Creeds, Why?

Gary Wills wrote a book called "Why I Am Catholic" and it was really interesting. He give a brief (jaded) history of the Papacy and got a little into doctrine but more then anything, he was a Catholic because of the Creeds. Lutherans are a lot like Catholics. We are a creedal church. Our three main creeds are the Niscene, The Athenasian and The Apostle's Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.

This, this is good stuff and it is what we say we believe. These are what we lay out as essential truths. This is the PRIMARY and EVERYDAY creed of our church and likely in Christianity. There are non creedal and anti creedal Christians. Conservative Christians who stat that the only creed is the Bible and that the creeds are just man made and bound to distract from the truth of the Bible but, I disagree. We need creeds. We need essential truths. We need to profess our faith in a clear succinct way. But my faith waivers. There are eternal truths here and doctrinal truths here but what do I either believe, or believe it is important to believe. So my condensed creed would go something like this:

I believe in God the Father, the creator.
I believe in Jesus Christ
Who came and was sacrificed for sins
And then rose again and defeated sin, death and the power of the devil, and the power of evil men.

I believe that I cannot come to faith but that God through the Holy Spirit brought me to faith.

I believe that because of Christ's sacrifice I am forgiven for my sins.

I believe I will live in heaven with God forever.

Amen

***
These are the things I think I should believe. Lots of times I do but I think it is good to consider what you believe, and why but I think for me, at 48, this is it.

Go To Church!

I write this as the three of you are 16 (almost 17), 20 and 22 respectively. Our church family has made a great deal of difference to our family over the years and help stabilize and center our family. I fear the value of it is lost and worry that you will not come to enjoy the value of a church family.

Make no mistake. Organized religion (and unorganized religion) is at best a necessary evil. That might be grist for a future memo. The failures of the people who head up and run the church are no reason to casually absent yourself from Church. When your mom and I grew up and reached college, the church had nothing to offer us. I was lucky enough to marry a woman who understood (intuitively I think) that we needed to go to church and we got married early and that is what we did. We missed a lot of services but then we had Jon and we... well we missed a lot when he was first born. We were so tired all the time. But eventually we found a good church and with Patrick and the Laura... we got faithful and fell back into the family traditions we were raised with. Even though you were raised that way, you guys all get married and have kids so late I really do fear you will miss the benefits.

Quick reasons to go to church:
1. It gives you ONE discipline in your life. As a Becker we do not have many. Showing up one hour a week to pause, nominally for the purpose of showing respect to a just and merciful God is good for you.

2. It gives you an hour with your own thoughts, even (and sometimes especially if you are just going through the motions). I tend to think some of my biggest and most generous thoughts when lodged in a church pew listening to a bad choir or a boring sermon.

3. Over time you build a community of friends and supporters who will pick you up when you fall, in all kinds of ways.

4. A good church gives you organized consistent opportunities to serve other people which is one of the biggest keys to happiness and good brain chemistry.

There are a lot more reasons then this to go to Church but this is something I wanted to get down... while i was watching my TCU Horn Frogs under perform against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.