The Creed

-
Image Source: Tim Marshall

At Wesley Methodist Church, we have been studying the Apostle's Creed during the Lenten period, breaking down each line of the creed in detail each week leading up to Easter Sunday.

The Apostle's Creed is a statement of Christian belief, based on what the apostles of Jesus Christ taught.

At our Sunday worship services at the Seminary we sing or recite a Zulu version of the Apostle’s Creed. This is a practice that is common in most African churches as well as many Western churches.

The danger with reciting these creeds so regularly is that they can become familiar to us, losing their ultimate meaning in the process.

I wonder whether we sometimes recite these church creeds without thinking about the words that we are saying. I know that personally I am often guilty of this.

Hillsong Music wrote a song titled This I Believe (The Creed) which is their personal adaptation of the Apostle's Creed.

Here are the words of the Chorus:

I believe in God our Father
I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Our God is three in one
I believe in the resurrection
That we will rise again
For I believe in the name of Jesus

The words are simple, but so powerful.

I remember when I first heard this song - I was so moved by it.  I was going through some struggles at the time and while singing this song didn’t fix any of my problems, there was a real sense of peace that came over me as I sang these words in the midst of my pain and sorrow.

These words reminded me of who I believe in and restored my hope for whatever my future may hold. Just proclaiming my belief in God brought me confidence in facing the future.

We see this happening throughout scripture as well. The author of Psalm 140 was clearly going through an incredibly tough time. And halfway through the psalm he boldly declares, “You are my God.”

Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent,
Who devise ways to trip my feet.5
The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path.
I say to the Lord, “You are my God.
- Psalm 140:4-6

This is what makes the words of the Creed so powerful and real in our lives. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, good or bad, we can still stand firm in the truths and promises of our God.

The declaration we make with our mouths can impact our present. Are we declaring that life is too hard? Or are we declaring that we worship the Creator of the Universe who knows and loves each and every one of us?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

The Laws of Leviticus

-
Image
The second and third passages of scripture that are used to condemn homosexuality and clobber LGBTQ+ people come from the often-read book of Leviticus (sarcasm alert). Before digging into these verses, let’s quote them here: “Don’t lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.” - Leviticus 18:22 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” - Leviticus 20:13 These strong words in the Bible have armed anti-gay protesters with enough content to fill their picket signs with hatred and violence. “Homosexuality is an Abomination” and “God hates fags” and “To death with the gays” are all signs that make regular appearances at Pride parades throughout the world, unfortunately often held up by so-called Christians. Regardless of someone’s belief about homosexuality, I will never understand how some Christians see this as a Christ-like response
Read more

The Ceremony that Divided the Church

-
Image
Note: A shorter version of this article was first published with the Jesuit Institute of South Africa. Last week Friday, my family sat down to watch the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The French always have a knack for the theatrics and this year was no different. The performances throughout the long ceremony were mesmerizing and provocative. We went to bed that night feeling tired but excited for the Olympic Games that were officially starting the following day. Little did I know that not everyone shared my enthusiasm. The Outrage I woke up the following morning and decided to browse social media (when is this ever a good idea?). My feed was filled with people sharing their outrage at a particular scene of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. A still picture of the ceremony was being shared alongside a picture of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting which admittedly showed a slight resemblance to the original. According to the outraged folk (including some morally
Read more

Leap of Faith

-
Image
I recently did the Lake Eland Extreme Zip-line with some of my friends from Pietermaritzburg. The zip-line is 1 100 meters long and reaches max speeds of up to 160km's per hour. All that is keeping you from falling hundreds of meters to an inevitable death is 2 cables and a harness that my hysterical brain was telling me would not have been out of place as a car's seat-belt. We arrived early and waited for half an hour as we contemplated our life choices up to this point. Eventually we were all kitted up and ready to go. While I wouldn't say that I have Acrophobia - an extreme fear of heights - as I looked out over the gorge that we would be flying through, breaking the national speed-limit in the process, it is fair to say that my stomach started churning and my legs turned to jelly. It was at this point that I'm sure many of us were trying to think of any reasonable excuse that would get us out of this jump without seeming like a coward. One of the thin
Read more