What the Creeds have to say about God and how that understanding influences our own relationships with God. There were 7 participants.
The session started with Psalm 134
A song of ascents.
1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
The catechism was reviewed (beginning on Page 845), Book of Common Prayer. It has 5 questions
Q. What do we learn about God as creator from the
revelation to Israel?
A. We learn that there is one God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and
unseen.
Q. What does this mean?
A. This means that the universe is good, that it is the work of
a single loving God who creates, sustains, and directs it.
Q. What does this mean about our place in the universe?
A. It means that the world belongs to its creator; and that
we are called to enjoy it and to care for it in accordance
with God’s purposes.
Q. What does this mean about human life?
A. It means that all people are worthy of respect and
honor, because all are created in the image of God, and
all can respond to the love of God.
Q. How was this revelation handed down to us?
A. This revelation was handed down to us through a community created by a covenant with God.
The Nicene Creed presents a more complete picture than the Apostles Creed:
“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. (Nicene Creed) I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. “
Let’s break it down:
1 “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty”
God is the ground of all being, beyond understanding, transcending our imagination
The Universe is good because if was created directly by a single loving God. We belong to God and as a cocreator with God, we need to create for it. We are all worthy. Because of God, we are here.
Nicene Creed talks of one God at a time when it was a world of many Gods. In our time we have symbols that we worship such as fame and fortune
The Creeds help us to think about what we do know about God
Last week we talked some about “We believe in” (to put our trust in) We took our concept of God from the Jewish, the first people who talked of one God the whole focus.
One God—This is where our Jewish roots are really evident—the insistence on monotheism, One God. Very close to the Shema, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” These are the words on the doorposts of Jewish homes, the prayer that opened and closed the day. This was also the faith of Jesus. God, the Lord, is One (Mark 12:29)
God the Father—God welcomes us home with outstretched arms, Jesus used the word Abba for Father, come closer (Here the creed starts to be explicitly Christian—we call God Father because Jesus did) But remember that many faiths refer to God as personally connected, the ultimate source of all intimately related to us) Only to God do we fully and inseparably belong God is the direction of our longing and belonging
The Almighty (Pantocrator in Greek) The otherness of God So God is both friendly and strange, immensely attractive and immensely awesome. El Shaddai If God is almighty, and omnipotent (all powerful) then why doesn’t God bring an end to suffering?
One substance in three persons—the thing that is unchanging made up of three unique persons
The Creed insists on God’s Oneness, in a triune nature. The creed declares faith in a God who is at once Father and Pantocrator, intimate and awesome, immanent and transcendent. This God is Holy Being.
Also, the creed implies that wherever there is suffering, God as a loving Father suffers. This does not take away the pain, but gives meaning to it through love –almighty love shines through the darkness, we could even say that God is Yes, yes, yes, yes
By calling God creator, Christians express their trust that all things and events must be ultimately meaningful because they flow from that deepest wellspring of meaning that we call God.
2. “Maker of Heaven and Earth”—let’s take a look at what the whole creed has to say about creation—it is ongoing, past, present and future (Maker of heaven and earth, Jesus through whom all things were made, Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come)
The biblical God is flexible, responsive, and creative ever new possibilities because God is always engaged in creation and the very energy of the creator is flowing through us. You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. At the core of creation, a faithfulness prepared with love and care as our home an affirmation uniting us with all humanity and with all creation Faith in creation will make us creative.
Salli McFague says creation is the body of God.
Creation is not just in the past but also in the present as we look forward to new life. Creation is a dynamic living thing. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are active in creation. It is never complete but always growing. We are creators as well as co-creators with God. The energy of creation flows through us.
We are given dominion over the earth. The word “dominion” comes from the word “domicile”. We are given something to care for.
3 “of all that is, seen and unseen.” (Nicene Creed)
The seen all that is manifest in inner reality, and unseen, all that is hidden in God, Heaven, the unseen, is the fountainhead of God’s creative action, which is the word’s original meaning in the Hebrew Bible.
Many things in creation we cannot see but contribute to our lives. Creation flows through God.
The seen and the unseen are both good. The doctrine of creation rules out all dualisms, we live in a sacramental universe. (William Temple said this)
The creed helps keep God in perspective and brings us together. All of us together – WE.
We trust all events are meaningful as part of God’s creation
“Life of the world to come.“ God is in charge and there is a trust. It is a reminder of what we believe and trust. It gives us hope. We can become part of God’s Kingdom.
The hour ended with this quote from Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 14:9– “Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!”