Say it three times

It is that special day in the church year when we look at and confess this Creed, one of the three ecumenical creeds, that is, the three creeds that were written before the church was divided into eastern and western halves a thousand years ago.

The first reaction is dismay:

--why is it so long?

--why does it have so many things that are hard to understand?

Our governing documents say that we believe what it says,

so we should use it or at least study it now and again so that we can know and appreciate it.

It would take a real over-achiever to memorize it, but all of us can benefit from reading and praying it.

Why is it so long?

One of the things that parents and teachers learn sooner or later is that one has to become very explicit with expectations.

--”You didn't say that I had to mow the whole yard, right now.”

--”You didn't tell us that we couldn't have

2 ½” margins on all 4 sides of the composition page!”

The teacher must be very clear, and close off any possible way to wiggle out of what is expected, or else a sophomore (that is, a “wise fool”) will discover some loophole in the assignment.

The Athanasian Creed is so long because each of its ideas is said three times, so that no one will be able to say that the idea may be true of the Father, but not of the Son and Spirit.

The 6^th sentence: What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.

We can immediately think of the scene of the burning bush where Moses asks God to give his name so that he can tell the people who is authorizing their plea to Pharaoh.

“Tell them I AM has sent you,” God says.

At once enigmatic and profound, God identifies himself as a verb as much as a noun.

Now there is something to keep us thinking a long while!

And then we remember the point from the Gospel reading 2 weeks ago, where Jesus says I and the Father are one.(John.17:22)

And further, we ponder today's Gospel reading, where Jesus says, All that the Father has is mine. The Spirit will takes what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:14)

So to bring all of those thoughts together into a single sentence, we have in the creed: What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.

The 7^th sentence is Uncreated is the Father, uncreated is the Son, uncreated is the Spirit.

Again, we need to have all three parts of the statement.

There have been many across the centuries who have tried to do away with one or more of the parts of the sentence.

Some will agree that the Father is uncreated, but that Jesus is just a nice guy, and ordinary mortal.

Some will be willing to call Jesus God, but regard the Father as a vindictive being of the Old Testament from whom we should flee.

Some will only think of the Spirit as they would the spirit of a sports team, that rises or falls on our feelings and emotions, a creation of ourselves.

All three of those defective ideas is put aside with the sentence from the creed: Uncreated is the Father, uncreated is the Son, uncreated is the Spirit.

The 9^th sentence is: Eternal is the Father, eternal is the Son, eternal is the Spirit, and yet there are not three eternal beings but one who is eternal.

If we say only “Eternal is the Father,”

then someone will be sure to claim that Jesus only popped up at Bethlehem and the Holy Spirit only appeared for the first time at Pentecost.

And when someone says that, then we must turn again to the Scriptures and see in the beginning of the Gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...and without him was nothing made...and the Word became flesh and lived among us.

And then also we remember the beginning of Genesis, where we hear that the Spirit was from the very beginning brooding over the waters.

You see how we need all three parts of the sentence: Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit....

And this analysis could continue with each of the ideas expressed in the creed.

Let's skip ahead to near the bottom of the second column of the Creed where it says: ...we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man.

Who is this Jesus?

-- God and man at the same time, and indivisibly so, says the Creed,

in the face of those who want to claim that he is something less than that.

Although is is clear that the Athanasian Creed is more effective in the give-and-take of the classroom than it is in the context of worship,

let's not minimize the importance of the basic questions behind it.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.