Revolution, Reformation, and Reconciliation! That’s what I think of when I read the Book of Confessions. I could also add these words as well: restructuring, reconstitution, reestablishment, restoration, rearticulation, reorganization, and renewal, but those first three words tell a much more dramatic story.
The Christian church for nearly two thousand years has struggled to articulate its beliefs and claim its identity, firstly because there were such diverse ways, in the early years, to be a follower of Jesus and to understand who he was (in relation to the God of the Jewish people.) They had good questions to answer: If Jesus was the Son of God how could he be God, too? If Jesus was God, how could he have a human body? If God is “one,” how could God also be “three”? In the resurrection, will we have physical bodies or spiritual bodies? The way that different Christians answered these questions often separated them from other Christians, and if you didn’t hold to the prevailing “orthodox” answer to these questions, you could be marked as a heretic and excommunicated from the Body of Christ. Such drama!
And speaking of drama, when we think about St. Nicholas, we usually picture jolly, old Santa Claus, gleefully handing out presents to deserving, little children. But the original St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, the original Santa, actually punched a fellow bishop in the face, during the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, during which the Nicene Creed was formulated, for saying, “Jesus is not equal to the Father!” The other bishops reacted by stripping Nicholas of his bishop's garments, chaining him, and throwing him into jail. Yet, even though Nicholas was gone from the meeting, his ideas prevailed against Arius. That’s why in the Nicene creed we hear, “Jesus is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial (of the same essence) with the Father.”*
*Early Christians also fought over whether the Spirit emanates from both the Father and Son, or from the Father only. This may seem trivial to us today, but the debate split the Eastern (Greek-speaking) and Western (Latin-speaking) churches, and they didn’t speak to one another for almost a thousand years. The two churches still don’t agree on this topic. [It’s subtle but you’ll find that the version of the Nicene Creed we affirmed in church on Sunday says, “The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.”]
The creeds and confessions were indeed formulated during times of great change and conflict. That’s why they’re so revolutionary, reformational and reconciliatory. Making a statement of faith can be risky business? To begin with, early Christians faced the juggernaut of the Roman Empire, experiencing repeated times of persecution and ostracization. Who would have guessed that within 300 years, Christianity would grow from a marginal sect of Judaism to the prevailing religion of the empire itself? The change was revolutionary. Christianity reformed the empire (and was reshaped by prevailing ethos of the empire itself.) And after a thousand years’ of the church and empire walking hand in hand, certain Western Christians caused a revolution in theology and society by stating the Roman Church did not have sole authority over the beliefs and practices of the church and human life. The Reformation itself was a revolutionary time, causing tumult not only in ecclesial matters, but the whole society. Throughout the British Isles, when the Reformation came there, monasteries were closed, even burned, and civil unrest was ignited between Catholics and Protestants for centuries to follow.
A few centuries later, when National Socialism had taken over Germany, Nazis actually prescribed what churches in Germany could think and do. Some Christians accepted the wedding of Nazi ideology with Christian liturgy, but others protested. Out of this protest came the Confessing Movement, which said, “Jesus Christ alone is head of the church!” … and not any human ideology. Out of this anti-fascist movement was born the The Theological Declaration of Barmen.
When in the midst of the oppressive system of Apartheid in South Africa, certain Christians stood against prevailing racist ideology and systems, as these had infected both society and church. These Christians called for a revolution in society which would deem all people as equal both in the sight of God and in society. Out of this conflict was born the Confession of Belhar which states, “We believe that Christ’s work of reconciliation is made manifest in the church as the community of believers who have been reconciled with God and with one another. Unity is both a gift and obligation for the church, and a reality that must be pursued earnestly.” The end of Apartheid would come within eight years of this church declaration.
Perhaps the Reformed Church of South Africa drew them or reconciliation from American Presbyterians’ Confession of 1967, the major theme of which was not only God’s reconciling work in Jesus Christ, but also the foundation for all human interaction: This work of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the foundation of all confessional statements about God, humanity, and the world. Therefore the church calls all people to be reconciled to God and to one another. In the midst of the social upheaval of the 1960’s, and the Civil Rights Movement, came the church’s opportunity to rearticulate its faith in light of the great human drama that was occurring. This confession affirms, that God reveals his love in Jesus Christ by showing power in the form of a servant, wisdom in the folly of the cross, and goodness in receiving sinful humanity. The power of God’s love in Christ to transform the world discloses that the Redeemer is the Lord and Creator who made all things to serve the purpose of his love. In the midst of the “Love Decade” came a confession that highlighted the Love of God as the foundation for all Christian identity and for Christian mission as reconciliation.
The examples abound for the Book of Confessions reflecting revolutionary change, amid continued times of reformation and reconciliation.
I invite you to be a part this fall of our ongoing exploration of these creeds, confessions, and catechisms, in a time when we all need to how God is reforming us.
