The Apostle's Creed - Creation
“I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
Psalm 111; Ge 1:1-23; Rom 1:18-25
CREEDS
Do something we haven't done before
Rather than base the sermon around the lectionary readings
Apostles Creed.
St Mary's stimulated much discussion
Creeds have been around since the early church.
simple summary of the important points of what they believed.
Particularly to pass the faith on to new believers.
summary
“The three creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.” (Article VIII).
Used at Baptism from middle ages.
p77in CW
“I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
CREATION – bible passages to fit
(1) GOD CREATED EVERYTHING
“almighty” – can do anything / everything depends on him
“heaven and earth” - everything that there is – taken straight out of v1
DANGER THEN:
Sun and Moon were seen as gods in neighbouring cultures
v16 “greater light”, “lesser light”, “stars”
Stars – astrology. They don't control your fate. God is in charge.
DANGER NOW:
Science as the ultimate answer.
Science excellent.
Psalm 111:2 “The works of the Lord are great - sought out after all them that have pleasure therein”
Method of seeking answers to “How and What?” questions.
Biology is able to explain how a drop of saline solution is ejected from the tear duct of a woman's eye. What it is unable to do is answer “Why is she crying?”
CERN experiment Higgs-Boson – how did quarks come together to form protons and neutrons in the first few seconds of the universe?
Why do we have universe at all? Who am I?
(2) CREATION IS GOOD
Good v4, v12, v18, 21
“God saw that it was good.” repeated refrain.
Mary Coppin's garden – beautiful patterns in the bark on the trees.
DANGER THEN: deny good in creation – food, sex, dancing
to be enjoyed
DANGER NOW: Trap “God is only interested in spiritual things”
NO God is profoundly interested in the physical nature of this world. Explore it, look after it, enjoy it.
(3) CREATION CAN BECOME AN IDOL
Romans 1
Bible doesn't use the word “fool” often
but it does apply it to people who worship creation rather than the creator.
V22-3 “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts and creeping things.”
DANGER THEN: really did make idols – golden calf!
DANGER NOW: Consumerism
Bishop Festo Kivenere, UGANDA “Technology and material things can never liberate you. They have a tendency to squeeze you into their own image.”
CONCLUSION
God is before everything
Creed Say almost nothing about us. All about God. Important
Crossing a ravine: We need small faith in a strong bridge
not Strong faith in a weak bridge.