I was not raised in a church that did Creeds very often. My little United Methodist Church would occasionally read one of the historic Creeds from our hymnal, but I never committed any of them to memory. The first time I attended a church that recited the Nicene Creed every week, I was blown away! I also realized at a fairly early age that there were some things that I, a neophyte in the study of the Bible, disagreed with – like the resurrection of the body. When I said this to a more orthodox thinker who I attended seminary with, he was surprised. I said that the Apostle Paul wasn’t sure about it, and some recent scholarship points to 1 Corinthians 15 as his attempt to convince the church that they, like Jesus, would be resurrected. It seems that the church wasn’t sold on it either. But that’s another day’s topic.
I have come to have mixed feelings about Creeds and their less formal cousins, Affirmations of Faith. While it can be comforting to say what we believe in unison, these kinds of statements are as much about who is in as who is out (thanks, Emperor Constantine!). When I first came to Berks County, I got involved with the Reading-Berks Conference of Churches; that is, until I found out that they did not allow the Quakers or the Unitarian Universalist to be part of the organization. The reasoning was that the leadership of the RBCC defined Christianity as Trinitarian, and since these two churches allowed for diversity of opinion on matters like that, they weren’t “real” Christians. My experience of both churches taught me otherwise, so I stopped participating as a board member. The RBCC did a lot of great things, but inclusion mattered.
I have no problem with anyone who finds comfort in Creeds, but I do have a problem with uniformity. That’s different from unity, which is absolutely essential to all who follow Jesus. My denomination, the United Church of Christ, was formed around the Gospel of John, chapter 17 passage “that they may all be one.” One in the Spirit – One in Mission – One in the Lord; not necessarily one in every aspect of theology. How can we force unanimity of belief when the Bible has so many variations about so many aspects of God? Like the resurrection, which is told in four slightly different ways; which version must I believe in? I will continue to value the historic nature of Creeds and Affirmations of Faith and will occasionally use them – just don’t try to force me to choose one as my statement of what I believe. My faith is too big for that kind of narrowness. God is way bigger than any Creed can define.
Prayer – Merciful God, open us up to a larger sense of You and Your welcome, so that all may be one. Amen.
Today’s art is a montage of art about Creeds from an exhibit at Vanderbilt University.