I’ve been working at getting over the post-partum Easter blues. In the process of preparing for Holy Week and Easter, I spent quite a bit of energy and have finally recovered. Over the past few days I have been reading here and there. In the information age, there is alot being written and I realize that my voice is just a small part of what is out there.
I’ve been reading about being missional — attractional — incarnational and so on. I’ll link a couple of though provoking thoughts on the subject.
I’d like Attractional with a Side of Missional and just a dash of Organic, Please
Missional, Shmissional
Misplaced Certainty
In the last article, Rod Pickett asks the question, “What would you put on the “short list” of essential Christian doctrines?” Early on in the Pilgrim Holiness Church the motto was, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” What are the essentials? What is at the core?
May I submit to you that early church creeds should form our “short list;” our essentials.
The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and 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 shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
I believe in the Holy Spirit:
I believe in the holy catholic church:
The communion of saints:
The forgiveness of sins:
The resurrection of the body:
And the life everlasting. Amen
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
