reminder of human conduct. They still remain in some churches. In St Mary’s the statues have returned but the commandments are still taught as here with Our Lord’s commentary added.  

1. You shall have no other gods before me - Nothing and no one is more important than the one true God.
2. You shall make no graven images - Nothing we own or want or see or enjoy should be a god. It was made by God and is for us to enjoy, remembering always who gave it.
3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain - God’s name is holy; prayer is its proper use.
4. You shall keep the Sabbath day holy - The Lord’s day is the focus of the week always to be kept.; Christians keep the first day, the day of resurrection as their holy day.
5. You must honour your father and mother.
6. You must do no murder; even anger leads to violence.
7. You must not commit adultery - You must be faithful to your partner in mind and heart as well as action.
8. You must not steal.
9. You must not lie or deceive.
10. You must not covet anything that belongs to your neighbour.