Move Over, Nicene Creed 3: My King

Always loved this, 'My King', inspiring stuff from SM Lockeridge. There's several versions of this on Youtube, though I'm not sure they can add very much to the words. Just close your eyes and listen.

Move Over, Nicene Creed 2

Following on from yesterday, here is a modern Christian creed, Pete Grieg's vision of "an army of young people - the tattoo on their back reads 'for me to live is Christ, to die is gain'.... who can stop them?... a generation (that) prays like a dying man".

Move Over, Nicene Creed

It's struck me for a while that we could do with something with a bit more energy than the Nicene Creed in our worship. Yes it defines many things that are core doctrines, but it's a document drafted in the 4th century, alive to theological issues then, but today we don't face the same issues.

Martin Luther Kings 'I have a dream' speech is one example of a modern 'creed' which isn't just about doctrine, but brings together deeply held principles with practical examples in a vision of how society can be. One thing that can put wind in the sails of the church is a clearly held vision, which we reinforce regularly, not simply of what doctrines we stand for, but what shape of community, society and world we are committed to.

Here is a very clever, and very good, example of a secular 'creed'.

Condensed Creed

I've been issued this challenge by David Ker:

"Can you write a meme in less than 140 characters, the equivalent of a Twitter “tweet,” that results in a statement that every Christian could confess?
If someone sincerely confessed this creed you would:

- Consider them to be a brother or sister in Christ.
- Believe that they are true believers and inheritors of eternal life. "

Apart from US election night, I've never used Twitter, so I've been putting this off for a few days. There are some pretty good examples on David's original post already:

"Jesus is Lord"

"Jesus Christ God's Son Saviour" (the original Ichthus acrostic)

"I try to follow Jesus"

here: "We follow Jesus, who lived, died, and rose again to save us. He tells us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves."

here: "God created and redeemed mankind and creation through His death and resurrection, granting mercy and eternal life that we may be like Him."
and
"God created and Christ redeemed mankind and creation, through death, resurrection and ascension, granting mercy, justice and eternal life. (both produced by gradual filleting of the Apostles creed)"

But I'm not happy. 2 months ago I wrote this:
Last night we had an evening looking at early church history, and one thing struck me powerfully. 2nd century church worship is described thus by Pliny

“They were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and singresponsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, notto some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify theirtrust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so"

A couple of hundred years later, things have changed - the commitment to living a life of integrity and honesty has gone, and been replaced by the reciting of a creed: commitment to an intellectual version of Christianity, in place of a practical one. Subsequent church history shows how much of a mistake this was, sparking repeated attempts by monastic movements to spell out a 'rule of life', a way of living, a practical programme of Christian ethics.

What bothers me about our traditional creeds is that they are intellectual: they were developed to counter heresies, and so they focus on what facts and theology we believe, rather than on how we live. I would be looking for a creed which combined belief, experience and lifestyle, because a creed which exists purely in the mind isn't a creed of salvation. Which is just what Kouya thinks (ht also for the cartoon above).

So here's my initial stab, which I may come back to and amend, comments welcome:
"Love and worship God, trust and follow Jesus, love and serve others, make disciples."

and then a very large book of footnotes on what 'sincerely' means....

I'm not going to tag people with this: if you fancy the challenge, have a go!