Sermon for August 18th, 2019

John 1:1-5(OT page 91)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

The Apostles’ Creed – I Believe in God

Last week, for my family and many of yours, was the first week of school, which often involves giving last-minute instructions to children while you are headed out the door in the morning, and hoping that they remember, or that your instructions even make sense in the rush and haste of the moment.

I'm reminded of the story about a truck driver who was delivering some penguins to the local zoo. But his truck broke down right outside the city. Luckily, a pickup truck passed by, and the driver flagged him down, giving him $300 and telling him, "Please take these penguins to the zoo." A few hours later the man saw the same guy heading the opposite direction with the penguins still in the back of his pickup. He yelled at the man, "You were supposed to take them to the zoo!" The pickup driver replies, "I did, but we had money left over, so now we're going to the movies."

Clarity in directions is important. In fact, the Apostle's Creed, (which is the subject of today's sermon and the next five after it) probably represents an early attempt in Christianity to do just that--to clarify Jesus' last instructions as he was ascending into heaven, and told his followers to "Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

In my imagination, I like to think of them all standing there, listening to these instructions, saying, "Absolutely, Jesus, we'll do it! We just have a few questions about what you mean when you say...awww shoot, he's gone. Guess we'll have to wing it."

There's an old tradition that says the apostles went back to their house after that and immediately wrote down everything Jesus had taught them in 12 different statements, each one contributed by one of the 12 apostles--hence the name, "The Apostles' Creed."

As quaint as that tradition sounds, there are two problems: First, the Creed doesn't really contain much of what Jesus taught--if anything, it's more about who he was (or who his early followers believed he was) than what he did. And the second problem is that there's no documented evidence of the Creed in its final form until the 8th century (seven hundred years after Jesus lived). Much of the Creed goes back to the 5th century (all but a few lines) and some key parts of of it go back to the fourth century. A few lines can be traced to passages of scripture, so possibly as early as the 2nd century, but what this all means is that the Apostle's Creed most likely evolved over time, growing and changing as the early Christian movement grew and changed, and needed to clarify certain things, like what Jesus meant when he said "God the Father" or "the Son" or "The Holy Spirit."