A Little Creative Writing: I have stood...

I wrote this today and wanted to share it with all of you. It's not really related to one scripture or even the Apostles' creed, which I will return to next post. It was more of a thought or image that I had at work and I had to write it. 

I have stood at the pinnacle at the center of the city's heart. I have felt the beat of that air deprived expanse. The life blood of this city is lies and crumbling facades. The beautiful destruction of souls and the degradation of the flash, mix with the self surveilled multitude.  The grime, which can’t be washed off with water, clings to builds, people, and hearts. And people slow dig their graves in the bowels of lust and false hope. We build our pedestals on others. And make our own selves the pedestals on which we place those who we would worship. And we worship daily, becoming zombies in front of our laptops and flat screens.

I have stood at the pinnacle of what makes us great: all our flesh and mighty dreams. I have felt the coming wind of our desolation. I have seen from afar the brutal hurricane which will destroy this look out. We have decided to be the city in the valley, a shadowed, crumbling mess. We weren’t called to this perpetual falling. We weren’t designed to keep falling down. I have stood at the pinnacle and known the deepest pain and seen only the coming of deep night. I stand there no longer.

The pinnacle of men’s desirers is forever to be higher. To set ourselves beyond the grime of our dirt made flesh.  I have knocked down my pedestal and claimed the clay my brethren. I have met the grime and feed it. I have seen the red eyes of broken lives and the slobbering mouths of the hopeless. They are my brothers. I have sat with the short skirted women, whose faces are no longer pretty and knelt with the track marked rattled bodies of the unsatisfied. They are my sisters. In the shadow of the pinnacle, I have found the face of God. And that shadow making tower, has become an ant hill of foolish wrath.

No longer will I seek to compete with God’s great wonders: to build my own small tower among the many others. No longer will I seek a pedestal on which to demand worship. I will worship on my knees with my fellow clay and dust. I will sing a hallelujah along with my brothers and sisters. We will seek the face of our salvation in the grime of the forgotten. The bones of the dead themselves will dance with us, for death is no longer binding. I have stood at the pinnacle of all the horrible glories of human desire. I will stand there no longer.

Apostles' Creed: Man and God

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

      maker of heaven and earth,

      and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

      born of the Virgin Mary,

      suffered under Pontius Pilate,

      was crucified, died, and was buried: He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven,

      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the holy catholic* church,

      the communion of saints,

      the forgiveness of sins,

      the resurrection of the body,

      and the life everlasting.

Amen

Belief in God is all well and good, but what really distinguishes Christians from the rest of the religions is our belief in Christ. All other religions give various ways in which to come to God or find heaven. Normally it is through deeds, sacrifices, prayers, meditations. Christianity is the only religion in which the way to God is God himself. Namely Jesus, the son. If Jesus isn't in the picture then we have nothing. 

Christ's position as God son makes him high enough to actual save us. While Christ's position as a son of Mary, means that he understands the reason we need saving, because he had live like us. More then that he suffered the death that we were meant to die. Without Christ being fully human and fully God, there is no divine salvation, nor human understanding. 

I could get into the impossibility of a Virgin giving birth, of God taking up the flesh-clay of his creation, and the impossibility of one man being both God and man. But I don't have the words to convince someone of those things. I believe them because there is part of me that understands the impossibility and still believes. Because if Christ is not a man, there is no way that he could suffer and understand death. And likewise, if Christ is not God, how could he have any say or power over my life? Christianity needs a God who is willing to sacrifice his only son to save the willful flash-clay of his creation. Christ is like an author who writes him/herself into their book. The characters in the book only know the author by what the author writes of them-self. The Author is the only one in the book who has the power to write the story and understand fully the lives and choices of the characters. 

The power of Christ is in the duality in being God and Man. As a man he walked the earth. As a man he ate, lived, loved, befriended, helped, served, and lead others who shared that flesh-clay. But unlike us fallen creatures who have turned from our potter, Christ was a pure image of God. Christ's ability to perfectly love and know the heart of men (and women), meant that he spoke into our flesh-clay what would truly give us life. So often people see God as a judge, in the way we think of judges here on earth. A slap of a gravel and we are off to jail or worse. But God's judgement comes from his love for all that he creates. And Christ took that judgement so that we could be free from it. So when we look on Christ we see the one who having know the Father and seen the face of the Father, took the Father turning his face away, felt the complete separation from the Father, so that we would never have too. The beauty of Christ is his ability to bridge the gap between our fallen crumbling flesh-clay and the glorious restoration that is God. 

Apostles' Creed: God, Father, Creator

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

      maker of heaven and earth,

      and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

      born of the Virgin Mary,

      suffered under Pontius Pilate,

      was crucified, died, and was buried: He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven,

      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the holy catholic* church,

      the communion of saints,

      the forgiveness of sins,

      the resurrection of the body,

      and the life everlasting.

