the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal and co-eternal.

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God is good and loves his creation. He is gracious and merciful. "God always comes down."

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Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

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Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.

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the proclamation of God's message to us as both law and gospel is the Word of God revealing judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering all its fullness in the work of Jesus Christ.

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that, inspired by God's Spirit speaking through their authors, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments record and announce God's revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them God's Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.

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the gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds (Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian) and Lutheran confessional writings (The Book of Concord), as the power of God to create and sustain the Church for God's mission in the world.

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that Holy Communion is the family meal of the baptized family of God; the Bread and the Wine of Holy Communion are the true Body and Blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, instituted by our Lord to be marks of profession among people and signs and testimonies of the will of God toward us. They are meant to awaken and confirm faith in those who partake of them.