(This is part eleven of a running newsletter series on worship.)
      Why do we say Creeds in our worship as Lutherans?  Many churches refuse to use the Creeds because they say they only believe what the Bible says, not what a Creed says.  Our Creeds, however, are accurate reflections of the Scriptures.  Therefore when we use them, we also confess what the Scriptures have to tell us.
      There are three creeds we use in the Lutheran Church.  I'll briefly explain their orgin:
      The Apostles' Creed, at least in part, dates all the way back to the first century of the Christian Church.  It gets its name not because the Apostles' wrote it, but because it contains the Apostles' teachings as drawn from God's Word.
      The Nicene Creed dates to the 300's when the Church was fighting the false teaching that Jesus was not God, but only man.  So, the Creed says of Jesus, "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God."
      The Athenasian Creed dates to the just after the Nicene Creed.  It was named after a man who helped write the Nicene Creed earlier that century.  It outlines the trinitarian nature of God.  Its length is the reason we do not use it very often.
      Why do we use these ancient creeds in our worship in the 21st century?  Think of it this way.  What the Church taught and believed in the first centuries of the Christian Church was rightly reflected in these Creeds from the earliest days of the Church.  In the centuries that followed, the Church began to stray from what the Scriptures taught and what the earliest Christians believed.  By the time of the Reformation, the Church in many ways had swayed so far from its moorings that Martin Luther recognized something had to be done to bring the Church back into line with what the Apostles had taught in the Scriptures. His attempt to "reform" the Church failed.  In the place of a reformed Church, the Protesters (Protestant) was begun.  When Luther and others could not bring the Church back in line with the Apostles, they started a new Church that was in line with all that the Apostles had taught.
      We say the Apostles' Creed in worship today because we are the Church of the Apostles and what they believed and taught.  Think about what that means when you confess the Apostles' Creed next weekend in worship.  It means we speak in unison with Christians from nearly 2000 years ago who believed just as we do.  It means that you worship in a church whose theology is the same as the Apostles.  You confess your faith with countless others who have believed the same as you, that Jesus is indeed "God of God and Light of Light", that He is the only Son from the Father, sent to be our Savior.  It means that what we teach, believe and confess is the timeless truth of the Scriptures, of the Apostles, the very people who walked this earth with our Savior.
      Being a Church of the Creeds is no small thing when we realize we confess the same faith as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and all others through those 2000 years who have confessed the faith of the Apostles.  See you in church!  I am
 
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Mark