“A” is for Assisi – On creeds, creation, and Christ

A sermon for the parish of St. Stephen, Summerland, Sunday, June 9, 2024
The Very Rev. Ken Gray

“But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak.” (2 Cor 4:13-14)

Paul writes to the early church at Corinth a series of letters which have been combined or extracted into the books we now name as First and Second Corinthians. Whether or not he writes from prison his text makes his travails clear; there has been a cost to his discipleship. Earlier in this letter he writes: “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair.” He quotes Psalm 110: “For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”

He summarizes the connection between faith and suffering in six words: “I believed, and so I spoke.” In some ways, he anticipates a motto of the later church, a phrase found within both Catholic and Anglican traditions, Lex orandi, lex credendi (Latin: “the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed”), sometimes expanded as Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi (Latin: “the law of what is prayed [is] what is believed [is] the law of what is lived”).

While you may not be aware of Lex credendi, lex orandi, you will be aware of the Nicene Creed proclaimed regularly in our worship. Ask an Anglican what they believe and many will answer that they attend church where they follow orders of service; they pray for the church and the world, and they share in the sacraments including Holy Communion. Some may point to the creeds, either the apostles’ or the Nicene creed. Speaking of the Nicene Creed this ancient, foundational document turns 1700 years old next year. Agreed in 325 CE, if not unanimously, then in significant ecumenical measure, the  Rev. Canon Prof. Dr Charlotte Methuen from the Scottish Episcopal Church describes the history of this creed in these words:

“The 1700^th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea is an opportunity to reflect on the significance of the event for Christian unity and for the shaping of European culture. “It marks a point at which Christianity goes from being a persecuted religion and a religion very much on the sidelines to actually having an official status” she said. “Without the Council of Nicaea we might not have had European Christendom and the whole of European history would have been different,”

The influence of our creed on our history, tradition, liturgical practice,  and in particular our church calendar are inestimable. Almost every statement in the Nicene Creed finds expression through Feast Days and the seasons of the church. For example:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,
               The Reign of Christ / Last Sunday after Pentecost;

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made (hu)man.
Incarnation, Christmas and Epiphany;

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
               Lent and Holy Week;

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
               Easter and every Sunday is a Festival of the resurrection;

he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
               Ascension Day;

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
               Advent;

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
               Pentecost.

There is however one phrase from the Nicene Creed NOT represented in the calendar of the church with either a season or a Fest Day:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Creator/Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is,
seen and unseen.
               Creation

There are reasons for this omission, which can and likely will be corrected if not during 2025 then shortly thereafter.

1) We still tend to view creation as a historical act, an event which happened in a particular way and at a particular though incalculable time. Such an understanding denies any sense of God as continually creating, as present to and still engaged with creation. We have consigned creation to a museum display.

2) We continue to misunderstand the implications of Trinitarian theology for creation—if God is ONE then God-in-Christ is and remains present in and through creation. This takes some careful thinking through; that’s why there is coffee after the service.

3) Finally, we have yet to fully appreciate what is well understood by Indigenous persons, communities and teachers: “God is Creator” and should be named as Creator, not “the” Creator—a syntax which suggests a “thing” or a creation. “God— Creator or maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.”

In recent months I have been worked with Canadian and global liturgists, theologians, activists, and church leaders to encourage the establishment of a Feast Day of Creation, or in my hope, a Season of Creation. I have suggested such a change for well over twenty years now. I began to experiment with a Season of Creation while rector here at St. Stephens though it was not until my final ministries in Colwood and Kamloops that I developed extensive multi-week seasons that occurred each year from Sept 1 – October the 4^th, the Feast Day of St. Francis.

Shortly before Easter I attended remotely an historic gathering that took place in Assisi, Italy bringing together church leaders and theological and liturgical scholars from various denominations. Its purpose? To explore a proposal to elevate such an observance to the status of liturgical feast in the calendar of Western Churches.

Inspired by the Orthodox Church’s leadership since 1989, the Anglican Communion enthusiastically supports this ecumenical process to explore adding the Feast of Creation to our liturgical calendars. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby speaks of “reflecting on the mystery of Creation as the foundational event of salvation history…. Creation Day has inspired us to come together in prayer and action – to safeguard, sustain and renew the life of the Earth.”

Ernst Conradie, University of the Western Cape, South Africa notes: “Creation is not only the foundational event in salvation history” (seeing creation as part of salvation history); the purpose of salvation is to bring God’s work of creation to fruition.”

Christopher Irvine, of St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury writes: “Such a feast, by focusing on and making explicit the theme of creation, could raise awareness of the theme of creation across the whole range of liturgical provision…. What is necessary here is to avoid speaking of an ‘event’ (as a past happening in time) and speak more deliberately of God’s creative activity; that is, God’s making in both bringing and holding in being, moment by moment, all that exists.”

As many Assisi presenters stressed: this is a kairos moment, an opportunity to shape our liturgy, our public and our private worship in this time of ecological crisis. Is it too much to suggest that a special focus on God-as-Creator-in-Christ, empowered by Holy Spirit will help us live differently amidst creation. I think not. Therefore, my prayer remains:

Creator. From the breadth and depth of creation, we thank you. Amen.