One of my favorite songs is one I learned as a very young boy in Church School. "Rock a my soul in the bosom of Abraham." Perhaps you've heard it? It's a great old tune. 'Easy to learn and sing. In one part of the song the lyric goes like this.
"So high you can't get over it, so low you can't get under it. So wide you can't get around it, ya gotta go through the door."
It seems to me that this lyric describes a number of us with dead on accuracy. We are a people who are always trying to get around things. When I was a kid I hated gym class. I tried a thousand different things to get around having to go to gym class. I faked being sick. I "forgot" my gym clothes. I even went to study hall hoping that no one would notice my absence. Of course none of it worked.
Then I got older and I tried to get around other things. Required classes in college and seminary were something that bugged me. Did you know that the college I went to required you to take swimming classes in order to graduate? Swimming? I was an English major! What did swimming have to do with British novels? Well, I didn't get round it in the end. But I did become a pretty good swimmer.
I wonder. Do you ever try to get around things? Do you ever try to get over on someone or get around something you know you should do? Sometimes, as the song says, we go low. We stoop down and go under - just to avoid what we know we should be doing in the first place.
'Going through that door.
I believe Christian faith is like that.
There are certain things that you just can't get around if you want to be a Christian. I'd like to focus on just a couple of them.
If you are a Christian it's important to understand that Jesus is about peace. No amount of so called Just War Theories or well paid military chaplains can change the truth that our Lord and Savior calls us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. We can wrestle with it, argue about it, even get angry with folks for bringing it up in the first place. But you can't get around it. Jesus Christ calls his followers to be peacemakers.
Another thing we can't get around as followers of the Master is the call to love one another. It's pretty clear. We are to love the Lord God with all our heart all our souls and all our mind.....and then Jesus tell us....to love our neighbors as ourselves.
And the love he describes is "agape" love. That is, the love of God in Christ Jesus as lived out in Christian community. It requires compassion, grace, flexibility, and forgiveness.
These two things are pretty critical.
We really can't get around them if we want to be Christians.
We have to go through the door of peacemaking, step over the sill of justice and enter into a new way of being in Jesus Christ. And we have to give our whole beings to God while we go about the day to day wonderful business of loving one another. You just get around it. You have to go through the door of fellowship and friendship formed in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Schuyler Rhodes
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
It's the Guns, Stupid!
I can't watch it anymore. I click the remote through the five channels (nope - no cable at my house) and it is relentless in its flow. Every media outlet is on the stick. The television streams virtually endless footage of the shootings at Virginia Tech. And then they have the temerity to show the video left by the troubled young man who perpetrated this unspeakable act. We are shocked. The nation is rocked by the horror of it all. Senseless. Brutal. A genie of death slipped from the bottle and slithered from dorm to classrooms, snuffing out young life with the greatest of ease. And somehow no one can seem to comprehend what happened. Somehow, with shaking heads and pursed lips we find ourselves cluelessly glued to the television.
How could this happen? Someone must be to blame. It has to be someone's fault. So the investigations begin and fingers are leveled. Did the University act appropriately? The police? What could have prevented this? There must, we seem to think, be an answer.
And there is, except we stand deaf and mute in the face of it.
It's the guns.
There are more registered gun dealers in the United States than there are gas stations. Guns are everywhere. And we're not talking Uncle Jack's 22 caliber hunting rifle here. We are talking about military issue fire arms designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible. Semi-automatic pistols with expanded bullet clips? Sure. Stop down at the local sporting shop and pick up your own today.
Yes. It's the guns. Emotionally disturbed and mentally ill folks will always be around, but do we need to make guns so easily attainable that one can stride through the halls of university taking out thirty plus people as easy as, dare I say it, shooting ducks in a barrel?
Yes. It is the guns. But it's not just guns here within our borders. Can anyone remember how many people died in Iraq on the day of the Virginia Tech tragedy? Can anyone recall how many people died in Afghanistan on that day? Or can anyone summon up the number of people who died around the world because of weapons our nation provided in the much vaunted "free market?"
Yes indeed, it's the guns. I join the millions who mourn and hold the victims' families in prayer. But as we weep and pray, maybe we could open our eyes to the genie that we have released on the world. This is the death genie who comes in the shape of automatic pistols or semi-automatic rifles or land mines. It's the genie who sprays forth as napalm or rains down as cluster bombs. And yes. We are responsible. Instead of seeking to assign blame to a hapless university administration or to a police force doing their best, perhaps we could take a quick glance in the mirror.
Then together let's see if we can't put that genie back in the bottle. How about a little reasonable gun control? How about bringing the troops home? How about signing the International Land Mine treaty? How about paying attention to those around us so we might notice if they are in distress or disturbed?
We've heard a great deal about "personal responsibility" over the past few years. How about us being personally responsible for the death in which we all participate?
How could this happen? Someone must be to blame. It has to be someone's fault. So the investigations begin and fingers are leveled. Did the University act appropriately? The police? What could have prevented this? There must, we seem to think, be an answer.
And there is, except we stand deaf and mute in the face of it.
It's the guns.
There are more registered gun dealers in the United States than there are gas stations. Guns are everywhere. And we're not talking Uncle Jack's 22 caliber hunting rifle here. We are talking about military issue fire arms designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible. Semi-automatic pistols with expanded bullet clips? Sure. Stop down at the local sporting shop and pick up your own today.
Yes. It's the guns. Emotionally disturbed and mentally ill folks will always be around, but do we need to make guns so easily attainable that one can stride through the halls of university taking out thirty plus people as easy as, dare I say it, shooting ducks in a barrel?
Yes. It is the guns. But it's not just guns here within our borders. Can anyone remember how many people died in Iraq on the day of the Virginia Tech tragedy? Can anyone recall how many people died in Afghanistan on that day? Or can anyone summon up the number of people who died around the world because of weapons our nation provided in the much vaunted "free market?"
Yes indeed, it's the guns. I join the millions who mourn and hold the victims' families in prayer. But as we weep and pray, maybe we could open our eyes to the genie that we have released on the world. This is the death genie who comes in the shape of automatic pistols or semi-automatic rifles or land mines. It's the genie who sprays forth as napalm or rains down as cluster bombs. And yes. We are responsible. Instead of seeking to assign blame to a hapless university administration or to a police force doing their best, perhaps we could take a quick glance in the mirror.
