Furthermore, we confess our trust in each of them precisely because of their utter passionate dedication to one another, because their life together is the one and only God. Their very names—Father, Son and Spirit—embody, so to speak, their loving relationship characterized by their superabundant sharing of all things, whether of the heartache of suffering and death or of the joy of life and resurrection, as the Gospel of John emphasizes. Finally, it is this passionate life together of the one God that amazingly opens out as this God’s creating, redeeming and sanc- tifying work.
Steinke: One could ask why we don’t each write individual statements of faith or congregational statements of faith that are contemporary instead of using these ancient creeds. When we confess these creeds, we do so with the whole Christian church. There- fore, they are ecumenical. They bear witness to the unity of the church and God’s will and way for the world. Confessing these creeds also holds us accountable to our ecumenical brothers and sisters so we don’t create fashionable idols of our own time.
Simpson: Yes, even when we say “I believe” we are publicizing “we- statements.” In a culture too steeped in possessive individualism, our creeds harbor the essential “we-ness” of the church catholic, of the church tried and trued over the ages, across the continents, and in adverse and thriving circumstances. Because these ecumenical we-statements hone in on the weightier matters of Christian faith and life, they harbor a kind of surplus wisdom that no single individual or congregation on its own could be expected to have. Creeds allow us to live into their vital accumulative wisdom when on our own we might not yet have
had the needed experience to see us through times of threat or challenge.
Steinke: The creeds are also evan- gelical because the intent is to say something about what it means to be a Christian for the sake of the world. If confessing means we have a stake in the well-being of our neighbor, are called to love our enemy, work for justice, feed the hungry, and seek the peace and flourishing of the whole of creation, then this is a word that is urgent to share.
One of our challenges is to be bold in sharing the story of God’s work with those who don’t come to our congregations and don’t see or want God’s presence in their lives.
Simpson: It seems that the creeds are evangelical in numerous ways. Here’s another. Because in confess- ing the creeds we summarize crucial aspects of the Scriptures, the Scrip- tures are the “norm,” we like to say, of what the creeds publicize. But the creeds also work backward on the Scriptures in the sense that they inform how we, or anyone, would profitably read the Scriptures. It’s quite true, people often read the Scriptures in vain. People read without meeting the good news dif- ference that the Scriptures desire to promote. Thoughtfully confessing our creeds and indulging in our other
Lutheran confessions like the cat- echisms help us enter and dwell in the Scriptures without getting lost at sea in them.
Steinke: Finally, the freedom to confess the revelation of God that is ecumenical and evangelical is delightful. Sometimes amid difficul- ties and controversy it’s easy to forget the joy in God that comes as gift and promise. Confessing doesn’t presume that all questions have been resolved. Confessing faith in the triune God frees us to continue to raise questions in community. It means we are let in on the end of the story of God for the world. The end of the story is that God says yes to the whole of creation. God loves us into being, grafts us into God’s own self and promises to stay with us through it all. There is noth- ing that could be more delightful.
Simpson: Delightful, indeed. Con- gregations across the ELCA are tak- ing on new opportunities to exercise their missional imaginations, trusting in the promising God who holds and opens the future. That means grace- fully crossing new boundaries, going where we’ve never gone before. Dur- ing the church’s missionary journeys, the creeds left some things out. They don’t address every question. They do, helpfully, offer supple resilience, without rigidity. M
December 2011 19
MICHAEL D. WATSON
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