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In Life and in Death We Belong to God:
Remembering Dr. Jack L. Stotts
The congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are encouraged to give thanks to God for the life and service of the late Dr. Jack L. Stotts by using A Brief Statement of Faith as the Affirmation of Faith on February 10, 2008. The middle section of the Brief Statement (10.3) is offered here, in order to echo the themes of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for the First Sunday in Lent. An explanatory note for worship bulletins is also provided below.
In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.
We trust in God,
whom Jesus called Abba, Father.
In sovereign love God created the world good
and makes everyone equally in God’s image,
male and female, of every race and people,
to live as one community
But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator.
Ignoring God’s commandments,
we violate the image of God in others and ourselves,
accept lies as truth,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care
We deserve God’s condemnation.
Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.
In everlasting love,
the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people
to bless all families of the earth.
Hearing their cry,
God delivered the children of Israel
from the house of bondage.
Loving us still,
God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant.
Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child,
like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home,
God is faithful still.
With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.*
*Instead of saying this line congregations may wish to sing a version of the Gloria.
The Affirmation of Faith in today’s service is excerpted from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 1991 Brief Statement of Faith. The Special Committee to Prepare a Brief Statement of the Reformed Faith for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was chaired by Dr. Jack L. Stotts, who died Jan. 24, 2008 at the age of 75. In addition to his tireless work for the unity of our denomination, Dr. Stotts served as president of McCormick Theological Seminary and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. As Dr. Stotts’s family and friends gather today (February 10, 2008) for his memorial service, we give thanks for his life and witness in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
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