One of the traditions in my Lutheran heritage is the speaking of "creeds", statements about our faith, which describe who our God is and what we know He has done for us through the Bible. In fact, it's a very rare Sunday or worship service that goes by without one of the three basic creeds of the church being spoken (those three are the Apostles, Nicene, and the rather lengthy Athanasian creeds).
Part of the tradition of the speaking of these creeds is to have every stand for them. We then tend to speak them as we face the front of the church. In many ways, this is a good thing to do. Part of the confession of what our faith consists of is made to our God. In that way, we are praising God for what He has done, and for who He tells us that He is. And our response is to acknowledge our faith by declaring what we believe about Him.
But in recent years, I have also taken some slightly different approaches at times with the speaking of the creeds. True, these are the confession of faith that we make to God. But we also make this confession to one another, as a reminder of the faith that we share, and of the fact that God has done this for each of us, and we are part of the Church together. On those occasions, I have actually had the people of God face one another and speak of their faith to one another. Our confession of faith unites us together as the people of God, since God has done His work for us all.
I'm also planning to have God's people do something else in the not too distant future. Rather than facing the altar (which is our way of speaking to God) or facing one another, I will have the people of the congregation turn toward the walls of the building. We will then speak our faith out toward the community that we are part of. I see this as a good thing to do. After all, we live our Christian lives in the context of the various communities that we are part of. As we live our lives, we strive to live in such a way that our lives declare our faith. Our confession of faith is directed also toward those who are not part of our gathering of faith.
Our Christian faith is not intended to be something that is kept under wraps and only revealed in connection with our fellow believers. It's a statement that is made as we encounter the people of the communities in which God has placed us. My hope is that this simple exercise grows us as we think about how our faith is an important part of our life, not just when we gather, but as we go forth into a community, declaring our faith and boldly proclaiming our God.
Part of the tradition of the speaking of these creeds is to have every stand for them. We then tend to speak them as we face the front of the church. In many ways, this is a good thing to do. Part of the confession of what our faith consists of is made to our God. In that way, we are praising God for what He has done, and for who He tells us that He is. And our response is to acknowledge our faith by declaring what we believe about Him.
But in recent years, I have also taken some slightly different approaches at times with the speaking of the creeds. True, these are the confession of faith that we make to God. But we also make this confession to one another, as a reminder of the faith that we share, and of the fact that God has done this for each of us, and we are part of the Church together. On those occasions, I have actually had the people of God face one another and speak of their faith to one another. Our confession of faith unites us together as the people of God, since God has done His work for us all.
I'm also planning to have God's people do something else in the not too distant future. Rather than facing the altar (which is our way of speaking to God) or facing one another, I will have the people of the congregation turn toward the walls of the building. We will then speak our faith out toward the community that we are part of. I see this as a good thing to do. After all, we live our Christian lives in the context of the various communities that we are part of. As we live our lives, we strive to live in such a way that our lives declare our faith. Our confession of faith is directed also toward those who are not part of our gathering of faith.
Our Christian faith is not intended to be something that is kept under wraps and only revealed in connection with our fellow believers. It's a statement that is made as we encounter the people of the communities in which God has placed us. My hope is that this simple exercise grows us as we think about how our faith is an important part of our life, not just when we gather, but as we go forth into a community, declaring our faith and boldly proclaiming our God.
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