“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God….   In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.   Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.”     I John 4:7-11

My theology as a pastor and priest in the Episcopal Church begins with this belief: that we are the creation of a loving God and we are called to love all of our fellow human beings.   This is a huge challenge in a world that has always been caught up in the competition for power and influence.   2000 years ago, when Jesus challenged the power brokers of his day, it led him to the cross in an act of loving self sacrifice.   But the story of Jesus does not end with the cross; because God’s love, not sin and death, is the strongest force in the universe.   Our Lord rose from the grave to break the bonds of sin and death and to give us the power to live in God’s love.

Another key piece of my theology is that God gave us not only hearts to love but also minds to think.   Our God wants us to think about who we are and how we ought to live and ultimately those are questions that each individual person must answer for themselves.   No one is infallible and no group is infallible, the truth is far too big for any one human being to fully grasp.   Thus, as Christians we seek counsel and advice from other Christians with humility, recognizing that neither we nor they can ever capture “the whole truth.”

I also believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God.   But that does not mean that every word in the Bible is literally true.   The Bible is actually a collection of books written over many centuries containing many different theological and historical points of view.   We read the Bible with our hearts and our minds seeking to understand its meaning and application in our lives today.

I invite you to join us in the LaSalle County Episcopal Ministry as we wrestle with the questions of faith and life.   I hope you will find both love and faith among our people.   And I also hope you will find a place where you too can seek a deeper knowledge of God and his son Jesus Christ.


In Christ,
Reverend John Crist,
Senior Pastor, LaSalle County Episcopal Ministry