Amen

Faith and Belief are interesting words. We say that we have belief in a certain thing, and yet too often our actions belie a very different belief. Faith and belief are often dictated to be only about God or some other religion. The truth is that both are connected much closer to what is deep within us, what or who we trust. You can have faith and not believe in a God. Faith is simply a trusting in a person or thing. I have faith that the skyscraper that I work in will not fall. I wasn’t here when it was built, but I have faith that the architects and builders did a good job. I put my faith in the fact that it looks stable and it’s been standing for several years. This faith comes easily. It makes sense. Similarly belief is to trust in something, but something that is much harder to prove. I know very little about micro chemistry and a little more about physics. However I have no way of disproving the god partial or dark matter. Before these things where proven by science, the general public had to believe that science was telling them the truth: that the theories were true.

However, faith and belief are not built in a void. When I say that I believe God exists, I’m not saying that I’m sticking my head in the sand. Science has yet to prove that God doesn’t exist. And the fact that many prominent scientists today are Christian or follow some other religion, gives credence to the fact that Science might be closer to proving God then disproving him. (see this wiki article for a list of past and present Christian thinkers in science). Not that it matters whether we can prove God’s existence or not. We all believe in something: whether it is God or the fact that there is no God.

I would argue that belief is not the problem. The problem is what we believe. Many people believe in a god of some sort: whether he is a ‘nice’ entity who answers our prayers and gives off a warm fuzzy feeling, or an ‘evil’ being having fun playing with the little human below. When I say ‘I believe in God’, I am saying the kind of God that I believe in. God (with an uppercase), is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the God that brought the Israelites out of Egypt.

But the Apostles’ Creed doesn’t stop with ‘I believe in God’; rather it continues to speak to God’s character. ‘The Father Almighty’: God is not just the God of Israel, he is our Father. When Christ taught his disciples to pray, He opened the prayer with ‘Our Father’. God as a father reminds us that God is good and he cares for his children. Almighty means that he is enough above all others; he is to be first in our lives. But greater then father or might is the fact that God is ‘the creator of heaven and earth’. This act of creation, gives God authority. If God is the author of creation, of our lives, then he is capable of amazing and wonderful things. God’s power in creation reminds us of the image we bear. We are made in his image. We can call him father. He is the Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth, of the seen and unseen.

So when I say: ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth’, I am saying that that belief is evident in my life. Terrifyingly I state this every week in church, out loud among my community. I often wonder if my faith, my belief in God and his character is evident in my life. If what I state every week, has indeed permeated the whole of me. Sometimes, I look back at my week and see time and time again when I didn’t really act out of belief, but rather out of fear. Times when I gave God less of a position in my life then my own creations and earthly hopes. I need the reminder that God is the Almighty one, my Father, my creator, and my God.

Apostles' Creed: Stating Belief

Every week before communion is served we stand and recite the Apostles' Creed. The church that I grew up in didn't do this. We would randomly say the Apostle's Creed and I had to learn it for my confirmation class, but we didn't do it weekly. It seems a little old fashioned, which is probably why I like it. There is something simple and beautiful about reciting ones beliefs. However I'm sure that those who grew up in traditions were the various creeds are not recited or even taught, speaking some set belief together must seem odd.

The Apostles' Creed (in latin Symbolum Apostolicum, meaning symbol of Apostles), is old. The first mention is in 390AD. A creed is simply a statement of faith or the core of shared belief. Although there are several other Creeds which were written later, the Apostles' Creed is probably one of the oldest and most used (You can check out wikipedia here for more information). 

Christianity is a complicated faith. Not only are there several different denominations which have sprung up through the ages, there are also sects and other shoot off from the main belief. So when my church stands up and recites this Creed it is meant to unify and strengthen our beliefs. At the core of our theology and belief, this is who we are. Over the next couple of posts I'm going to break down the apostles' creed and talk more about each section/line. But for now I want to leave you with it as a whole statement. When we speak of faith and belief, as Christian's this is what we talk of. Sure some of us argue over theology and the nitty gritty of faith. Both overall I think most would agree that this statement covers a lot, if not all, of the basics of Christianity. 

Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

      maker of heaven and earth,

      and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

      born of the Virgin Mary,

      suffered under Pontius Pilate,

      was crucified, died, and was buried: He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven,

      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the holy catholic* church,

      the communion of saints,

      the forgiveness of sins,

      the resurrection of the body,

      and the life everlasting.

Amen

*(the true Christian church of all times and places)

The Day is Coming

Malachi 4 'Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evil doer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire.' Says the Lord Almighty. 'Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like caves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,' Says the Lord Almight. 'Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.'

The first part of this short chapter reminds me of C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. Lewis writes of a land which is held in constant twilight and a heaven which is waiting for the dawn. The people of the twilight world come to heaven like empty glass containers, ghosts, who have no way to impact the perfection of heaven. Ghosts who find pain in merely walking of the realness of what the world was meant to be. Those who choose the twilight world (and it is a choice) fear the coming sun (judgement). The people of heaven wait in waiting for the time when God will do what he has promised. Its a beautiful view of how the day of the Lord is both a furnace burning away the arrogant and evil doers, and a full sunrise under which the righteous will be healed and dance with joy. God promises destruction for evil and restoration for the good.

