Welcome to this ecumenical website of resources and reflections on liturgy, spirituality, and worship for individuals and communities. It is run by Rev. Bosco Peters.
On Easter day at the breakfast that follows the 8am service, one of the people said very forcefully ‘why do we have that dreadful creed? (Nicene) Surely it puts people off coming to church!’
I invited him to discuss the creed with the other members of the breakfast club, because this is an intelligent thoughtful group of people, who I reasoned might have something helpful to say. They didn’t take the bate at all.
I loved the clip, but I’m not sure it advances the discussion at all.
Thanks, Jenny. I wonder if my section on the Creed in my book Celebrating Eucharist would help this discussion. It could be copied (with attribution ) in a pew sheet. It particularly refers to Easter Day as appropriate to re-affirm our baptism. Blessings.
A friend of mine once observed that if you listen, the congregation sounds a bit like the Borg Collective from Star Trek when they recite the Creed. Hopefully thoughtful resources like this will help us — regardless of how we sound in unison — avoid BEING the mindless, soulless Borg when we say these words.
When I took instructions to join the Orthodox, the first meeting (these were all individual meetings, mind you!) focused on the corporate nature of “church” – of the assembly of the faithful God calls into being, and the entire set of instructions was based on the creed. One meeting for each person of the Trinity, another for the Trinity itself, and so on. I was nearly 65 and had a lot of prior religious training (including going to Catholic college), but I found this “grounding in Orthodoxy” experience to be something I drank in like a thirsty soul. (Even though I didn’t know I was thirsty!)
At that point, even before the instructions, I felt like I had recovered the “simple faith” of childhood. And by that I mean my faith felt really “simple” – like a child’s trust.
The creed is wonderful, I think, because it shows us where the boundaries lie. If we call all agree on these profound truths, hammered out so long ago, if we can learn to dwell in them and with them, if we could all just agree that some things are indisputable (even if unfathomable to a great degree), if we can recognize that there is “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism” – and if we can learn to accept that other things (outside the creed) are naturally going to invite different perspectives… then, maybe, we’ll feel this sense of a Large Tent of Christianity. (I feel that already. I long for more unity! And more compassion!)
Thank you for your blog, Bosco! I follow just a handful of blogs… so that says a lot!
Thanks, TheraP. I hope people have appreciated the recent Orthodox lecture here. I know you did. I have kept coming back to it. That lecture expresses well the need to have this “straight line” to measure against. There is so much that Orthodoxy can teach all. I concur with the ability to live in a Large Tent Christianity from orthodox foundations. Blessings.
Extremely powerful, Bosco, this passionate & truly inspiring call to faith.
Thank you.
Something like this has been needed for a long time.
On Easter day at the breakfast that follows the 8am service, one of the people said very forcefully ‘why do we have that dreadful creed? (Nicene) Surely it puts people off coming to church!’
I invited him to discuss the creed with the other members of the breakfast club, because this is an intelligent thoughtful group of people, who I reasoned might have something helpful to say. They didn’t take the bate at all.
I loved the clip, but I’m not sure it advances the discussion at all.
Thanks, Jenny. I wonder if my section on the Creed in my book Celebrating Eucharist would help this discussion. It could be copied (with attribution
) in a pew sheet. It particularly refers to Easter Day as appropriate to re-affirm our baptism. Blessings.
A friend of mine once observed that if you listen, the congregation sounds a bit like the Borg Collective from Star Trek when they recite the Creed. Hopefully thoughtful resources like this will help us — regardless of how we sound in unison — avoid BEING the mindless, soulless Borg when we say these words.
This so simple and beautiful! I love it!
When I took instructions to join the Orthodox, the first meeting (these were all individual meetings, mind you!) focused on the corporate nature of “church” – of the assembly of the faithful God calls into being, and the entire set of instructions was based on the creed. One meeting for each person of the Trinity, another for the Trinity itself, and so on. I was nearly 65 and had a lot of prior religious training (including going to Catholic college), but I found this “grounding in Orthodoxy” experience to be something I drank in like a thirsty soul. (Even though I didn’t know I was thirsty!)
At that point, even before the instructions, I felt like I had recovered the “simple faith” of childhood. And by that I mean my faith felt really “simple” – like a child’s trust.
The creed is wonderful, I think, because it shows us where the boundaries lie. If we call all agree on these profound truths, hammered out so long ago, if we can learn to dwell in them and with them, if we could all just agree that some things are indisputable (even if unfathomable to a great degree), if we can recognize that there is “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism” – and if we can learn to accept that other things (outside the creed) are naturally going to invite different perspectives… then, maybe, we’ll feel this sense of a Large Tent of Christianity. (I feel that already. I long for more unity! And more compassion!)
Thank you for your blog, Bosco! I follow just a handful of blogs… so that says a lot!
Peace be with you. Every day. In every way.
Thanks, TheraP. I hope people have appreciated the recent Orthodox lecture here. I know you did. I have kept coming back to it. That lecture expresses well the need to have this “straight line” to measure against. There is so much that Orthodoxy can teach all. I concur with the ability to live in a Large Tent Christianity from orthodox foundations. Blessings.
Like water in a parched and thirsty land. Thankyou. I cried and cried (as my granddaughter once said).
Thanks, Barbara. I’m moved by your response. Blessings.