Then together let's see if we can't put that genie back in the bottle. How about a little reasonable gun control? How about bringing the troops home? How about signing the International Land Mine treaty? How about paying attention to those around us so we might notice if they are in distress or disturbed?
We've heard a great deal about "personal responsibility" over the past few years. How about us being personally responsible for the death in which we all participate?
Thursday, March 1, 2007
I was a Stranger...and you did not welcome me" Matt. 25:43
"I WAS A STRANGER....AND YOU DID NOT WELCOME ME..." Matthew 25:43
Each time I pick up a newspaper or turn on my television, I hear the cry for "immigration reform." The voices are shrill and the things they call for are shocking, not only in the specifics, but because they are nothing more than thinly veiled racism marching to the drumbeat of fear.
From vigilantes gearing up to patrol the borders to troops being sent to repell the aliens, to the proposal to build a fence to keep "them" out, it all adds up to a racist rattling of old bones in a closet whose door we somehow cannot keep shut.
As a Christian I find it interesting that the ones screaming the loudest for this so called reform name themselves as Christian as well. To my sisters and brothers in Christ, I would suggest a modest study of Scriptures. Deuteronomy 10:19 directs us to "love the stranger, for you yourselves were once strangers." Exodus 22:21 tells us we may not "wrong or oppress a resident alien." More over, it states that we "know the heart of an alien" because were were once aliens oursleves. In Leviticus 19:34 we are told that "the alien who resides with you shalll be to you as a citizen among you. You sall love the alien as yourself...." Jesus gets into the act also in Matthew 25 as he sorts out the sheep from the goats. If you don't receive the stranger, he tell us rather bluntly, you don't receive him.
And this, friends, only dents the biblical witness calling us to welcome the alien, the stranger, the immigrant among us. For we ourselves were once as they are now. Given the ugly history of our nation's founding, I find it unfathomable that we could resort to such behavior. Like the Israelites coming over into Canan's land, the Europeans flooded into this continent in a genocidal frenzy, wiping out natives who, at first, welcomed them with open arms. As a nation of immigrants, how can we begin to imagine all of this?
But if, as I suspect, the faith in God that these people spout is all talk and no action, let's get down to captialist brass tacks. The bottom line, after all, is the bottom line. If all of the allegedly illegal workers were deported, the economies of all the border states would, quite simply, collapse. The stark truth is that we depend upon these people to be willing to accept wages we would never consider to do work we will not undertake. The food we eat is picked by the hands of these people. The dishes we eat off at our restaurants are washed by these people. Floors are mopped, toilets are cleaned, and literally thousands of menial tasks are performed by people that are blithely labelled as "illegal."
Now if we cannot be motivated to welcome those among us by our faith and it's Scriptures. If we cannot be awakened by our own economic interests to the fact that these people are needed, then I come to offer a true solution to the situation.
If we really wish to stop the flood of immigration from the Americas to the south of us there is a way. And it isn't about militarizing borders or deporting "illegals." If we really wish to halt this "invasion," as I have heard it called, we simply need to do one thing.
The United States of America must embark on an economic development program in Mexico, and Central America, pledging to spend, say, a few hundred billion dollars to help the economies of these countries develop. Rather than manipulating governments and trading to keep other nations poor so that we can raid their natural resources, we should be using our wealth to develop them into viable trading partners. If we did this, the immigration would cease. If we made it our aim to develop these countries as true equals in the market based economy, then our economy would benefit as well. If we focused on development so that Central American and Mexican workers had jobs and their families had enough to eat, they would have no reason to come here.
Do we think that they love our country more than their own? Are we arrogant enough to believe that people risk life and limb, leave their families because they WANT to come to the United States? No. They would all rather stay home.
It's the poverty, stupid!
If we stopped greedily holding on to the wealth that even now is slipping away from us, and learned how to walk with other nations and cultures as partners, things would change.
If we abandoned the mantle of empire and stopped spending our money on the guns and tanks and bombs we need to protect our wealth, and instead used those resources to feed and house everyone, we would not even be having this immigration discussion.
So, maybe these shrill, racist voices have a point. Let's halt all this illegal immigration. Let's lobby congress for a new deal in the Americas. Let's launch the "Equal Partner Initiative" and make friends around the world instead of enemies. Instead of building a fence across the border, let's build schools everywhere. Instead of posting troops at the border, let's send doctors. Rather than hording what we have, let's act like mature kids in this sand box, and share.
If we can do this here in our own corner of the world, perhaps we might learn to apply it elsewhere. Imagine what the world might look like if we set out on global partnership initiative! Instead of spending ourselves into debt and death fighting over oil resources that will be gone in a few decades anyway, why don't we bank roll develpoment and research for clean, renewable energy resources that could power our planet into the 22nd century?
Ah but I hear the voices now. "Be realistic. You can't do that. You've got to live in the real world!" Well, to me, thousand mile fences and an oppressed labor force aren't realistic, they are criminal. So there you have it.
Check out the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Study a little economics. Stop being greedy. There is a different way.
'Catch you in a little while,.
Pastor Schuyler Rhodes
Each time I pick up a newspaper or turn on my television, I hear the cry for "immigration reform." The voices are shrill and the things they call for are shocking, not only in the specifics, but because they are nothing more than thinly veiled racism marching to the drumbeat of fear.
From vigilantes gearing up to patrol the borders to troops being sent to repell the aliens, to the proposal to build a fence to keep "them" out, it all adds up to a racist rattling of old bones in a closet whose door we somehow cannot keep shut.
As a Christian I find it interesting that the ones screaming the loudest for this so called reform name themselves as Christian as well. To my sisters and brothers in Christ, I would suggest a modest study of Scriptures. Deuteronomy 10:19 directs us to "love the stranger, for you yourselves were once strangers." Exodus 22:21 tells us we may not "wrong or oppress a resident alien." More over, it states that we "know the heart of an alien" because were were once aliens oursleves. In Leviticus 19:34 we are told that "the alien who resides with you shalll be to you as a citizen among you. You sall love the alien as yourself...." Jesus gets into the act also in Matthew 25 as he sorts out the sheep from the goats. If you don't receive the stranger, he tell us rather bluntly, you don't receive him.
