Singing the Catechism: the Creeds

Walt Haussmann told me that one of the teachers they came across in their study in the Lay Worship Assistants program was dismissive of the role of the creeds, especially the Athanasian Creed.

That is a shocking situation, since this is not a matter for optional opinions, since at ordination, Lutheran pastors pledge to preach and teach in accord with the confessions of the church, and the first items in the Book of Concord are the three creeds.

They were not up for debate at the Reformation; they are simply assumed as the bedrock of confessional truth.

There was a slogan in Luther's time that what was important was

was Christum treibt, that is, what brings us Christ.

It was the key way to look at and interpret the Scriptures, and the Creeds carry this process forward.

They bring us Jesus, in relation with the Father and the Spirit, and also in relation to us.

As we discussed last week, Luther teaches not only by word but also using music.

He turned the Nicene Creed to poetic verse and joined it with an adaptation of a melody from 1300AD, as LBW # 374, We All Believe in One True God.

It has three very long stanzas, one for each person of the Trinity.

The first stanza parallels the explanation of the first article which we did in dialog a few minutes ago “All we need his hand provides us.”

The second stanza gives the purpose of Christ's coming as “...that the lost might life inherit....”

The third stanza proclaims the Spirit's work: to let us know that ”Here forgiveness and salvation Daily come through Jesus' merit.”

Many folks are scared off when they see a hymn that goes on for three pages, so we have not yet learned it here at St. Mark's.

But that is not the end of the subject.

There are other hymns which can help us learn and proclaim Christ to one another.

Since the 4^th century, we have sung the Gloria in excelsis.

This Hymn of Praise begins with the song of the angels at Bethlehem, Glory to God in the Highest..., and then expands to praise God for all the work of Jesus among us, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world whom we ask to receive our prayer.

The hymn concludes with praise of the Trinity:...you also are the most high, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.

Right around the same year that Luther was starting to put the faith in hymn-form, there were also others engaged in this important task.

One of them was Nicolas Decius, almost an exact contemporary of Luther, and who studied for a time in Wittenberg.

He took the Gloria in excelsis and turned it into poetry so that it could be sung to a hymn melody which he also composed.

This is the hymn LBW#166 which we sang a bit ago.

The first stanza echoes the angels' song in Luke 2.

The 2^nd stanza says of the Father: Your Lordship calms our troubled spirit.

The 3^rd stanza center our thought and praise on Jesus, and prays O Lamb of God, conform our lives to your design.

The final stanza praises God for the work of the Spirit among men and women saved by Christ, ...whose ...lives are in your keeping.

Our long history of favoring this hymn has prompted the rubric that we might sing this hymn on some occasions when the singing of the Gloria in excelsis might otherwise happen.

Some hymns come and go, a few stay around for a long time.

Why have we kept the Gloria in excelsis in prose form since the 4^th century and in hymn-poetry since the 16^th century?

The first a key reason is that it reminds us of our proper job.

Our first and primary task is to praise God for the gift of Jesus, and we are reminded of that by the angels' song.

That is what they can do at all times!

How is that possible, how can they be engaged in praise always?

Because they know that God in deciding to be God, declared himself to be God for us.

Remember the line at the head of the commandments: I am the Lord your God.

The angels make the announcement, and then the Spirit does the work: Jesus says All that the Father has is mine,.... and the Spirit ...will take what is mine and declare it to you,

And what should our reaction be?

Our first job is our last job, and our all-the-time job as well:

Praise to the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit....Thanks be to God! Amen.

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.