May 18, 2008
(First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday)

Our Creed

By The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

Genesis 1:1-2:4a  •  Canticle 13  •  2 Corinthians 13:11-13  •  Matthew 28:16-20
(From The Lectionary Page)

On the faces of young people there is that look – the end of school is approaching. There is the anticipation of joy and freedom – the same look, I might add, that you will find on the faces of teachers as well! Between now and then, there are days of classes, perhaps a paper or two, and maybe even finals.

With all of this school work remaining, I share with you wisdom from Robert Fulghum, who says All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. His book by the same title, published in 1986, contains some writings that originally appeared in the Kansas City Times when that was our city’s morning newspaper.  No doubt it was good stuff to read with the morning coffee. Fulghum’s uncommon thoughts on common things led him to create a list of the most important things in life, all learned in kindergarten. The list includes the following:

More than a list, it is one man’s confession of what he believes is most important.  Not only in the specifics of each sentence, but in the picture created by the whole of the confession. Reading the lines and reading between them. I think it fair to say this is Robert Fulghum’s Creed.

Trinity Sunday is in part about our affirmation of what we believe is most important. Today in hymns and liturgy we proclaim our creedal faith, as we do each Sunday.

But this feast has special significance as it comes at the end of the Sunday cycle of the story of Redemption. From the prophecies in Advent and the Incarnation, through the baptism and ministry of Christ, through Lent and Passiontide, the Season of Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost, we have re-told and rehearsed and re-encountered the seminal stories of the Faith.

And once again we come today to the culmination of the cycle, proclaiming a corporate creed that is not based on knowledge or fact or history or indisputable argument. Our Creed is based on mystery. Certainly the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is Mystery: Three in One and One in Three. But in the midst of that profound mystery is the greatest mystery of all: love. For as St. John writes, God is love.

Saint Augustine referred to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as Lover, Beloved, and the never ending Act of Loving. Augustine based his Trinitarian formula on John’s Letters which proclaim that God is Love.

IIf you visit the library and ask the reference person to due a search of the word “creed”, or go online and conduct a Google search, you will first encounter sites explaining the three creeds of Christianity. Next you will find a variety of creeds written by devotees of various sports and hobbies, such as the Golfer’s Creed. You will then read about the rock band “Creed” as well as the importance of the creed in knitting.  Setting aside the musical group -- which I personally strongly recommend -- the concept of creed is consistent. A creed conveys what is indispensable, what is necessary and what is held in common.

Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church created three creeds. We say the Apostles’ Creed at Baptism and daily at Morning and Evening Prayer. The Nicene Creed is confessed at the Sunday Eucharist. The Athanasian Creed (no longer prescribed by the Prayer Book) emphasizes Our Lord’s divinity and humanity, as well as the unity of the Holy Trinity.  These formularies confess our faith.  The articles of each creed are succinct, and convey meaning that has been affirmed and proclaimed and preached for centuries. Some of our spiritual ancestors have died for the right to confess these creeds, and today in other parts of the world our sisters and brothers are also persecuted for proclaiming this Faith.

But I would quickly add, just like Mr. Fulghum’s creed of things he learned in kindergarten – you and I and the whole Church must read between the lines of our creeds and claim the whole picture that is created.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is still the best language the Church has for proclaiming the eternal, divine, and saving relationship that is the mystery of God’s love: love which existed before creation, divine love whose imprint is stamped on every aspect of creation.

Our scriptural story proclaims this creed repeatedly in familiar passages:

Jesus, by his resurrection and ascension, defeats the grave and opens for us. Now that our greatest enemy is destroyed, we are freed to use the gifts of the Spirit to be agents of God’s redeeming love.

And so we come back to the most basic Christian creed: God is love. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is love. Those who confess and profess God must also love. Nothing, Jesus said, in all that the law and prophets say is more important, than to love God and neighbor.  Love is creedal.

But without action any creed is empty and worthless. We have at least three civil creeds: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Pledge of Allegiance.  Pledging allegiance means little if we do not ensure liberty and justice for all. The Bill of Rights is empty without leaders absolutely preserving those rights.

So if you and I confess faith in God the Holy Trinity, proclaiming the Scriptural witness that God is love, we cannot use the same scriptures to defend excluding others from God’s love and grace. To do so is to blaspheme God’s Holy Name.  To turn away from the needs of others is not an option. Being silent in the face of oppression is to betray our confession of faith in Jesus Christ.

The Love of God is not theoretical, it is not abstract. God’s love became flesh in Christ, who has redeemed us. Our love of God must also take on flesh, so we create life, repel sin and heal sin’s effects, and love with the force of Pentecost’s winds and with the intensity of its flames.  When we are filled with the love of God we take responsibility for feeding the hungry, shattering the bonds of injustice that enslave people, and using wealth and creativity to provide health care, education, and housing to those who sit in the darkness of despair.  

Like Mr. Fulghum, we all have creeds, personal creeds, of what is most important to us. Our calendars and our check books are but two ways we tell the world and God what is important. Our creeds are living statements, and must continually grow and more accurately reflect our love of God and devotion to Christ in concrete acts of generosity, commitment, and servanthood.

God in Three Persons – Blessed Trinity! For your love we praise you. With your love we worship you. In love your love, we will serve you – by loving and serving all your people.

Let God’s Love be the Creed that we profess by every word we speak, every decision we make, every act we carry out.  God is love, so you and I must show love to all people. Every kindergartner knows that.