Praying with the Apostles' Creed
4/25/24
We recently visited praying through the Lord's Prayer. The same kind of tactics can be applied to just about any passage of Scripture, and even a few works which are not part of Scripture.
Wait - "just about any part of Scripture"?? Not all of it? While we confess that all Scripture is valuable, some parts don't lend themselves to close meditation and prayer. For instance, we are a bit limited when praying our way through a genealogy. We recognize God is preserving a record of His people, but unless we know a lot about the named people, we are a bit limited. As another example, when we consider Job's advisors, who give him bad counsel, we can certainly pray the Lord would keep us from falling prey to bad counsel, but our prayers aren't necessarily going to go much farther than that.
When would we pray our way through something else? Admittedly, we need to choose carefully. We don't pray about the characters we read about everywhere. Anna Karenina, after all, is not a real person. She may remind us of someone to pray for, but we wouldn't pray for her any more than we would pray for Batman to avoid electrocution with his gadgets.
Some non-biblical works, however, invite prayer. A classic example is the Apostles' Creed. Let's walk through it and see how we might pray.
Countless people have used the Apostles' Creed as part of their devotional life, both personally and in the congregation, for nearly two millennia. Here it is, in a fairly well-known English version.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His 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 into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The creed is a statement of faith, based solidly on Scripture. How would we use it in prayer? Let's try!
"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."
We may begin by thanking God for being the one we can believe in, and who has made everything by his grace. He is the almighty, who can do whatever is necessary in his world. He is the father, whom we can trust.
"And in Jesus Christ, His 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 into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead."
We recognize that the Creed is divided into three basic portions, one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit. We give thanks to God the Father for sending Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah (Christ), and is God's only Son. This is a matter of thanksgiving, because it sets him apart from all the other religions of the world. There's only one true son of God, and he is not some distant far-off, disembodied spirit, but he is "our Lord." We can trust in him as he has revealed himself to us. His desire is to love us and redeem us. We give thanks to him for being entirely God, "conceived by the Holy Spirit" and thus having an immortal, eternal nature. He is never going to be taken away from being the Christ. He is also like us, "born of the virgin Mary." This is a matter of wonder, how the unlimited God can take on the limitations we have. He does it while keeping Mary pure. He can work in us while keeping us pure as well. Do we suffer? Jesus suffered as well. We can thank him for enduring all the types of suffering which we endure. This suffering, at the hands of a sinful Roman governor like Pilate means that Jesus is acquainted with our suffering and trials. We can give him thanks even while we bring our troubles to him. Are our sufferings possibly lethal? Jesus' were. He was really crucified, he really died, and he was really buried. Again, we can bring our sufferings to him, knowing that he understands. He knows that we are also fragile and will die if we are left to ourselves for too long. Do we feel darkness and separation from God? Jesus did as well, in his death. However, we can give him thanks that he didn't remain dead. He showed himself to the underworld as the one who conquered death. He was unable to be kept permanently in the tomb. He rose from the dead. Again, we give him thanks for being the one who lives, and who gives us life. The proof of this is his appearance to many people after being raised from the dead, which was followed by his ascension. As he rose, we believe we will also rise. We can give Jesus thanks that he is at the right hand of God the Father. The person at the right hand of a king pleads for people and asks the king to be merciful. This is exactly what Jesus is doing now. We can bring our needs to him and know that he will ask the Father for his love and care. Do we feel far from God's reconciliation? Though we are waiting, we know he plans to come as the judge, and will see that our names are written by faith in his book of life. His judgment will be based not on our works, but on his faithfulness and obedience.
The Christian life is all about Jesus, isn't it! The second article of the Apostles' Creed points us to the reality of Jesus' life and work. It reminds us that his life and work are for us.
"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen."
We move in the third article to the Holy Spirit. He's here working with us. He is the one who is especially active in our world right now. We can ask him to pour himself out on us with his power, with his forgiveness, and with his joy. The Holy Spirit draws people, including us, into one Church. We have a familial relationship with all the Christians who came before us and all who will come after us. There's a "communion," a commonality among all Christians, and we are called "saints" - holy people. This also is the work of the Holy Spirit, for which we give thanks. Do we know people who need to be drawn into the Church, to be made saints? We pray for them as well, knowing that God the Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus all the time. How does he draw us to Jesus? With forgiveness of sins. This is a strong reminder that we need to confess our sins before God and trust that he will forgive us. It is also a reminder that we need to forgive others for whom we pray. Are we afraid that he might leave us to perish? Possibly we are afraid of death itself, a formidable enemy. Yet we can pray that He will include us in the resurrection of the last day. Not only do we pray for that, but we approach God in Christ with confidence that he will raise us from the dead to everlasting life.
All these prayers lead us to close with "Amen." The word "amen" means "may it be done." Lord, work in us, as you have promised. Bring us to everlasting life.
