The Holy Catholic Church

I remember the first time I came across the Apostles’ Creed in a Presbyterian worship service. I was raised Baptist and was proud of that fact. If we were not the "keepers of the pure faith," we were sure close! But there came a time in my theological thinking that I had to move on. (Not throwing stones, every denomination thinks they are "the keepers of the pure faith!") So, the time came in the liturgy when we were to “profess our faith.” I was familiar with the Apostles’ Creed from reading, but had never been asked to profess it, to say these words aloud with a whole group of worshipers. (I was suspicious of this at first, thinking that it must be that Presbyterians were not good at giving their “personal testimony,” so they had to memorize someone else's!)At any rate, at this point I was locked in, and I was listening to what I was saying and was surprised how much these Presbyterians had gotten right. Most of the faith I had learned from birth, both in my home and in the local church, was there. God was a Trinity—check. God was Creator—yes. Jesus was born of a virgin—boom. He died on the cross for sinners—yea! Man, I thought, the Presbyterians were doing real good. Raised from dead—so far so good. The Presbyterians apparently were not as theologically naive as I thought. But then, I almost choked at the next line. “I believe in the holy catholic church.” What in the world? Were we professing allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church? Of course, I was told immediately and in no uncertain terms by the pastor that the word “catholic” meant “universal”, as in “one church” across ages, ethnic groups, gender, and time.There is, of course, more to it than that. It is profound statement to profess belief in a church that is one with Jesus across time, space, and denominations. Can we really confess such a thing with a straight face? What are we really saying? I mean, it is a lot easier to profess an undying allegiance to God than a church and yet—Jesus said, it was for the church that he consecrated himself. That means he lived and died for the church. Not just individual enemies, but “the church.” This Sunday I am going to show you that the church is not an afterthought, nor it is optional; rather it flows from the overflowing love of a God who exists eternally in a community of mutual life, laughter, love and indwelling, and can only make us more human¬¬––more like Himself––as we are in communion with other believers. This is going to be good! I can’t wait!Blessings,Jim