Preaching the Apostle's Creed

Our pastor is preaching a series of sermons based on the Apostle's Creed. He is taking each line and dedicating an entire sermon to that line. Since our church is part of the United Methodist organization, his sermons are of course based on that version of the Creed. A couple of lines are worded slightly different and the UMC chose at some point to omit the line 'he descended into hell', which is another story for another day.

Here is our version of this widely used statement of faith:

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, dead, and buried;

the third day he rose from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick 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.

Today's sermon was on the second line, 'maker of heaven and earth' and the creation and the controversy between a strict fundamentalist and a strict atheistic / scientific view of creation. I think most of us fall in the middle of two the extremes and are open to something in between. I personally believe that religion and science are not mutally exclusive and that science could actually prove out certain facts relating to the existence of God (not that it needs to be proved or even could be proved). Indeed, our minister used a quote by George Coyne that expresses largely how I feel.

"I have friends who pray that science will never discover or explain certain things. I don't understand that," he declares. "Nothing we learn about the universe threatens our faith. It only enriches it."

I just do not understand why any intelligent being would fear truth or knowledge or a discussion of opposing beliefs. I think God calls us to seek the truth. Surely an examination of our beliefs can only make our faith stronger or give greater understanding of why we are called to be faithful.

I will have to miss the next two weeks in the series, but I can always pick up the recorded CDs when I get back. I really enjoy Weldon's sermons and writings.