Too often I hear people say that they believe in heaven, but not hell. Heaven is after all the nicer of those two places. A place where peace and love reigns. The idea that there is an ultimate judgement, that there is a distinct line between right and wrong is too much to comprehend. However, when we remove hell, the reason for heaven is lost. If there is not a place where all evil is held and punished, there is no reason for a heaven at which that evil is forgotten and healed. If we refuse God his place in judgement, we have no right to his redemption and renewal.

Moreover, we assume that heaven and hell are places that are only have power after we die. Too often I have lived my life as if the things of this world, money and self, are the most important things. I live as earth is a separate world from those of hell and heaven. The truth is that heaven and hell are behind every turn. Too many people that I know, even Christians, believe that the things of this earth are the goals of life. Even good things, like feeding the homeless or giving money to the church, become things that make us better at life on earth. Check boxes to be checked and little more. But we are warned else where in the bible that the things of this world will not be taken with us. They will be destroyed.

Thus we are already in hell, if we are not willing to claim our citizenship in heaven. If we give into the pull of the earth and its broken crumbling destruction, we will never see the renewal promised. The coming of the sun will be the worse thing that could possible be imagined. Because with the coming of the Lord's day, comes the destruction of all the things that we cling to the most. Nothing of this earth will be allowed to stay unchanged. We must allow ourselves to be refined. I can't think of anything more terrifying then knowing that the evil in me will be allowed to stay. That like Malachi writes in chapter 3 'for he will be like a refiner's fire...'

Yet, if we claim our citizenship of heaven. If we seek out the refiner of our souls. We are promised treasure beyond comprehension. We will be called daughters and sons. Will be heirs not just to the wonders of heaven, but to the glories of the restored earth. If we are willing to give up our hold on the things that keep us tied to the earth, it follows that we will see them restored. But we can not keep them in their fallen state. The day is coming, will we be burned with the arrogant or leap like the calves?

Return

Malachi 3:6-18 "I the Lord do not Change. So you, o descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," Says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, 'How are we to return?' Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, How do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the store house, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty. And see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit. Says the Lord Almighty, then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty. You have said harsh things against me. says the Lord. Yet you ask, what have we said against you? You have said, it is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape. Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. They will be mine. Says the Lord Almighty. in the day when I make up my treasured possessions. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."

'I the Lord do not change.' This is an amazing and beautiful promise. Unlike everything in this world, the Lord, the maker of this world, is unchanging. This seems a strange concept. We may not like change, but we are surrounded by it. Whether it is the slow mark of time which weakens and ages this world, or the onward march of technology, everything is changing constantly. We set our schedules, we get used to a certain order of events day in and day out. But our days never go exactly to plan. Change comes: in blaring sudden harsh reality or in a slow almost obscured slightness.

The unchanging Lord is what we can cling too. In fact it is given as the reason that the people of Jacob have not been destroyed. The promise of an unchangeable Lord, is a promise that his character is well known. It has been proven and over and over again. All of Malachi up to this point has reminded the people that the Lord is their God. He called Abraham. He called Moses and David. His promises will come true.

However the Lord like any good parent, can let his children continue to live on in sin and hatefulness. He begs them. Return to me and I will return to you. This idea of return is very beautiful. And yet so often, we don't realize that we have left. How are we to return? We ask. How do we come back to the unchanging, unchangable Lord?

We are given two real ways in which to return. The first is through giving of tithes and the second is to believe in the justice of the Lord. It might be strange that the Lord choice to single out money and our sense of justice. Yet these are two of the deepest ways that we refuse to give God the glory and proper place in our lives.

How often do we think of our pay check as all ours? After all we are the ones that worked for that money, we deserve it. How often to we question God's justice while we see injustice in the world? How often to we judge those around us harshly picking out the speck in their eyes, while we have a log jam in ours?

By pointing out how we use and think about our possessions, God is reminding us that all things come first from him. It is by his grace that we can work to make money. When we tithe, its not for the church or even for God, its so that we remember that all things Belong to God. By pointing out that we are to fear God and believe in his justice, God reminds us that he holds all things in his hands. He feeds the birds of the air. He see all the deeds of men, even those we can not see. He reads our hearts. He is the perfect judge, because he is the only one who can know all the facts in the case.

God is to be first in our lives. Ourselves and our things are first his, and for his use. Our sense of justice is based on his character and love. We return to God, by remembering to put God and ourselves in the proper place (God first, then us).

When we get the order right. When God is first. When we offer him the first of ourselves: we are promised an abundance that overflows our expectations. When we fear the Lord, when we seek his rightness, we are promised his compassion. We are promised rightness with him. When we seek to be right with God, to return to him. He opens himself to us. He offer himself to us. There is no greater gift.