4/25/24
We recently visited praying through the Lord's Prayer. The same kind of tactics can be applied to just about any passage of Scripture, and even a few works which are not part of Scripture.
Wait - "just about any part of Scripture"?? Not all of it? While we confess that all Scripture is valuable, some parts don't lend themselves to close meditation and prayer. For instance, we are a bit limited when praying our way through a genealogy. We recognize God is preserving a record of His people, but unless we know a lot about the named people, we are a bit limited. As another example, when we consider Job's advisors, who give him bad counsel, we can certainly pray the Lord would keep us from falling prey to bad counsel, but our prayers aren't necessarily going to go much farther than that.
When would we pray our way through something else? Admittedly, we need to choose carefully. We don't pray about the characters we read about everywhere. Anna Karenina, after all, is not a real person. She may remind us of someone to pray for, but we wouldn't pray for her any more than we would pray for Batman to avoid electrocution with his gadgets.
Some non-biblical works, however, invite prayer. A classic example is the Apostles' Creed. Let's walk through it and see how we might pray.
Countless people have used the Apostles' Creed as part of their devotional life, both personally and in the congregation, for nearly two millennia. Here it is, in a fairly well-known English version.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His 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 into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The creed is a statement of faith, based solidly on Scripture. How would we use it in prayer? Let's try!
"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."
We may begin by thanking God for being the one we can believe in, and who has made everything by his grace. He is the almighty, who can do whatever is necessary in his world. He is the father, whom we can trust.
"And in Jesus Christ, His 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 into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead."
We recognize that the Creed is divided into three basic portions, one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit. We give thanks to God the Father for sending Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah (Christ), and is God's only Son. This is a matter of thanksgiving, because it sets him apart from all the other religions of the world. There's only one true son of God, and he is not some distant far-off, disembodied spirit, but he is "our Lord." We can trust in him as he has revealed himself to us. His desire is to love us and redeem us. We give thanks to him for being entirely God, "conceived by the Holy Spirit" and thus having an immortal, eternal nature. He is never going to be taken away from being the Christ. He is also like us, "born of the virgin Mary." This is a matter of wonder, how the unlimited God can take on the limitations we have. He does it while keeping Mary pure. He can work in us while keeping us pure as well. Do we suffer? Jesus suffered as well. We can thank him for enduring all the types of suffering which we endure. This suffering, at the hands of a sinful Roman governor like Pilate means that Jesus is acquainted with our suffering and trials. We can give him thanks even while we bring our troubles to him. Are our sufferings possibly lethal? Jesus' were. He was really crucified, he really died, and he was really buried. Again, we can bring our sufferings to him, knowing that he understands. He knows that we are also fragile and will die if we are left to ourselves for too long. Do we feel darkness and separation from God? Jesus did as well, in his death. However, we can give him thanks that he didn't remain dead. He showed himself to the underworld as the one who conquered death. He was unable to be kept permanently in the tomb. He rose from the dead. Again, we give him thanks for being the one who lives, and who gives us life. The proof of this is his appearance to many people after being raised from the dead, which was followed by his ascension. As he rose, we believe we will also rise. We can give Jesus thanks that he is at the right hand of God the Father. The person at the right hand of a king pleads for people and asks the king to be merciful. This is exactly what Jesus is doing now. We can bring our needs to him and know that he will ask the Father for his love and care. Do we feel far from God's reconciliation? Though we are waiting, we know he plans to come as the judge, and will see that our names are written by faith in his book of life. His judgment will be based not on our works, but on his faithfulness and obedience.
The Christian life is all about Jesus, isn't it! The second article of the Apostles' Creed points us to the reality of Jesus' life and work. It reminds us that his life and work are for us.
"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen."
We move in the third article to the Holy Spirit. He's here working with us. He is the one who is especially active in our world right now. We can ask him to pour himself out on us with his power, with his forgiveness, and with his joy. The Holy Spirit draws people, including us, into one Church. We have a familial relationship with all the Christians who came before us and all who will come after us. There's a "communion," a commonality among all Christians, and we are called "saints" - holy people. This also is the work of the Holy Spirit, for which we give thanks. Do we know people who need to be drawn into the Church, to be made saints? We pray for them as well, knowing that God the Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus all the time. How does he draw us to Jesus? With forgiveness of sins. This is a strong reminder that we need to confess our sins before God and trust that he will forgive us. It is also a reminder that we need to forgive others for whom we pray. Are we afraid that he might leave us to perish? Possibly we are afraid of death itself, a formidable enemy. Yet we can pray that He will include us in the resurrection of the last day. Not only do we pray for that, but we approach God in Christ with confidence that he will raise us from the dead to everlasting life.
All these prayers lead us to close with "Amen." The word "amen" means "may it be done." Lord, work in us, as you have promised. Bring us to everlasting life.
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