And this, friends, only dents the biblical witness calling us to welcome the alien, the stranger, the immigrant among us. For we ourselves were once as they are now. Given the ugly history of our nation's founding, I find it unfathomable that we could resort to such behavior. Like the Israelites coming over into Canan's land, the Europeans flooded into this continent in a genocidal frenzy, wiping out natives who, at first, welcomed them with open arms. As a nation of immigrants, how can we begin to imagine all of this?
But if, as I suspect, the faith in God that these people spout is all talk and no action, let's get down to captialist brass tacks. The bottom line, after all, is the bottom line. If all of the allegedly illegal workers were deported, the economies of all the border states would, quite simply, collapse. The stark truth is that we depend upon these people to be willing to accept wages we would never consider to do work we will not undertake. The food we eat is picked by the hands of these people. The dishes we eat off at our restaurants are washed by these people. Floors are mopped, toilets are cleaned, and literally thousands of menial tasks are performed by people that are blithely labelled as "illegal."
Now if we cannot be motivated to welcome those among us by our faith and it's Scriptures. If we cannot be awakened by our own economic interests to the fact that these people are needed, then I come to offer a true solution to the situation.
If we really wish to stop the flood of immigration from the Americas to the south of us there is a way. And it isn't about militarizing borders or deporting "illegals." If we really wish to halt this "invasion," as I have heard it called, we simply need to do one thing.
The United States of America must embark on an economic development program in Mexico, and Central America, pledging to spend, say, a few hundred billion dollars to help the economies of these countries develop. Rather than manipulating governments and trading to keep other nations poor so that we can raid their natural resources, we should be using our wealth to develop them into viable trading partners. If we did this, the immigration would cease. If we made it our aim to develop these countries as true equals in the market based economy, then our economy would benefit as well. If we focused on development so that Central American and Mexican workers had jobs and their families had enough to eat, they would have no reason to come here.
Do we think that they love our country more than their own? Are we arrogant enough to believe that people risk life and limb, leave their families because they WANT to come to the United States? No. They would all rather stay home.
It's the poverty, stupid!
If we stopped greedily holding on to the wealth that even now is slipping away from us, and learned how to walk with other nations and cultures as partners, things would change.
If we abandoned the mantle of empire and stopped spending our money on the guns and tanks and bombs we need to protect our wealth, and instead used those resources to feed and house everyone, we would not even be having this immigration discussion.
So, maybe these shrill, racist voices have a point. Let's halt all this illegal immigration. Let's lobby congress for a new deal in the Americas. Let's launch the "Equal Partner Initiative" and make friends around the world instead of enemies. Instead of building a fence across the border, let's build schools everywhere. Instead of posting troops at the border, let's send doctors. Rather than hording what we have, let's act like mature kids in this sand box, and share.
If we can do this here in our own corner of the world, perhaps we might learn to apply it elsewhere. Imagine what the world might look like if we set out on global partnership initiative! Instead of spending ourselves into debt and death fighting over oil resources that will be gone in a few decades anyway, why don't we bank roll develpoment and research for clean, renewable energy resources that could power our planet into the 22nd century?
Ah but I hear the voices now. "Be realistic. You can't do that. You've got to live in the real world!" Well, to me, thousand mile fences and an oppressed labor force aren't realistic, they are criminal. So there you have it.
Check out the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Study a little economics. Stop being greedy. There is a different way.
'Catch you in a little while,.
Pastor Schuyler Rhodes
Friday, October 20, 2006
I Believe in....What? The Apostle's Creed: Not What You Might Think It Is
I BELIEVE IN……WHAT?
The Apostle’s Creed:
Not What You Think It Is
A Personal Reflection
By Schuyler Rhodes
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I grew up reciting the words of the ancient creeds of the Church each Sunday of my early life. The organ music would swell and we would, stand soulful with my eyes on the cross as we recited any one of a host of different creeds. ‘Truth be told, I didn’t really know what I saying. Phrases like “the quick and the dead (see the Apostle’s Creed below and in the UM Hymnal, #881),” reminded me more of the latest episode of “Gunsmoke” then anything related to my uninformed faith. But I dutifully said them anyway.
For a long time I labored under the delusion that I had to actually sign off on each word that was in each creed that the pastor had slated for me to say on Sunday. It was, to me, the contract. Underneath it all I was hearing the words, “believe these words or go to hell!” Well, I’m a North American White Male, and friends, no one tells me what to believe! So I shut my mouth and refused to say anything that I hadn’t myself approved of previously. I was, I must confess, a bit indignant.
Finally, after getting over myself a bit, and realizing that I did not have a license to define reality, I actually listened to a few sermons. I took a few Christian Education courses at my Church and began to get an idea of what was really going on with these things called creeds. It turns out that they aren’t what I thought they were.
Of course these days we don’t hear much about creeds in our churches. Indeed, little if anything is known about them by most church members because they are rarely if ever use them in worship or prayer. Preachers don’t preach on them, and there are still those who, like me, grow wary when someone tries to pin them down on what exactly this Jesus stuff means. The back stiffens, resentment grows. After all, this is America. Shouldn’t we be able to “believe” whatever we want without interference from the church?
But the truth is that the creeds are important. They are not, as I simplistically assumed, documents dangled in front of the faithful with the insistence that we agree in rote lock-step to every jot and tittle of the law. In fact, the reverse is actually the case.
The Creeds of the Church represent a clear view of where we have stood over time as a people of faith. They are a slice of Christian life at a given moment and reveal the struggles and issues that confronted our ancestors and may still engage us if we’re willing to enter the discussion.
Over two millennia, the struggles and discussions within and without have generated literally hundreds of Creeds. From the Apostle’s Creed, which is one of our earliest creedal formulations, to the World Methodist Social Affirmation developed at the end of the 20th century, creeds have articulated our process, playing a critical role in clarifying thought and formulating paths for the future. Creeds got their start in the earliest church when newly converted Christians would stand before the community and state how their conversion had changed them. It would usually be short. “Jesus is Lord (1st Corinthians 12:3),” or I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts 8:37).” Eventually these simple baptismal creeds turned into what we know now as the Apostle’s Creed.
The earliest form of this creed was developed in response to the views of Marcion, a Christian who didn’t feel that the Old Testament God was part of what Jesus represented. This was around 180 AD. Over time the creed underwent further development and change in response to the challenges and struggles that were taking place within the Church. It is striking in its simplicity and powerful in its clarity.
