"A Modern Affirmation"

[Polycarp1]

The following was written by a Methodist bishop 60 or so years ago, and is courtesy of Elanor, who found it for me when I asked about it in connection with an Anglican forum question on the creeds. I'd like to know what people think about it as a summary of faith:



We believe in God the Father,
infinite in wisdom, power, and love,
whose mercy is over all his works,
and whose will is ever directed to his children's good.

We believe in Jesus Christ,
Son of God and Son of man,
the gift of the Father's unfailing grace,
the ground of our hope,
and the promise of our deliverance from sin and death.

We believe in the Holy Spirit
as the divine presence in our lives,
whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance of the truth of Christ,
and find strength and help in time of need.

We believe that this faith should manifest itself
in the service of love
as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord,
to the end that the kingdom of God may come upon the earth. Amen.

 

[seebs]

I think that "children's" should be "childrens'".

Apart from that, it seems without error.

 

[Polycarp1]

No -- to form a plural possessive of a word whose plural ends in -s, you add the terminal apostrophe. But to make the possessive of an irregular plural, like alumni or oxen, you add the normal -'s. "Children" is the plural of "child" and its possessive is "children's" -- unless you speak fluent Deep South and speak of "chilluns" ("young-uns" in North Carolina).

 

[seebs]

Oooh! You are, of course, correct.

I need to reconsider my aversion to caffeine.

 

[zoziw]

This is "A New Creed" that was adopted by the United Church of Canada back in the 60's. I grew up in that church and was always fond of this creed.

We are not alone,
we live in God's world.

We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
We are not alone.

Thanks be to God.

 

[Lynn73]

Are these statements of faith for the liberal churches I'm assuming?

 

[zoziw]

Are these statements of faith for the liberal churches I'm assuming?

The one I posted is an affirmation of faith. The United Church of Canada has a separate Statement of Faith and also uses the Basis of Union as a doctrinal statement.

Note that the United Church is in the process of issuing a revised statement of faith to supplement the current one. Also, the United Church is not a credal church and as such it is not required that an individual adopt these doctrinal statements in order to become a member. Traditionally professing faith in the triune diety was required but clearly not everyone who is a member still believes that.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

I would take out the last part Polycarp1. The Kingdom of God is the church.

 

[Abiel]

Found this lurking on the last page. THought it was good.

 

[Adammi]

The following was written by a Methodist bishop 60 or so years ago, and is courtesy of Elanor, who found it for me when I asked about it in connection with an Anglican forum question on the creeds. I'd like to know what people think about it as a summary of faith:



We believe in God the Father,
infinite in wisdom, power, and love,
whose mercy is over all his works,
and whose will is ever directed to his children's good.

We believe in Jesus Christ,
Son of God and Son of man,
the gift of the Father's unfailing grace,
the ground of our hope,
and the promise of our deliverance from sin and death.

We believe in the Holy Spirit
as the divine presence in our lives,
whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance of the truth of Christ,
and find strength and help in time of need.

We believe that this faith should manifest itself
in the service of love
as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord,
to the end that the kingdom of God may come upon the earth. Amen.

I think that it is wonderful.
I agree with Bizzlebin about the kingdom of God being the church, but I definitely believe that the Church could use some lessons in what it means to be the kingdom of God on earth.

 

[DailyBlessings]

I would take out the last part Polycarp1. The Kingdom of God is the church.

I had the same thought!

I might reword it rather than excising it wholly- something like:

We believe that this faith should manifest itself
in the service of love
as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord,
that the kingdom of God may be seen upon the earth

 

[Tinker Grey]

I like it as is.

The Kingdom of God may be the church, but there is also the sense that the kingdom is "now, but not yet."

As such, there is much to be done. Ergo, I like it as is.

 

[CaDan]

I am currently grooving on the Masai Creed:

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it.
He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world.
God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth.
We have known this High God in the darkness,
and now we know him in the light.
God promised in the book of his word, the bible, that he would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ,
a man in the flesh,
a Jew by tribe,
born poor in a little village,
who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing that the meaning of religion is love.

He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died.
He lay buried in the grave,
but the hyenas did not touch him,
and on the third day, he rose from the grave.
He ascended to the skies.
He is the Lord.

We believe that our sins are forgiven through him.
All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins,
be baptised in the Holy Spirit of God,
live the rules of love
and share the bread together in love,
to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again.

We are waiting for him.
He is alive.
He lives.

This we believe.​

 

[Adammi]

I am currently grooving on the Masai Creed:

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it.
He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world.
God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth.
We have known this High God in the darkness,
and now we know him in the light.
God promised in the book of his word, the bible, that he would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ,
a man in the flesh,
a Jew by tribe,
born poor in a little village,
who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing that the meaning of religion is love.

He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died.
He lay buried in the grave,
but the hyenas did not touch him,
and on the third day, he rose from the grave.
He ascended to the skies.
He is the Lord.

We believe that our sins are forgiven through him.
All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins,
be baptised in the Holy Spirit of God,
live the rules of love
and share the bread together in love,
to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again.

We are waiting for him.
He is alive.
He lives.

This we believe.​

I like that a lot, but (I hate to sound picky) I hate it when the Holy Spirit is referred to as the "Holy Spirit of God".
The Holy Spirit is not "of God" the Holy Spirit is God.

 

[Tinker Grey]

I also like the Masai creed.

 

[tulc]

Oh man! I hardly ever see Polycarp any more.
tulc(coffee is a poor substitute for missed friends)

 

[Kaonashi]

I hate to say it but Creeds tend to be a abomination to Jesus.

 

[tulc]

I hate to say it but Creeds tend to be a abomination to Jesus.

Uhmmmm Why do you say that?
tulc(just curious)