For the next couple of weeks we're going to explore the Apostle's Creed which dates all the way back to the First Century AD.
What I'm hoping to do is to reflect more devotionally than theologically and to apply the precepts of the Creed to our lives.
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O LORD, You have searched me and You know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
You are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
You know it completely, O LORD.
...
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalms139:1-24
We start with the very first word of the Apostle's Creed: "I"
As Christians we are in the awesome position that while we can talk about the faith of the church - we can also describe faith as a beautifully intimate and personal experience.
Faith is not merely a cerebral assent to a doctrine subscribed to by a community. Faith is a relationship at its most intimate: An encounter between the imperfect me-myself-and-I and the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit.
Psalm 139 is an exploration of this intense intimacy. David explores this intimacy thoroughly in the Psalm. If you read it in its entirety there are moments that one senses how white-hot the Divine Interest in David is and it is as if David struggles to cope with God's loving attention to detail: He says
"5 You hem me in--behind and before;
You have laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?"
But by the end of the Psalm David responds to Divine Interest - let's call it by its true name - LOVE. He opens himself to the fullness of relationship: Search me, know me, test me, lead me!
To believe is a personal thing. Not personal as in private and not-to-be-shared but personal as in INtimate, INterested and INvolved. To believe is a relationship between the "i" and the "I am" and the deeper the relationship is the more I am truly me.
(More on Tuesday)
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THE APOSTLES' CREED
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again:
he ascended into heaven.
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
