Good morning, and a most blessed Thursday to you in our time of devotion.

This morning I want to share with you an incredible reading that recently came up in one of my devotional books. It’s a beautiful and profound reflection on the Apostles’ Creed, written by a man named John Ross, who was born in 1919. I don’t know if he is still with us on this side of heaven or now in the presence of Jesus, but he wrote this beautiful piece on the Creed that I’d like to share with you.

He wrote:

When I stand shoulder to shoulder with Christians, all declaring our common faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, something very deep stirs within me.
I feel like a tree in a great forest, surrounded by other trees—all reaching up together from the same ground, all swept by the same wind, all steadily voicing the same ageless sounds that swaying trees have always made.

Long, long ago, those about to be received into the Church affirmed their faith even as we do now. Wherever people meet in the name of Christ throughout the world, the Apostles’ Creed, like the Lord’s Prayer, is quite in order.

This Creed joins me to the whole Church—up through the centuries and across the continents and seas. It expresses what Jesus Christ means to us all. This is the place where I meet my brothers and sisters in the Lord, even though we sometimes draw apart again all too soon.

Although the legend is not true that each of the twelve apostles contributed one doctrine to make up the Apostles’ Creed, they would undoubtedly all have approved of this common core of faith.

The word Creed comes from the Latin word credo, which means “I believe.”

When I say the Creed, I hold my head high and my voice sounds out firm and strong. This is indeed what I believe about the One in whom I believe. As a man of the twentieth century, I don’t mumble the Creed with mental reservations or leave out an occasional phrase. I am always finding new significance in Jesus Christ in every word it contains.

In outline form, it holds the whole message which the Church has to give to the world. It says in one burst what I want to tell everybody, everywhere.

I’m excited about this—it’s what I believe! It makes sense of the world and gives meaning to my life. It makes my heart sing, and I want to share it all.

I must not shrink from speaking up about the things that could save our times from their stumbling futility. There’s no scarcity of bad news about the world these days—but who’s got some good news?

Well, I for one have some.

If the Creed is right—if I do know the One to whom this world really belongs, and know how He intends it to run, and that He has made adequate resources available for making the best dreams ever come true—then I should speak up and say, I believe.

Dare I keep still while lives are going to pieces all around me? What sinister enemy so gags me that I can’t faithfully say the name of Jesus or express my trust in Him in front of other people?

When I join publicly in the Creed, I defy that enemy. Really, though, it’s not too hard to speak out in church, where I have the safety of numbers.

But does my faith lose its voice outside the church?

The Church is not in the world to be forever talking to itself. Its good news is for the whole world. Its Creed is a creed for the whole world.

No congregation can be fully sincere in merely reciting it without making some personal effort to pass it along to those unhappy, mixed-up people who are all around us.

The Apostles’ Creed is a creed for the apostles—those whom Christ sends out.

What a beautiful and uplifting word, and what a reminder of how important the Apostles’ Creed is in our lives, in our life together as Christians, and in the life of the Church. It brings meaning to the very words we speak every Sunday.

As we enter into worship this coming Sunday, when we all stand shoulder to shoulder to confess our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, I hope this reflection reminds you of the beauty and depth of the words we’ve been given—the words that affirm what we believe and express our faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: the Trinity who was, who is, and who is to come.

I look forward to reciting the Apostles’ Creed with you this coming Sunday.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Lord, we thank you for your Word—your Word is truth.
We thank you for those who have gone before us and have passed the faith down through the generations.
Lord, we thank you for letting us know your Word, for letting us know the Creed—the statements of “I believe.”

We thank you that we can stand shoulder to shoulder, this side of heaven, confessing our belief in you. And we thank you that outside of space and time, in the wholeness of eternity, we are promised that we will stand in your presence, confessing our belief, our love, our praise, and our glory to you.

You are good and gracious, and we thank you so much for calling us your own.
We lift this to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

As I was saying, I cannot wait to say the Apostles’ Creed—to confess my faith with you as you confess your faith, and to affirm together our belief in the One who has called us, redeemed us, claimed us, and continues to sustain us now and forever, until that day when we recite these words in His presence.

God bless.

Pastor Malinak