But today, years away from its inception and smack in the middle of a so-called “post Christian paradigm” this ancient creed still rings powerfully in the ears of faith.
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified dead and buried,
The third day he rose from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting, AMEN.
It may ring powerfully, but you may well ask, but what does all that mumbo jumbo mean? What are we saying when we say this? And again, the question comes. What if we don’t’ agree with it? Will we be sent to hell?
Let’s be clear.
The creeds don’t exist for us to stand there with thumbs up or thumbs down. Rather, these thoughts are there for us to receive. They are not unlike the minutes of a meeting that are received into the record. I may not have agreed with what went on at that meeting, but its process and history are a part of our life now. They represent a slice in the life of the group. So there it is. Agree or not, it’s part of who we are.
So let’s think about this particular creed for a moment. This credo, this statement of belief or to put it more succinctly, this understanding of Christian reality, is powerful for us. It is at the root of who we are as a faith community.
Join me a moment as we ramble briefly through the Apostle’s Creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty.
Certainly, belief in God is pretty basic if you want to be part of the Christian tradition. If you don’t believe in God, Christian community might not be a choice that you want to make for your life. It’s OK if someone chooses to be an atheist. All we’re saying is that we don’t make that choice. We do believe in God.
And God as Father? Well, sexism notwithstanding, the notion of God as parent is something that should be wrestled with in prayer and in community. What does it mean for us individually to say we experience God as a Father or Mother? Some can personalize it by saying, “My Dad was abusive, so I can’t deal with the notion of God as a Father.” Others might look more broadly at the notion of parenthood and the responsibility, care, and commitment that it requires, and therein see the metaphor that our ancestors sought to articulate.
Maker of heaven and earth.
This part’s pretty easy. It’s a clarifier. Just in case we’re confused. This God we’re talking about is Creator of all things. Rocks, trees, flowers, oceans, amoebas, republicans and democrats, the Lord God made them all. So this is the big cheese. The One. And yes, this is also pretty basic for us.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
This part is a little tricky if you ask me. Clearly, we Christians claim Jesus Christ as Lord. It is, for us, the bottom line. But it gets tricky when we set ourselves up in the position of trying to limit God….God’s only Son? What if God decides to have another go at it? Who are we to say? Presuming upon God, in my view, borders on blasphemy. Perhaps it would be enough if we say that – for us – Jesus Christ is Lord. Could we let go of the “only” part? Perhaps then we can refrain from the sin of judging others. For my part, I’d like to avoid making judgments about others who believe and experience the Holy different than we do.
Once more, let me be clear. As Christian community this statement is absolutely true. For us, Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. He is, for us, the Messiah, the Son of God. There is no other. We have made the choice, and we build our church, our faith and our ministry around this. But God help us if we dare to judge others for their differences or their beliefs. God will do the judging, not us.
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit;
I am a United Methodist. Our tribe isn’t overly concerned with the literal idea of the virgin birth – as such (more on this in a moment). In fact, as a life-long, card carrying Wesleyan Methodist let me offer a way of seeing this apart from literalism. When we speak to artists or authors we often hear about how they conceived of the book or the painting. We never assume some physical contact or sexual act here, but rather the birth of an idea. Might we take the notion of “conceived by the spirit,” in this sense? That the Logos or Word of God was….God’s idea? God’s conception? It works for me. The incarnation of God’s love in Jesus was God’s….conception….if you get the drift.
Born of the Virgin Mary;
As was just mentioned, my own tradition doesn’t affirm the notion of a literal virgin birth. Some sources suggest that the concept of virgin here merely refers to a woman who had not given birth prior to this occasion. There are also some other pre-Christian mythical elements that may have been mixed in here….the idea of a hero God born to a virgin…..in any case….Mary was the Mom. Of this we’re all pretty sure. Joseph, whether real Dad or not was pretty together. Who else would have stuck around for all that nonsense? But in truth, we deal with this as story; as part of our great tradition, but do not insist on a literal interpretation.
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
For we Christian folk, this too, is part of the story. We read in scripture and embrace the story that Jesus was arrested and handed over to Pilate. From there he was tortured, executed and then buried. With all due to respect to Mel Gibson, this scenario, by itself, is little more than an historic afterthought. After all, thousands (probably tens of thousands!) of people suffered under Pontius Pilate, were crucified until they died, and then were buried. What’s so special about this guy? The death, by itself, means nothing. But sandwiched, as it is, between his life and his rising, it takes on a huge significance.
The third day he rose from the dead;
Some will read this and want to get embroiled in a scientific debate about whether he really raised from the dead or not. Did he really die on the cross? Or did some folks help him down from there only moments from death? Others will say that rising from the dead is exactly what happened. On and on ad nauseum it goes. For my part, the discussion is a waste of time. I know I’ll get in trouble on this, but I need to say it. The historicity of the story is not relevant for us. In other words, the actuality of the event is beside the point. We could argue the finer points of all this until we’re blue in the face and still completely miss the meaning of Jesus’ rising from the dead. Here’s the point. Resurrection is key in Christian understanding. The notion that death does not have the final say is the profoundly radical foundation of Christian thinking. Forget about whether or not the details of the story are. Instead, peer deeply into its truth. In the world around us, death is the final sanction. With nations, governments, civic authority, death has the final say. If you want to win the argument, kill the opponent. The ultimate punishment is death. That settles everything. But in the larger culture, death is not merely an act that stops a heart from beating. Death is a way of being. From the strangulation of eco-systems to the starvation of whole populations, death in our world holds sway. From the idolatry of profits first to killing legalisms that rob people of dignity and health, the way of death is business as usual in the world out there.
Not so with Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ bursts the cultural assumption of death and replaces it with the notion that self-giving love is redemptive. In fact, self-giving love is so powerful that it overcomes death. We experience God’s self-giving love in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and see its redemptive power in his rising. We experience the self-giving love of Martin Luther King Jr. and see its redemptive power in the rising of a people. Whether it is Jesus, Rev. King, or you or me, it is true that new life that emerges from self-giving love.
So this resurrection thing is pretty important. Whether the forgoing outburst resonates with you or not, this remains the fulcrum of Christian faith.
