Belonging

I've long said that the Presbyterian Church's Book of Confessions is the best least-read book in the Church!  It is a part of the Constitution of our denomination - Part One, no less - and all people ordained in the ordered ministries of the Church (deacons, ruling elders, teaching elders) are asked to vow that we will "be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God."  But, really, how many people have read all of the confessions?

There are 11 historical confessions, with a 12th one being proposed.  The current ones come from three different eras of the Church's history:

Early Church

·      Nicene Creed - from A.D. 325 and following

·      Apostles' Creed - 2nd-9th centuries

Reformation Era

·      Scots Confession (1560, Scotland)

·      Heidelberg Catechism (1563, Germany)

·      Second Helvetic Confession (1566, Switzerland)

·      Westminster Confession of Faith (1647, England), and its related items:

o   Shorter Catechism

o   Larger Catechism

Contemporary Era

·      Theological Declaration of Barmen (1934, Germany)

·      Confession of 1967 (1967, United Stated)

·      Brief Statement of Faith (1991, United States)

It truly would be worth your time perusing this treasure of theology and faith, seeing how the Church through the ages tried to respond faithfully to serving Christ in particular times and situations.

I remember when the Brief Statement of Faith was proposed for adoption.  This came out of the reunion in 1983 of the "northern" and "southern" streams of the Presbyterian Church who had split in 1861 at the start of the Civil War.  (It only took us 122 years to put that behind us!)  I remember when I opened the document and read the very first line:  "In life and in death we belong to God."  I was with some folks in our church at the time who had gathered to read and consider this document.  I read that first line, stopped, looked at the group, and said, "Let's take an offering and go home; there's nothing else to say after this.  It says it all!"

The writers of the Brief Statement began their document by hearkening back to the answer to the first question in the Heidelberg Catechism of the 16th century.  The question asks, "What is your only comfort in life and in death?"  The answer begins with these words:  "That I belong--body and soul, in life and in death--not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ..."

People sometimes ask why I'm a Presbyterian, why I still am involved in a Church that struggles so much with so many things, why I cling to an institution that is right on the cusp of having to learn to do things in very new and different ways and is not sure how do to that.  I have lots of answers to that, but one of the primary reasons is that the Presbyterian Church restores my faith... not my faith in the Church as such, but my faith in the God who, above all else, astoundingly has faith in me... and in us all... and even in the Body of Christ.  Our Church sometimes still professes loudly and clearly, through the noise and din of a chaotic world:  "In life and in death we belong to God."

Let's take an offering and go home.  Nothing else needs to be said.