The Creed Is A Home For My Brain And My Heart
Speaking the Creed, in community with God’s family everywhere, is a secure place for my brain, heart and body.
Ben Maton, pastor of Immanuel in Charlottesville, preached last week on the Creed in his series on the liturgy: what it all means and why we do it. I have known that “creed” just means belief system, nothing magical, but what I didn’t know is that the word itself does not only mean brain-knowing, intellectual assent, “I acknowledge”; it also means “this is my heart.”
Pastor Maton explained that the Latin credo (meaning "I believe") comes from the Proto-Indo-European compound kerd-dhe-. Literally, "to put one's heart.” (Etymology here.)
I love what this implies. When I “confess the creed,” I am finding my place with God and his family all over the world as I affirm in my heart the reality described there. As with anything I love, the truths in the Creed become part of me as I find my home in it.
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified. Who spoke by the prophets.”
I say these words from the heart of who I am, using my brain and the rest of my body. This is not just a statement I know; it is a reality I live, as near as my own heartbeat, and accessible to me during real life, not just in Bible study or Liturgy.
We confess it together — agreeing with God that this is much more than intellectual fact; it is a description of what God wants. It’s a glimpse inside the heart of God.
And what do I find in the heart of God? Love.
Love for me. And for you.
Love that drove the Triune God to perform the unthinkable — to pursue me in my darkness, rescue me and preserve me until I’m included in His unimaginably good new creation at the end of all things.
They say “Home is Where the Heart Is.” Speaking the Creed, in community with God’s family everywhere, is a secure place for my brain, heart and body. It’s more than a principle that I believe; it is a Home for my poor, tired heart.
Grace Potatoes? Does The Gospel Make Us Lazy?!
A listener asked a question we couldn't stop thinking about: if nothing we do saves us, are we just supposed to sit back and let Jesus do everything? Are we "grace potatoes"? This episode untangles what it actually means to work on your relationship with God — and why the real question might be bigger and better than you realized.
Provisions for the Road
The Nicene Creed, and Another Book!
Here’s a HEFTY book recommendation:
If you want to see how the Nicene is “cut from the same cloth” as Scripture itself, I cannot think of a better book than Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy’s massive tome: Jesus Becoming Jesus: A Theological Interpretation of the Synoptic Gospels.
Weinandy argues that Jesus "becomes" Jesus not by changing in his divine nature, but by fully realizing and manifesting the mission inherent in his name. By the very saving acts he performs throughout his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus enacts the divine name given to him: Yeshua ("YHWH-Saves").
Crucially, Weinandy’s interpretation is profoundly Trinitarian. He posits that the Gospels narrate a "Trinitarian drama" where the three persons of the Trinity act in perfect unison yet with distinct personal roles in every event of Jesus’ life.
Food for Thought
Things the team found interesting this week, no endorsement implied.
Could a Daily Cup of Coffee Protect the Brain Against Depressive Symptoms?
By Karina Petrova at PsyPost
Good news for us coffee lovers! “A new study evaluating the mental health impacts of popular hot beverages found that while drinking tea had no connection to mood, consuming coffee might relate to fewer overall symptoms of depression.”
Sorry tea lovers!
How the Latin Mass Became Divisive in the Catholic Church
By Ready to Harvest on YouTube
Have you been seeing the kerfuffle about the SSPX and the Catholic church in the news? This fantastic explainer video goes beyond the soundbites and helps even us non-Catholics understand what’s really happening.
To our Catholic friends and readers, we are praying for you and the painful divisions this whole debacle is causing. Lord come quickly!
What We're Loving This Summer
By the Anselm Society on SubStack
“When you make something—a meal, a garden, a story, a song–you’re not just being creative. You’re being human in the deepest sense. Imaginative work isn’t a distraction from your spiritual life. It is your spiritual life (or part of it anyway!). The question isn’t whether you’ll be creative. The question is whether you’ll do it consciously, as an act of participation in what God is making.”
Our friends over at the Anselm Society have collected an amazing list of books, movies, and activities to inspire and encourage your creativity this summer! Check it out!
And then head on over to the Signpost Inn Podcast and listen to Liv’s interview with the Anselm Society’s Terri Fisher: What's Left When the System Fails?