And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
I guess by this we can intuit that Jesus is God’s right hand man. Seriously, though, this is the connotation. It is wrapped up, again, in some deep seated need for our thing to be the only thing. I’m sure that Jesus is God’s incarnation for us. I accept that God is in Christ, offering us healing and reconciliation. But where he sits doesn’t matter much to me. It mattered to the early Church, though, who was engaged in debate and discussion with its own Hebrew tradition, along with other pagan religions. So they needed to make the point. Jesus is the one, God’s right hand man.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
When reciting this part as a kid, I figured I’d rather be quick than dead. References to TV westerns aside, it did seem a strange line to put into something we say each week at Church. But then there is the judging thing. Most contemporary folk shy away from this. In a relativistic culture like ours, it’s a difficult concept. If I’m OK and you’re OK, if everything is relative, then how can we be judged for being good or bad? We don’t like being judged. Moreover, we don’t want to be held accountable for our behavior (a lot of which isn’t so good). But the early Church embraced a God who held the people accountable for their behavior. When I observe the way some church folk behave, I tend to think that a mutual accountability in Christian community maybe it’s not such a bad idea.
The truth is that if we embrace a justice loving, life affirming God, it puts us in a certain place regarding those who pervert justice and degrade life. Call it judgment if you like. But the real deal is that Christian folk do take sides. And anyway, the “quick and the dead” simply means the “living and the dead.”
I believe….
Up to this point, we’ve basically laid out the story. Before this we can nod or shake our heads, and try to understand. But here is the part that is challenging. For the early Church it was an “if – then” proposition. A classic teaching style. If we embrace this story that we have laid out in the forgoing, then it seems logical to believe (or trust) in the following. Yet for them, this was not belief in a simplistic yes or no proposition. It’s not like believing in Casper the Ghost. One either does or does not believe in ghosts. No. This is different in a pretty large way. This is belief in the sense that you trust (in Scripture the Greek word is Pistus, meaning trust) that this is so and promise to live your life accordingly. I trust that the brakes on my Volkswagen will work, so I get in the car and drive. I trust in my friend to have my best interests at heart, so I make myself vulnerable to him or her. I believe or trust in the following things and will change my life accordingly. This is not just a yes or no question. Let’s see where they go.
In the Holy Spirit;
We don’t need to have a thumbs up / thumbs down vote on the Holy Spirit. We experience it. In worship, in fellowship, in mission and ministry we experience God’s presence as Spirit. It is the biblical promise of Jesus to be with us, to send us an “advocate.” Moreover, we trust in that Spirit to guide us and be our help in every circumstance.
In the Holy catholic Church;
This one used to upset some of my anti Roman Catholic relatives. But this is catholic with a small “c” meaning universal. This statement really refers to a trust in the universal reality of the ecclesia….of those called out in the Holy Spirit to live lives that are different than the rest of the world. We are church, not because of bishops and institutions, but because we (hopefully) live out the teachings of Jesus Christ in each moment of our lives and trust that all others who claim the name of Christ will do the same.
The communion of Saints;
The meaning of this phrase doesn’t jump right out and bite you at first. What it has to do with is community. The original Greek text used the word koinonnia, where here you see “communion.” This refers to fellowship, or community. It’s unlikely, too, that the concept of Saints in the early Church compared with what we understand today. Saints today are honored ones who have done great things. We put them on pedestals and name churches and schools after them. But in Paul’s writings, Saints were the everyday average Christians struggling to be faithful to God’s Word. So what this really has to do with is the call to trust, to believe in the quirky and sometimes crazy process of being in Christian community. It is one of the great gifts of our faith, and believing or trusting in it is a process that goes on throughout our lives.
The forgiveness of sins;
Well, now we’re really getting into it. If Jesus was about anything, it was forgiveness. The question here is how well do we forgive? Are we willing to trust in forgiveness? To forgive someone who has damaged or hurt us? If it’s someone who has really messed up, will we forgive as God does? Will we allow grace to invade and make all things new? This is pretty radical. For most of us, the forgiveness thing gets lip service only. But to really trust it, to believe in it to the extent that we practice it? Mmmm.
The Resurrection of the Body;
This notion causes concern and discussion wherever it goes. Will our physical bodies be resurrected? Will the atoms that made up our bodies be reassembled at the resurrection? Will we all be walking around just like we were when we died? Nikos Kazantsakis, in his wonderful novel, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” presents the rising of Lazarus in a hard fashion. The risen friend of Jesus continues to rot as he strolls around through the story, which is replete with graphic descriptions of the state of his decomposition.
How will this resurrection happen, anyway? One theologian says that we have no more idea of what that will look like than an embryo does of what it will look like as an adult human. The Resurrection is, it must be stated, one of the mysteries of faith. It cannot be explained. Yet we accept it as real. And if we look closely we can see resurrection all around us. New life from old rises up in God’s Creation everywhere we look. After devastating brokenness in human relationships, people find new beginnings. Bereaved spouses move through painful grief to find new life and even a new beginning with a new partner. It’s resurrection. It happens. And it happens in deeper and more powerful ways than we are capable of imagining.
And the life everlasting; Do you trust that there is more to us than all this stuff and stress around us? Do you sense that somehow there is a vast plane beyond this one? Or like many pastors, perhaps you have walked with people through near death experiences and heard them return to tell of potent experiences? Do we trust that there is more to the story than we might know or perceive? And even so, what about this life? Do we behave in such a way that life can continue in marvelous wonder and abundance? How is it that we treat our planet and one another? Is not this part of life everlasting? Jesus said that he had come so that all might have life and have it in abundance. It could be stated that life everlasting pertains to both our current lives in this world as well as to what is to come.
AMEN: In other words, so be it. I concur. I trust……believe……accept this as an affirmation of the faith I have in God through Jesus Christ. Do I agree with every word? Maybe. Maybe not. But as I mentioned from the get go…..complete agreement is not the point. The real question is whether we will allow ourselves to be formed and moved by the power of our tradition and those who formed it. Will we agree to embrace these slices of the life of our Church….these points of engagement….these creeds? And will we promise to engage our faith and its challenges as deeply and profoundly as our ancestors?
Well, there it is. The Apostle’s Creed in a nutshell….or at least one Pastor’s ruminations on it. ‘Hope you enjoyed the romp.
