{"id":17125,"date":"2026-02-02T19:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/substack-post\/a-christian-with-asterisks\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:44:28","slug":"a-christian-with-asterisks","status":"publish","type":"sstack-posts","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/substack-post\/a-christian-with-asterisks\/","title":{"rendered":"A Christian with Asterisks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/%24s_!-ghX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5626e1f3-d8a4-47e7-9a31-633be595e15c_1880x1576.heic\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\">\n<div class=\"image-link-expand\">\n<div class=\"pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image\"><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ecotones are those in-between places where ecosystems meet&mdash;the edges where forest gives way to field, where river becomes prairie. They can be places of tension and overlap, conflict and harmony, but also synthesis and surprise&mdash;where new life shows up that doesn&rsquo;t quite belong to either side.<\/p>\n<p>For better or worse, that edge is familiar territory for me. It&rsquo;s where I tend to stand&mdash;close enough to understand multiple worlds, distant enough to notice when the same words are doing very different work.<\/p>\n<p>And sooner or later, someone asks the inevitable question: &ldquo;Are you <em>(even)<\/em> a Christian?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>I usually take a breath, because I know it&rsquo;s a loaded question. Most folks already have a definition of &ldquo;Christian,&rdquo; for good or for ill, so it&rsquo;s often a kind of litmus test.<\/p>\n<p>My usual answer: &ldquo;<strong>Yes. I&rsquo;m a Christian <\/strong><em><strong>with asterisks<\/strong><\/em>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s shorthand for: I follow Jesus, sincerely, but I understand the faith a little differently than some assume. The asterisk often opens a conversation&mdash;not so I can win anyone over (I&rsquo;ve mostly retired from that), but so we can be a little more honest about what we actually believe.<\/p>\n<p>As for the ancient creeds, I respect them. I can honour them as the best wrestling of their time without treating them as final forms. For me, they&rsquo;re more trajectory than granite&mdash;signposts in a living tradition that keeps learning, growing, and becoming.<\/p>\n<p>So no, I&rsquo;m not especially interested in creeds as absolutes or measuring sticks. But I <em>am<\/em> interested in faith-shaped stories and expression. Which made me wonder: what might a Christian <em>creed<\/em> sound like in an Open and Relational key?<\/p>\n<p>If you must, gather your pitchforks and light your torches&hellip;<br \/>or just scroll on by. Either way, what follows is a work in progress&mdash;still becoming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/mrose.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/mrose.substack.com\/subscribe?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Subscribe now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>An <em>Open and Relational<\/em> Creed  (a work in process)<\/h3>\n<p>We<a class=\"footnote-anchor\" data-component-name=\"FootnoteAnchorToDOM\" id=\"footnote-anchor-1\" href=\"#footnote-1\" target=\"_self\">1<\/a> believe in God,<br \/>the living Source of all that is,<br \/>whose very nature is love&mdash;<br \/>not indifferent, not self-limiting, not all-controlling,<br \/>but present, purposeful, and responsive,<br \/>always seeking the flourishing of life.<\/p>\n<p>We believe God&rsquo;s power is not control,<br \/>but faithful self-giving&mdash;amipotence&mdash;<br \/>working within the law-like regularities<br \/>and genuine freedom of creation,<br \/>never abandoning the world God loves.<\/p>\n<p>We believe God creates by invitation,<br \/>calling a universe into being<br \/>unfinished, evolving, and alive&mdash;<br \/>a world where creative possibility is real,<br \/>and where the future is still being formed.<\/p>\n<p>We believe in Jesus, the Christ,<br \/>born of God&rsquo;s love and fully human among us,<br \/>the clearest human expression of who God is,<br \/>and the embodied example of our becoming.<\/p>\n<p>In his life, we see love in the flesh&mdash;<br \/>healing without force,<br \/>truth spoken with compassion,<br \/>mercy widening the circle of belonging.