My Personal Credo

I am teaching Sunday School again this summer.  We are doing a study of the book The Emerging Christian Way: Thoughts, Stories and Wisdom for a Faith of Transformation.  Last week we were on Chapter Three "New Creeds," and I gave everyone an assignment to write their own personal credo. 

The word "credo" traditionally means "I believe."  However, there are other ways to express the meaning of "credo" that have less to do with "belief" and more to do with what we "love" or "trust in."  Instead of "I believe" we can say "I give my heart to," "I affirm," "I trust in," etc.  This is a more relational way of speaking and seems truer to this "emerging" way of being Christian that many of us are living.  

Here is what I came up with as my own "personal credo."  It is probably not a finished product.  However, I wanted to share it here and would love to hear what others think.  How would you express your own personal credo? 

This is my credo as a Christian.  In that sense it does not encompass all that I give my heart to.  To make it more broad I would probably change "Jesus" to "the way showers" (like Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Dalai Lama, etc.) and "The Body of Christ" to "the sangha" (the larger community of truth).  However, I did not want to "water it down" by making it less Christian.  So, here goes:    

I give my heart to God - the power and the love - who resides in all hearts and encompasses all that is - who is fully immanent and transcendent - within whom I live, move, and have my being.

I give my heart to Jesus - the man - who shows me the way to die to my own selfish agendas and be born again to a life of compassionate service and peace-making.

I give my heart to The Body of Christ - the community - each member sharing its gifts - each member having a place - each part essential to the whole.

I give my heart to Humanity - the mirror - in which I see myself reflected back - the best that I can be - the worst that I can be - ever striving - ever arriving in this perfect moment to meet Itself.

I give my heart to this Life - the Word made flesh - incarnate in this body, on this earth, at this point in time - perfect in its imperfection - the meeting place of heaven and earth.