When I was a student at Drew Theological School more than two decades ago, a wise professor made each first year student write their own creed. Fortunately mine has been lost over the ensuing decades. But I can assure you it was pompous, arrogant and not a little self-centered. Then, as we prepared to graduate, this wonderful man had us – once more – write our creeds. Were they different? You bet they were. The sea changes of learning and life that confronted us in those years changed us. They changed our faith as well. And would a creed I wrote today be different from ten years ago? Absolutely. You see, the point of creedal confession is not to freeze and paralyze faith into an icy tundra of doctrine. It is, rather, to engage our convictions and understandings at the intersection of living faith and it’s impact on us and our world. It is to think and pray deeply about who we are in the power of God’s all powerful love. And it is to humbly realize that in the midst of it all, the mystery of faith continues far beyond our ability to fathom it.
My own sense is that learning to understand and appreciate these foot prints of Christian tradition can only help us as we strive to be faithful in today’s world. And while we do not shy away from “bottom line” elements to Christian faith, the ancient creeds are not to be held up as a litmus test for us to dispose of with a “yay” or a “nay.”John Wesley would ask if we accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ and if we intend to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we accept that much, the rest is fodder for a good adult education class. It helps no one if we draw a line down the middle of the school yard and have those who “believe” the creeds stand on one side and those who “don’t believe” the creed stand on the other.
Instead, my vote would be for us to receive these hallmarks of struggle and growth as part of our history and tradition. My vote, if anyone cared to count it, would be that we not build our relationships or our churches on the degree of our agreement surrounding this or any other creed. Instead, perhaps we could have good discussion over a cup of coffee and proceed to heed the sacred call to love deeply, care passionately, and to walk humbly with our God.
Thanks for sticking with me!
More to come this summer.
Pastor Schuyler Rhodes
The Apostle’s Creed:
Not What You Think It Is
A Personal Reflection
By Schuyler Rhodes
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I grew up reciting the words of the ancient creeds of the Church each Sunday of my early life. The organ music would swell and we would, stand soulful with my eyes on the cross as we recited any one of a host of different creeds. ‘Truth be told, I didn’t really know what I saying. Phrases like “the quick and the dead (see the Apostle’s Creed below and in the UM Hymnal, #881),” reminded me more of the latest episode of “Gunsmoke” then anything related to my uninformed faith. But I dutifully said them anyway.
For a long time I labored under the delusion that I had to actually sign off on each word that was in each creed that the pastor had slated for me to say on Sunday. It was, to me, the contract. Underneath it all I was hearing the words, “believe these words or go to hell!” Well, I’m a North American White Male, and friends, no one tells me what to believe! So I shut my mouth and refused to say anything that I hadn’t myself approved of previously. I was, I must confess, a bit indignant.
Finally, after getting over myself a bit, and realizing that I did not have a license to define reality, I actually listened to a few sermons. I took a few Christian Education courses at my Church and began to get an idea of what was really going on with these things called creeds. It turns out that they aren’t what I thought they were.
Of course these days we don’t hear much about creeds in our churches. Indeed, little if anything is known about them by most church members because they are rarely if ever use them in worship or prayer. Preachers don’t preach on them, and there are still those who, like me, grow wary when someone tries to pin them down on what exactly this Jesus stuff means. The back stiffens, resentment grows. After all, this is America. Shouldn’t we be able to “believe” whatever we want without interference from the church?
But the truth is that the creeds are important. They are not, as I simplistically assumed, documents dangled in front of the faithful with the insistence that we agree in rote lock-step to every jot and tittle of the law. In fact, the reverse is actually the case.
The Creeds of the Church represent a clear view of where we have stood over time as a people of faith. They are a slice of Christian life at a given moment and reveal the struggles and issues that confronted our ancestors and may still engage us if we’re willing to enter the discussion.
Over two millennia, the struggles and discussions within and without have generated literally hundreds of Creeds. From the Apostle’s Creed, which is one of our earliest creedal formulations, to the World Methodist Social Affirmation developed at the end of the 20th century, creeds have articulated our process, playing a critical role in clarifying thought and formulating paths for the future. Creeds got their start in the earliest church when newly converted Christians would stand before the community and state how their conversion had changed them. It would usually be short. “Jesus is Lord (1st Corinthians 12:3),” or I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts 8:37).” Eventually these simple baptismal creeds turned into what we know now as the Apostle’s Creed.
The earliest form of this creed was developed in response to the views of Marcion, a Christian who didn’t feel that the Old Testament God was part of what Jesus represented. This was around 180 AD. Over time the creed underwent further development and change in response to the challenges and struggles that were taking place within the Church. It is striking in its simplicity and powerful in its clarity.
But today, years away from its inception and smack in the middle of a so-called “post Christian paradigm” this ancient creed still rings powerfully in the ears of faith.
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified dead and buried,
The third day he rose from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting, AMEN.
It may ring powerfully, but you may well ask, but what does all that mumbo jumbo mean? What are we saying when we say this? And again, the question comes. What if we don’t’ agree with it? Will we be sent to hell?
Let’s be clear.
The creeds don’t exist for us to stand there with thumbs up or thumbs down. Rather, these thoughts are there for us to receive. They are not unlike the minutes of a meeting that are received into the record. I may not have agreed with what went on at that meeting, but its process and history are a part of our life now. They represent a slice in the life of the group. So there it is. Agree or not, it’s part of who we are.
So let’s think about this particular creed for a moment. This credo, this statement of belief or to put it more succinctly, this understanding of Christian reality, is powerful for us. It is at the root of who we are as a faith community.
Join me a moment as we ramble briefly through the Apostle’s Creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty.
Certainly, belief in God is pretty basic if you want to be part of the Christian tradition. If you don’t believe in God, Christian community might not be a choice that you want to make for your life. It’s OK if someone chooses to be an atheist. All we’re saying is that we don’t make that choice. We do believe in God.
And God as Father? Well, sexism notwithstanding, the notion of God as parent is something that should be wrestled with in prayer and in community. What does it mean for us individually to say we experience God as a Father or Mother? Some can personalize it by saying, “My Dad was abusive, so I can’t deal with the notion of God as a Father.” Others might look more broadly at the notion of parenthood and the responsibility, care, and commitment that it requires, and therein see the metaphor that our ancestors sought to articulate.