<\/p>\n<p>In his suffering, we see God suffering with us, taking our pain into God&rsquo;s own life.<br \/>In his death, we see love refusing the way of violence.<br \/>In his resurrection, we see God&rsquo;s enduring commitment to life&mdash;<br \/>a promise that love continues,<br \/>that meaning is not extinguished,<br \/>that the story is not over.<\/p>\n<p>We believe the Spirit is God&rsquo;s living presence,<br \/>moving in and through all things,<br \/>awakening conscience, stirring courage,<br \/>inspiring novelty and beauty,<br \/>greater justice, and more abundant life,<br \/>drawing creation toward deeper unity&mdash;<br \/>where difference is held, not erased.<\/p>\n<p>The Spirit does not compel,<br \/>but calls, lures, and empowers,<br \/>working patiently within each moment<br \/>to bring forth what can be made whole,<br \/>what can be reconciled,<br \/>what can yet become.<\/p>\n<p>We believe the church is a community of practice,<br \/>formed not by certainty,<br \/>but by love&mdash;<br \/>called to listen deeply,<br \/>to tell the truth,<br \/>to tend wounds,<br \/>to celebrate life,<br \/>and to join God&rsquo;s healing work in the world&mdash;<br \/>as companions and co-creators of the overall good.<\/p>\n<p>We believe salvation is not escape from the world,<br \/>but the deepening and healing of relationship&mdash;<br \/>with God, with one another, with ourselves, and with the earth&mdash;<br \/>as love restores what has been broken,<br \/>renews what has grown weary,<br \/>and nurtures the becoming of the beautiful.<\/p>\n<p>We believe we are drawn into this life of love&mdash;<br \/>to share in God&rsquo;s own nature,<br \/>and to learn, over a lifetime,<br \/>the holy practice of loving well.<\/p>\n<p>We believe the future is open,<br \/>held within God&rsquo;s unwavering faithfulness<br \/>and shaped by the real choices of creatures.<\/p>\n<p>What we do matters.<br \/>How we love matters.<br \/>The good we choose matters.<\/p>\n<p>We trust that God is always at work,<br \/>not above the world, but within it,<br \/>bearing patiently the risk of sorrow and joy,<br \/>gathering what is scattered,<br \/>carrying all things forward<br \/>toward deeper communion and fuller life.<\/p>\n<p>And so we live not in fear,<br \/>but in hope&mdash;<br \/>participating in love&rsquo;s unfolding work,<br \/>joining the long labour of becoming,<br \/>until all things are made whole in Christ,<br \/>and creation awakens to its deepest unity in God.<\/p>\n<p>As it was in the beginning,<br \/>is now,<br \/>and ever shall be:<br \/>Love without end.<\/p>\n<p>Sola Caritas,<\/p>\n<p>&#120707;Michael<\/p>\n<div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/mrose.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\">\n<div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\">\n<div class=\"preamble\">\n<p class=\"cta-caption\">Michael M. Rose is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"fake-input\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"fake-button\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"footnote\" data-component-name=\"FootnoteToDOM\"><a id=\"footnote-1\" href=\"#footnote-anchor-1\" class=\"footnote-number\" target=\"_self\">1<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"footnote-content\">\n<p>&ldquo;We&rdquo;: consider it a kind of <em>royal we<\/em>&mdash;a personal confession voiced in the plural, not a claim to speak for all (or any) Open and Relational thinkers.<\/p>\n<p>Note:it&rsquo;s worth saying this plainly: when I speak of Father, Son, and Spirit, I&rsquo;m using trinitarian language as a set of relational images&mdash;windows for naming the depth and diversity of the One God&rsquo;s life.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An attempt at an Open &amp; Relational Confession of Faith, and why I needed to try to write one.","protected":false},"featured_media":17137,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-17125","sstack-posts","type-sstack-posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts\/17125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sstack-posts"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts\/17125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17297,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts\/17125\/revisions\/17297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}