Making a Statement

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves." –John 14:8-11

At one time or another, we've probably felt dazed and confused like Philip, or Thomas who spoke before him, in the presence of the living God:

 “Yes, but how can I know for sure?”

 “I’m trying to grasp this, God, but my head is spinning—nothing You’re saying seems to make sense at the moment.”

We can picture ourselves so clearly in their shoes, it can be uncomfortable to read what comes next.

Not surprising, then, that it’s easy to zoom right past Jesus’ response and think we heard Him say: “C’mon, man, don’t you get it yet?!,” instead of what He is really and lovingly saying, even today: “C'mon, have I ever steered you wrong? Won't you trust Me?" Instead of a full-on rebuke, there is encouragement in the correction—a timeless understanding by our Father that every one of us is prone to get spun dizzy by a world gone mad and think, “Gosh, I don’t know what I believe anymore.”

And this is why, whether in the early morning stillness of the kitchen, before the pounding surf at ocean's edge, or gathered as one voice with the saints, our worship regularly needs to make a statement. For all of our Philip and Thomas moments (and there are lots of them), we need something at the ready, deep from within, that we can assertively nail to the wall with an emphatic, “There!”

We need a creed. A chiseled-in-stone statement of faith that "believes on the evidence" of things both seen and experienced, and that rests on the fact that it is enough that God has said it. So be it, Lord.

An Apostle’s Creed.

A Nicene Creed.

A singing creed.

Better still, even one of our own making, in our own words from His Words that shout "This I believe!" in the face of sometimes un-believable-I-don't-get-it circumstances. A creed is a stout reminder that ours is a fantastic walk of believing faith, far removed from being blind because it is led by the only One who has never misstepped. Ever.

Nail your creed to the wall, read it, read it aloud especially, sing it, eat it. Do it again and again. For your own soul, and especially so that you'll...

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.—1 Peter 3:15