Maker of heaven and earth.
This part’s pretty easy. It’s a clarifier. Just in case we’re confused. This God we’re talking about is Creator of all things. Rocks, trees, flowers, oceans, amoebas, republicans and democrats, the Lord God made them all. So this is the big cheese. The One. And yes, this is also pretty basic for us.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
This part is a little tricky if you ask me. Clearly, we Christians claim Jesus Christ as Lord. It is, for us, the bottom line. But it gets tricky when we set ourselves up in the position of trying to limit God….God’s only Son? What if God decides to have another go at it? Who are we to say? Presuming upon God, in my view, borders on blasphemy. Perhaps it would be enough if we say that – for us – Jesus Christ is Lord. Could we let go of the “only” part? Perhaps then we can refrain from the sin of judging others. For my part, I’d like to avoid making judgments about others who believe and experience the Holy different than we do.
Once more, let me be clear. As Christian community this statement is absolutely true. For us, Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. He is, for us, the Messiah, the Son of God. There is no other. We have made the choice, and we build our church, our faith and our ministry around this. But God help us if we dare to judge others for their differences or their beliefs. God will do the judging, not us.
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit;
I am a United Methodist. Our tribe isn’t overly concerned with the literal idea of the virgin birth – as such (more on this in a moment). In fact, as a life-long, card carrying Wesleyan Methodist let me offer a way of seeing this apart from literalism. When we speak to artists or authors we often hear about how they conceived of the book or the painting. We never assume some physical contact or sexual act here, but rather the birth of an idea. Might we take the notion of “conceived by the spirit,” in this sense? That the Logos or Word of God was….God’s idea? God’s conception? It works for me. The incarnation of God’s love in Jesus was God’s….conception….if you get the drift.
Born of the Virgin Mary;
As was just mentioned, my own tradition doesn’t affirm the notion of a literal virgin birth. Some sources suggest that the concept of virgin here merely refers to a woman who had not given birth prior to this occasion. There are also some other pre-Christian mythical elements that may have been mixed in here….the idea of a hero God born to a virgin…..in any case….Mary was the Mom. Of this we’re all pretty sure. Joseph, whether real Dad or not was pretty together. Who else would have stuck around for all that nonsense? But in truth, we deal with this as story; as part of our great tradition, but do not insist on a literal interpretation.
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
For we Christian folk, this too, is part of the story. We read in scripture and embrace the story that Jesus was arrested and handed over to Pilate. From there he was tortured, executed and then buried. With all due to respect to Mel Gibson, this scenario, by itself, is little more than an historic afterthought. After all, thousands (probably tens of thousands!) of people suffered under Pontius Pilate, were crucified until they died, and then were buried. What’s so special about this guy? The death, by itself, means nothing. But sandwiched, as it is, between his life and his rising, it takes on a huge significance.
The third day he rose from the dead;
Some will read this and want to get embroiled in a scientific debate about whether he really raised from the dead or not. Did he really die on the cross? Or did some folks help him down from there only moments from death? Others will say that rising from the dead is exactly what happened. On and on ad nauseum it goes. For my part, the discussion is a waste of time. I know I’ll get in trouble on this, but I need to say it. The historicity of the story is not relevant for us. In other words, the actuality of the event is beside the point. We could argue the finer points of all this until we’re blue in the face and still completely miss the meaning of Jesus’ rising from the dead. Here’s the point. Resurrection is key in Christian understanding. The notion that death does not have the final say is the profoundly radical foundation of Christian thinking. Forget about whether or not the details of the story are. Instead, peer deeply into its truth. In the world around us, death is the final sanction. With nations, governments, civic authority, death has the final say. If you want to win the argument, kill the opponent. The ultimate punishment is death. That settles everything. But in the larger culture, death is not merely an act that stops a heart from beating. Death is a way of being. From the strangulation of eco-systems to the starvation of whole populations, death in our world holds sway. From the idolatry of profits first to killing legalisms that rob people of dignity and health, the way of death is business as usual in the world out there.
Not so with Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ bursts the cultural assumption of death and replaces it with the notion that self-giving love is redemptive. In fact, self-giving love is so powerful that it overcomes death. We experience God’s self-giving love in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and see its redemptive power in his rising. We experience the self-giving love of Martin Luther King Jr. and see its redemptive power in the rising of a people. Whether it is Jesus, Rev. King, or you or me, it is true that new life that emerges from self-giving love.
So this resurrection thing is pretty important. Whether the forgoing outburst resonates with you or not, this remains the fulcrum of Christian faith.
And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
I guess by this we can intuit that Jesus is God’s right hand man. Seriously, though, this is the connotation. It is wrapped up, again, in some deep seated need for our thing to be the only thing. I’m sure that Jesus is God’s incarnation for us. I accept that God is in Christ, offering us healing and reconciliation. But where he sits doesn’t matter much to me. It mattered to the early Church, though, who was engaged in debate and discussion with its own Hebrew tradition, along with other pagan religions. So they needed to make the point. Jesus is the one, God’s right hand man.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
When reciting this part as a kid, I figured I’d rather be quick than dead. References to TV westerns aside, it did seem a strange line to put into something we say each week at Church. But then there is the judging thing. Most contemporary folk shy away from this. In a relativistic culture like ours, it’s a difficult concept. If I’m OK and you’re OK, if everything is relative, then how can we be judged for being good or bad? We don’t like being judged. Moreover, we don’t want to be held accountable for our behavior (a lot of which isn’t so good). But the early Church embraced a God who held the people accountable for their behavior. When I observe the way some church folk behave, I tend to think that a mutual accountability in Christian community maybe it’s not such a bad idea.
The truth is that if we embrace a justice loving, life affirming God, it puts us in a certain place regarding those who pervert justice and degrade life. Call it judgment if you like. But the real deal is that Christian folk do take sides. And anyway, the “quick and the dead” simply means the “living and the dead.”
I believe….
