Читать книгу Pilgrim Journeys: The Creeds - Steven Croft - Страница 6
ОглавлениеDAY 1
ON GOD ALONE
READ Psalm 62.1–7
‘On God alone my soul in stillness waits; from him comes my salvation.’
REFLECT
Christians believe amazing things. These wonderful truths have been distilled into the Apostles’ Creed. Every act in the drama of salvation is here forged into a strong, life-saving and life-giving chain.
Over the next 40 days we will relive this great drama. If you are new to the faith, open your eyes to the wonder of what Christians believe.
If you have been a Christian for many years, come back to the very centre. Take these mighty truths and place them at the very core of your heart and life: a resounding echo of the living Word of God: Jesus Christ.
The opening words of the creed are words of power: I believe in God.
Whenever we say those words we are standing again in the place of our baptism: we put our trust in God alone for our life and our eternal life. We place ourselves within God’s story. We return to the very centre of our lives.
PAUSE
How will you set aside time and space for reflection and listening through these 40 days?
PRAY
In God is my strength and my glory; God is my strong rock; in him is my refuge.
Psalm 62
DAY 2
GOD’S CALL
READ Genesis 15.1–6
‘And Abraham believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.’
REFLECT
The Book of Genesis unfolds a life-changing mystery: Almighty God, maker of the universe, calls men and women to know him. God reveals himself in many different ways first through calling a single family, the family of Abraham, who become in time a single nation, Israel. From that nation God will bring blessing to the whole world.
God does not choose Abraham or Sarah because of their special goodness. No one in all of this imperfect creation is good enough to be able to know God. God calls Abraham because of his faith: because Abraham and Sarah are able to say, in time, ‘I believe‘ and to follow where God leads.
We can know God only by trusting God. To say, ‘I believe‘ in the great trials and difficulties of our lives is to place our trust again in God’s existence and God’s goodness and God’s call: to choose to see the world as ultimately good and purposeful. Faith is still reckoned to us as righteousness.
PAUSE
What are the times in your life when your faith has been most confident?
PRAY
Make these words – first spoken by the father who had begged Jesus to heal his son – your prayer today:
‘I believe. Help my unbelief.’
Mark 9.24
DAY 3
STEPPING INTO GOD’S STORY
READ Deuteronomy 26.1–11
‘ … so now I bring the first fruits of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’
REFLECT
God calls Abraham, a wandering Aramean. Abraham went down to Egypt and became father to a great nation. God delivered the nation from slavery and brought them to freedom in the promised land.
Every generation of God’s people needs to remember this long story (and there are other chapters still to come). But every generation needs also to make this story their own story: to stand within the long history of the people of God.
This is what is happening here in this simple ritual. Every person, in every generation, takes some of the first fruits of the harvest and brings it before God as an offering and makes a confession of faith before God and before the people.
This is what is happening when Christians declare our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed. We too are stepping into God’s story and making that story our own. We are remaking and re-membering the people of God in our own generation and becoming part of the chain of faith ourselves.
PAUSE
In your own life, who are your ancestors in faith and heroes and heroines in the faith?
PRAY
Give thanks for all those who have helped to pass on the Christian faith to you and helped you to make it your own.
DAY 4
GOOD NEWS
READ 1 Corinthians 15.1–11
‘Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me.’
REFLECT
Paul offers one of the very earliest summaries of the good news: an early creed. Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
Through Christ, God’s call now comes to everyone in every nation. The power of declaring our faith in God through Christ is immense.
Abraham is justified with God through faith: when he says ‘I believe.’ Paul is justified with God through faith when he says: ‘I believe’ on the Damascus road. You and I are made right with God not because of our inherent goodness or because of the good deeds we do but when we say and mean these great words of power: ‘I believe and trust in him.’
Every time we say the first line of the Apostles’ Creed we echo the declaration of faith made at our baptism. These are words of great life and power.
PAUSE
Are you able to tell – or show – someone today that you believe and trust in God?
PRAY
Make these words – spoken by new Christians at the service of Baptism – your prayer today:
I believe and trust in him.
Common Worship Baptism Service
DAY 5
MY LORD AND MY GOD
READ John 20.24–31
‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
REFLECT
The journey of faith is not always easy. Thomas initially refuses to believe the news of Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus deals patiently with him and calls Thomas to a still deeper encounter. This deeper encounter draws an even deeper response: my Lord and my God. It is Thomas who comes to faith more slowly who sees more clearly who Jesus really is.
Jesus deals gently with his disciple but saves a blessing for us: those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. The chain of believing begins with Abraham and continues through the people of Israel, to the first disciples, to the early church and down the generations to you and me today. God still calls and saves and shapes and remakes us.
The Apostles’ Creed we are exploring together summarizes and unfolds these wonderful truths at the heart of God’s call and God’s salvation. As we respond to God in the creed’s opening words, we stand in this long, deep, worldwide tradition of believing.
PAUSE
Who are your great heroines and heroes of faith in the Scriptures and Church history?
PRAY
Pray today using Thomas’s words, repeating them slowly:
‘My Lord and my God.’
John 20.28
