During the remaining four Sundays of July, we will be discussing the significance of the Nicene Creed---one of the earliest attempts to summarize the essentials of Christian Spirituality. The modern English translation of the creed is this:
"We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen."
According to Wikipedia...'The purpose of a creed is to act as a yardstick of correct belief. A creed is an epitome, not a full definition, of what is required for orthodoxy. It was hoped that by memorizing this summary of the faith, lay people without extensive theological training would still be able to recognize deviations from orthodox doctrines based on the Bible as interpreted in Christian Tradition.'
We will be especially discussing the one line near the end of the creed:
'...We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church...'
This week we will focus on the word, "ONE" and discuss the issues of unity (and disunity) that are demonstrated in the Church (Universal and Local)
I'm wondering...what are some of your experiences with Creeds?
Have you been a part of a faith community before that used/recited the Nicene or Apostle's Creed on a regular basis?
If so, did you find that practice vital or strange or just plain boring?
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5 comments:
Growing up Roman Catholic, we recited this every week. I didn't find it strange or boring. It was all I ever knew growing up, so it wasn't strange. I didn't find it boring. It was a definition of who I was in my faith. It was what I believed, what I still believe. The funny thing is the line that you will be discussing. The whole time, I thought it meant ONE holy CATHOLIC and apostolic church (referring to the church I attended). I have later learned a lot about the meaning of the word catholic. Which I am sure you will discuss in a couple of weeks. So, I guess now that I understand that line a little differently, my view of the Church has broadened. That is a good thing. :)
I was raised Catholic as well...i recited this every sunday at mass not knowing what a word of it meant...it was total memorization and repetition...somewhat"ritualistic" if you will...pretty much what every sunday at mass was like...totally boring...same old, same old. I don't think I benefited much from anything I experienced in the catholic church, other than time with my dad and my four sisters...you see...my mother was baptist! Bless my dad for being so faithful in dragging the five of us to St. Peters each sunday!
I'm looking forward to Steve shedding some light on this for me on sunday in the "circle"...:)
I'm so excited to learn about this creed.
But can I just say that I LOVE our new set-up? I love it. For so many reasons but one being that it just feels more like what church is supposed to be.
I vote we stay this way :)
i like the part toward the end of the creed... "his kingdom will not have an end". I also enjoyed church, it was one of favorite moments at RVCC. I was sitting in the back and looking across from me and i pictured the early church and how this could of been how they sat, or even how they would have sat around Jesus when he taught and the social significance of this... jew would have been across from gentile, sinner across from the righteous...how beautiful of an image, the mere coming together of opposites all in the name of God. I try to picture what sort of significance this could carry today and it would be as if an Iranian was sitting across from Iraqi, a homosexual male facing a straight up fundamentalist baptist, a zealot facing a pacifist. ....
i think you should post a new entry!!
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