My sincere appreciation needs to be conveyed for addressing the matter of suggested/needed creedal change in today’s Christian church.

I struggle with saying both the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed in my country church (ELCA) congregation in west-central Minnesota. I tend to say it in a rather low volume of voice when the congregant worshipers say it in unison. The words do harken back to a third or fourth century (CE) interpretation and stage of human knowledge. I can sense, in saying the words, that our fore-bearers also loved God as many of us do today and that the meaning of the Jesus experience was something given great thought and prayerful consideration — as is occurring today such as among those in the fellowship of Progressive Christianity and the Westar Institute.

I have previously thought through the question: “What might a new Christian-based creedal formulation look like?” Yet I am but one voice in the so-called choir of God-minded people and others may voice a “tune” in their words that, though somewhat different, harmonizes with mine. Below is a set of words that describes, today, my spiritual mind-frame (perhaps it is not so much a creed as it is a prayerful communication to/with God that melds us to/with others of the human creation):

AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OUR CREATOR

God, Creator Supreme, we are forever a part of the divine spirit that permeates our lives in every way, known and unknown. Your love is manifested in granting us the capacity to relate to the divine essence of life and being — toward an existence beyond mortality, having no end in the temporal domain of eternity. The love shown to us by the physical processes of having been created as human beings was given divine meaning through the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Calling himself “the son of man,” we strive to follow his ways and the lessons he taught as a pathway to realizing and fully embracing the one Creator’s essence.

May we live our lives fully, love our Earth and its inhabitants dearly, and strive to continue seeking and nourishing a relationship with the Ever-Presence that has no end. May we realize that each person of your creation may have their own individual experience of relating to the Creator’s essence, all united in voicing praise to a God as revealed to them and understood by them. Our prayers are for opening ourselves to your Guiding Spirit and the actions needed to show love among one another — as you have shown love to us, not only through Jesus but in a multitude of ways.