Follow me in the way of righteousness and peace. Be baptized of water and the Spirit and discover your spiritual home as a fully functioning member of the body.

[Excerpted from A Way of Life: Understanding Our Christian Faith by Anthony Chvala-Smith, Herald Publishing House, 2019, pp. 89–90]

How do we experience the saving grace of God? Grace, as an expression of God’s freedom, cannot be bound in rigid formulas. Anything that draws one toward God is grace, and every human response to God is a graced response. Once that truth is affirmed, Community of Christ believes that three actions mark the beginning of the Christian journey: faith, repentance, and baptism. Faith is accepting with personal trust to receive the gift God offers: a new identity as a beloved child, accepted, forgiven, and called to the radical new way of life Jesus embodied. Faith is our obedient “yes” to this gift.

Repentance is about changing the course of our lives: not to earn grace, but because grace already has claimed us. To repent is to turn from “dead works,” anything that keeps us from living in God’s love and justice.

Christian baptism in the threefold name, whether celebrated in Community of Christ or another Christian church, publicly unites us with Christ. We die with him and are raised to walk in the new way of life, which the community that calls him Lord walks in.

The new way of life we receive in Christ is in every sense a sheer gift. The church can never remind itself of this fact too often. Jesus never ceases welcoming others to the table of divine love. Grace is nothing less than the heart and soul of the gospel.

Prayer Phrase

“For by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:8).

Spiritual Practice

The Jesus Prayer of Mercy

The Jesus Prayer is an ancient spiritual practice from Orthodox Christianity. It is a way of connecting with the gracious Spirit of Christ as we ask to receive his mercy. The prayer comes from the scripture of the blind man calling Jesus to heal him. Silently enter prayer and let your breath become slow and even. Greet God and then take up the prayer phrase: Lord, Jesus Christ (as you breathe in) … have mercy on me (as you breathe out). Prayerfully repeat these words for several minutes (or forty times). Breathe the presence of Christ into your mind, heart, and body. Be transformed as you receive the compassionate, peaceful heart of Jesus.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.