APOSTLES’ CREED: REIMAGINED FOR OUR TIME (Michael Dowling August 2020)
Since ancient times, the Church has, in its baptismal rites, employed the statement of faith known as the Apostle’s Creed. In the Uniting Church’s Basis of Union, we read: “The Uniting Church commits its ministers and instructors to careful study of these creeds (such as the Apostle’s Creed) and to the discipline of interpreting their teaching in a later age.”
Because I take my responsibility as a minister in the Uniting Church seriously, I have endeavoured to do just that, in examining and interpreting this ancient creed with new words.
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APOSTLES’ CREED (circa 4th Century CE) |
APOSTLES’ CREED: (Reimagined for our time) |
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I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, |
I believe in the God beyond time and space The God through whom all that is has its existence |
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and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: |
I believe in Jesus Christ whom, in his life and witness, revealed this God so fully; a God he knew with such intimacy as “Abba” – “Daddy” |
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Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, |
The One in whom the human and the divine are not opposed, but integrated as one |
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suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. |
Who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried
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He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, |
Whose descent into death marked not an end but the beginning of ascent into newness of life and union with the Source of all life and meaning |
| whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. |
As Christ’s life mattered, so too does ours. How we live will be judged against Christ’s life |
| I believe in the Holy Spirit, | I believe in the Holy Spirit, connecting every person, every living thing, every particle in our universe, in a network of love, meaning and purpose |
| the holy catholic church, | I acknowledge the importance of this flawed and fallible ‘Body of Christ’ that is the universal church, and its mission to be all that Christ calls it to be in our world |
| the communion of saints, | I acknowledge and honour those ancestors in the faith who have gone before me |
| the forgiveness of sins, | I affirm that, in the infinite love and mercy of God, there is the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation, both for us as individuals, and for our world |
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the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. |
And I believe my final resting place to be not the grave but rather the eternal heart of God Amen |