We are called to believe in the church even when we don’t believe in the church.
I grew up in church and recited the Apostles’ Creed weekly. This recitation is a staple rhythm of the worship services at every church I’ve attended. Yet, throughout my early years of standing and reciting, and even through my discipleship in Confirmation, I rarely took the time to ponder what words I was saying and why I was saying them.
Fast-forward to my college years, when I began to reflect on the words of the Creed I had so often confessed on Sunday mornings. Many of the classes, studies, and conversations I had at my private Christian university were focused on the work of Christ and his saving grace through his incarnation, death, and resurrection. Through these, I realized two things about my faith that I had never fully grasped.
The first realization came when I compared being surrounded by so many Christians every week to the repetitive words that came from every declaring mouth speaking the Apostles’ Creed. Why were we, jointly, saying the words “I believe” about our shared faith? “Was this on behalf of the Americanization of our Christian culture and some false belief faith is private only to us?” I wondered.
Why, as the people of God, should we confess, “I believe” rather than “We believe”?
After some digging, I realized this isn’t the case; instead, this confession is because the church needs “I” more than “We.” Let me explain.
The “I” statements in the Apostles’ Creed are more than a personal confession of who I, AJ Vega, have put my trust in. It is this, but more than this, the “I” points to Christ’s election for the church to be one voice, as if a singular person were speaking the universal catholic faith.
Before his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion, Jesus prays what is known as the High Priestly Prayer to the Father, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21). For centuries, as church historians, theologians, and faithful followers of Christ have struggled to find commonality in the faith, the Apostles’ Creed is a beautiful depiction of the oneness found in Christ. It is a creedal statement that unites believers, speaking with one voice: “I believe.”
This discovery of the Apostles’ Creed’s oneness made me realize how powerful the church can be together. With that responsibility, we share in the burdens and blessings of the church together, too. While this realization about our shared confession deepened my appreciation for the Creed, I was also confronted with another hard truth.
As church historians, theologians, and faithful followers of Christ have struggled to find commonality in the faith, the Apostles’ Creed is a beautiful depiction of the oneness found in Christ.
The second discovery came from the third article of the Apostles’ Creed, which confesses, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Christian Church…” If I were going to be one with the people to my right and left, those who have gone before me and those who will come after me, I would confess that I believe the church includes those who confess along with me.
This confession doesn’t always feel real when I stand to read the words from an LED screen surrounded by four walls touched by stained glass, organ pipes from top to bottom, and people from all walks of life echoing this same truth. But being a part of the church means that sometimes I hear news about certain people with struggles I can’t relate to. It includes hearing a toddler screaming in the back of the sanctuary and seeing the couple – who, despite reciting the Apostles’ Creed together – currently find their relationship on the rocks. The “I believe” includes those who I wish wouldn’t dress a certain way, those who gossip in the community room, and those who have trouble repenting of their sins. And it includes me for judging them along the way.
We are called to believe in the church even when we don’t believe in the church.
Even when new cycles repeat the same scandalous behaviors of those who, unfortunately, have abused their positions of power and leadership within Christ’s body.
Even when some Christians celebrate and defend federal or local policies that harm their neighbor and contradict Scripture.
Even when we are reminded of the hurt we’ve experienced within the four walls of a Sunday morning experience.
Even then, we believe in the church.
Martin Luther, in his explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed in Luther’s Small Catechism, expressed, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified me and kept me in the true faith.” Even when Luther vehemently disagreed with the church, he knew that the Holy Spirit was the one that kept him in the true faith, the one that united his church. This is the promise that Jesus gives to his apostles before his ascension into heaven which brings about the birth of the church. The confession that we believe in the church is possible because Jesus himself believed in the church.
And Jesus still believes in the church. In fact, in his High Priestly Prayer, he prays for his Bride. Even now, he is interceding for us (Rom. 8:34), which means he’s praying for you. And your Sunday morning neighbor. And the screaming kid in the back of the sanctuary. And the couple that’s on the brink of destruction but still showing up on Sundays.
Jesus has not given up on the church yet and doesn’t plan to ever. For those who have been hurt by the church, ostracized by her, or judged by her, know this: Jesus still believes that the church is good because he is good. The Apostles’ Creed is a great reminder that Jesus is still pulling for us.
So now, when I stand in church and say, ‘I believe in the holy Christian Church,’ as one voice surrounded by billions from history and many more after me, I confess these words not because the church is perfect but because Christ Himself is. You are the church. I am the church. And because of Jesus, I believe.
%20(1).jpg?width=36&height=36&name=untitled%20(16%20of%2039)%20(1).jpg){kind=small}
