"Catholic" in the Creeds

* I write a brief piece for our church bulletin every week.  Here are the thoughts from an upcoming bulletin.

A new year is upon us.  A quick note about our bulletin—you will notice that our affirmation of faith has changed.  We will be using the Nicene Creed with occasional weeks perhaps devoted to other ecumenical or Reformed creeds and confessions.  It is good to give public confession to the faith.  We are not mindlessly reciting words.  Rather, we are doing something profound.  We are giving expression to that which defines us.  We are giving verbal allegiance to the truth that shapes the Church and we are confessing our glad submission to it.

There may be one area that some may be concerned about and that is the use of the word “catholic”—“we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.”  We need to remember that the word “catholic” simply means “universal” and is not indicating the institutional structure of what we know today as the “Roman Catholic Church.”  The Roman Catholic New Testament scholar Luke Timothy Johnson in his book The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters recognizes this reality and has written some important words on this issue:

Before examining the term [“catholic”] it may be helpful to make the (I hope obvious) point that the creed does not say that the church is “Roman Catholic.”  That term is, indeed, oxymoronic.  It combines the element of universality with a highly particular adjective.  The Roman Catholic tradition (the reader will remember it is my own) may believe the Roman tradition is all-encompassing, but that is simply mistaken.

So to confess our belief in the “catholic church” is simply to recognize the universality of the church—it exists everywhere rather than simply in one place.  Part of our praying for the church in other nations is to also give expression to this catholic impulse.  The church does not exist centrally or primarily in the United States.  Christ’s church exists around the world.  To be sure, this universal church is not always equally pure in doctrine or life but it is, nonetheless, the church purchased by the blood of Christ.

So when you confess your faith in the church’s catholicity today, do not think of Rome, the Pope, or any such thing.  Let your mind move to the universal church—our brothers and sisters throughout the nations crying out to God in the name of Jesus Christ.  Rejoice in the Savior’s love which is nourishing and sustaining the church around the world!

On Reciting the Creeds as a Counter-Cultural Act

* One of the occasional meditations I write for our church bulletin.

Do you want to do something really counter-cultural?  Do you want to engage in a subversive activity?  How about standing with courage and speaking truth to power?  In one sense we do these things when we believingly recite the creed together every Sunday.  In our Affirmation of Faith we have been using the Apostle’s Creed.  At other times we may use the Nicene Creed.  We can, of course, get bored with these creeds and just being to mindlessly recite words but when we engage our minds and hearts in the confession of the Creed we are doing some amazing things.  I was helped to see this by the words of Luke Timothy Johnson from his book The Creed when he discusses what is happening when we recite the Creeds

“In a world that celebrates individuality, they are actually doing something together.  In an age that avoids commitment, they pledge themselves to a set of convictions and thereby to each other.  In a culture that rewards novelty and creativity, they use words written by others long ago.  In a society where accepted wisdom changes by the minute, they claim that some truths are so critical that they must be repeated over and over again.  In a throwaway, consumerist world, they accept, preserve, and continue tradition.  Reciting the creed at worship is thus a counter-cultural act.” (pp. 40-41)

So our commitment to the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds is a conservative impulse—we are seeking to conserve the tradition and preserve it in faithfulness.  But we also need to see our commitment to the Creeds and our weekly recitation of their truths as a joyful counter-cultural protest against the folly and unbelief of our time. 

So what about you?  Will you join heart and mind today in the recitation of the Creed; taking your stand to preserve the truth of the gospel?  Will you glory in the power of communal creedal recitation?  Let us affirm the faith of the gospel with vigor and joy!