Up to this point, we’ve basically laid out the story. Before this we can nod or shake our heads, and try to understand. But here is the part that is challenging. For the early Church it was an “if – then” proposition. A classic teaching style. If we embrace this story that we have laid out in the forgoing, then it seems logical to believe (or trust) in the following. Yet for them, this was not belief in a simplistic yes or no proposition. It’s not like believing in Casper the Ghost. One either does or does not believe in ghosts. No. This is different in a pretty large way. This is belief in the sense that you trust (in Scripture the Greek word is Pistus, meaning trust) that this is so and promise to live your life accordingly. I trust that the brakes on my Volkswagen will work, so I get in the car and drive. I trust in my friend to have my best interests at heart, so I make myself vulnerable to him or her. I believe or trust in the following things and will change my life accordingly. This is not just a yes or no question. Let’s see where they go.
In the Holy Spirit;
We don’t need to have a thumbs up / thumbs down vote on the Holy Spirit. We experience it. In worship, in fellowship, in mission and ministry we experience God’s presence as Spirit. It is the biblical promise of Jesus to be with us, to send us an “advocate.” Moreover, we trust in that Spirit to guide us and be our help in every circumstance.
In the Holy catholic Church;
This one used to upset some of my anti Roman Catholic relatives. But this is catholic with a small “c” meaning universal. This statement really refers to a trust in the universal reality of the ecclesia….of those called out in the Holy Spirit to live lives that are different than the rest of the world. We are church, not because of bishops and institutions, but because we (hopefully) live out the teachings of Jesus Christ in each moment of our lives and trust that all others who claim the name of Christ will do the same.
The communion of Saints;
The meaning of this phrase doesn’t jump right out and bite you at first. What it has to do with is community. The original Greek text used the word koinonnia, where here you see “communion.” This refers to fellowship, or community. It’s unlikely, too, that the concept of Saints in the early Church compared with what we understand today. Saints today are honored ones who have done great things. We put them on pedestals and name churches and schools after them. But in Paul’s writings, Saints were the everyday average Christians struggling to be faithful to God’s Word. So what this really has to do with is the call to trust, to believe in the quirky and sometimes crazy process of being in Christian community. It is one of the great gifts of our faith, and believing or trusting in it is a process that goes on throughout our lives.
The forgiveness of sins;
Well, now we’re really getting into it. If Jesus was about anything, it was forgiveness. The question here is how well do we forgive? Are we willing to trust in forgiveness? To forgive someone who has damaged or hurt us? If it’s someone who has really messed up, will we forgive as God does? Will we allow grace to invade and make all things new? This is pretty radical. For most of us, the forgiveness thing gets lip service only. But to really trust it, to believe in it to the extent that we practice it? Mmmm.
The Resurrection of the Body;
This notion causes concern and discussion wherever it goes. Will our physical bodies be resurrected? Will the atoms that made up our bodies be reassembled at the resurrection? Will we all be walking around just like we were when we died? Nikos Kazantsakis, in his wonderful novel, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” presents the rising of Lazarus in a hard fashion. The risen friend of Jesus continues to rot as he strolls around through the story, which is replete with graphic descriptions of the state of his decomposition.
How will this resurrection happen, anyway? One theologian says that we have no more idea of what that will look like than an embryo does of what it will look like as an adult human. The Resurrection is, it must be stated, one of the mysteries of faith. It cannot be explained. Yet we accept it as real. And if we look closely we can see resurrection all around us. New life from old rises up in God’s Creation everywhere we look. After devastating brokenness in human relationships, people find new beginnings. Bereaved spouses move through painful grief to find new life and even a new beginning with a new partner. It’s resurrection. It happens. And it happens in deeper and more powerful ways than we are capable of imagining.
And the life everlasting; Do you trust that there is more to us than all this stuff and stress around us? Do you sense that somehow there is a vast plane beyond this one? Or like many pastors, perhaps you have walked with people through near death experiences and heard them return to tell of potent experiences? Do we trust that there is more to the story than we might know or perceive? And even so, what about this life? Do we behave in such a way that life can continue in marvelous wonder and abundance? How is it that we treat our planet and one another? Is not this part of life everlasting? Jesus said that he had come so that all might have life and have it in abundance. It could be stated that life everlasting pertains to both our current lives in this world as well as to what is to come.
AMEN: In other words, so be it. I concur. I trust……believe……accept this as an affirmation of the faith I have in God through Jesus Christ. Do I agree with every word? Maybe. Maybe not. But as I mentioned from the get go…..complete agreement is not the point. The real question is whether we will allow ourselves to be formed and moved by the power of our tradition and those who formed it. Will we agree to embrace these slices of the life of our Church….these points of engagement….these creeds? And will we promise to engage our faith and its challenges as deeply and profoundly as our ancestors?
Well, there it is. The Apostle’s Creed in a nutshell….or at least one Pastor’s ruminations on it. ‘Hope you enjoyed the romp.
When I was a student at Drew Theological School more than two decades ago, a wise professor made each first year student write their own creed. Fortunately mine has been lost over the ensuing decades. But I can assure you it was pompous, arrogant and not a little self-centered. Then, as we prepared to graduate, this wonderful man had us – once more – write our creeds. Were they different? You bet they were. The sea changes of learning and life that confronted us in those years changed us. They changed our faith as well. And would a creed I wrote today be different from ten years ago? Absolutely. You see, the point of creedal confession is not to freeze and paralyze faith into an icy tundra of doctrine. It is, rather, to engage our convictions and understandings at the intersection of living faith and it’s impact on us and our world. It is to think and pray deeply about who we are in the power of God’s all powerful love. And it is to humbly realize that in the midst of it all, the mystery of faith continues far beyond our ability to fathom it.
My own sense is that learning to understand and appreciate these foot prints of Christian tradition can only help us as we strive to be faithful in today’s world. And while we do not shy away from “bottom line” elements to Christian faith, the ancient creeds are not to be held up as a litmus test for us to dispose of with a “yay” or a “nay.”John Wesley would ask if we accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ and if we intend to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we accept that much, the rest is fodder for a good adult education class. It helps no one if we draw a line down the middle of the school yard and have those who “believe” the creeds stand on one side and those who “don’t believe” the creed stand on the other.
Instead, my vote would be for us to receive these hallmarks of struggle and growth as part of our history and tradition. My vote, if anyone cared to count it, would be that we not build our relationships or our churches on the degree of our agreement surrounding this or any other creed. Instead, perhaps we could have good discussion over a cup of coffee and proceed to heed the sacred call to love deeply, care passionately, and to walk humbly with our God.
Thanks for sticking with me!
More to come this summer.
Pastor Schuyler Rhodes
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