We believe in God the Father Almighty,
who created the heavens and the earth,
ordering chaos and forming humanity in his image;
who lovingly suffered humanity’s grasp for independence,
subjecting creation to corruption and decay;
who promised to reclaim the world through one family,
becoming the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
who saved Israel from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt,
establishing her as a priestly kingdom, a holy nation;
who revealed his sacred name to his servant Moses:
Yahweh, who is faithful, compassionate, jealous, and just
who rules over the nations and humbles the powerful,
aligning all things with his sovereign mission;
who abandoned his people into exile for their sin,
yet promised their forgiveness and restoration.
...God is sovereign
We believe in Jesus the Messiah, his only Son, our Lord,
who is the incarnation and revelation of the one true God,
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary;
who announced the gospel of God’s coming reign,
enacting its arrival in meals, signs, exorcisms & healings;
who gathered a renewed community of repentant faith,
calling his followers to trust God and take up the cross;
who lovingly suffered crucifixion under Pontius Pilate,
dying to defeat evil and save us from sin;
who on the third day was raised from the dead
and victoriously ascended to the Father’s right hand;
who presently reigns as the head of his body, the church,
the ongoing embodiment of his life and ministry;
who will come again to judge the living and the dead
at the resurrection of the body, the healing of creation.
...God is love
We believe in the Holy Spirit, God’s personal presence,
who hovered over the surface of earth’s waters,
bringing and sustaining life in all creation;
who constitutes us as the people of God’s new creation,
sign and foretaste of God's coming reign;
who unifies us as the one international body of Christ,
liberated from the powers of sin and death;
who transforms our identity and character
into the cruciform likeness of Jesus’ faith, hope, and love;
who inspired and illuminates the Scriptures
that we might hear and learn God’s word afresh;
who intercedes for us and cries out to God in our behalf,
testifying with our spirit that we are God’s children;
who empowers our care, service, and proclamation,
that we might faithfully witness to the truth.
...God is here
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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3 comments:
Michael,
I really like this.
It is clear, broad yet deep, and fresh in a good way.
I'd love it if you were able to come up with a section on the church. I know that you touched on it quite a bit already, but I think that a section expounding on our identity would be enlightening, especially if it were to focus on our mission in the light of God's identity.
Dan H.
I thought about doing a separate section, but (for now at least) I decided not to disrupt the trinitarian structure of the whole thing. In doing so I'm trying to reflect the structure of the early creeds. Of course there is a time to talk about the church as a specific entity, but never apart from the Holy Spirit. By locating the church within the section on the Spirit, we might be able to protect an emphasis on the church as eschatological community, given the Pauline focus on the Spirit as the foretaste/deposit of what is to come. Thoughts?
I agree with you in every regard. I knew that this was your reasoning and I'm on board with it. I love the Trinitarian structure of the creed, the fact that it follows early councils, and does not develop an ecclesiology separate from the Spirit. This is all great. I wouldn't have it any other way.
But I do like the idea of eventually developing an ecclesiology. I think that it will be helpful in understanding the implications of the theological statements.
Do you have any plans on what you'd like to do with this creed? Was it mainly for you, potentially for a community that you're a part of, that you lead or that you might lead? Just wondering.
Dan H.
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