Theological Status: ACTIVE HERESY
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Thyatira
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Compromised Parallel
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: Can our ancient creeds survive the storms of modern doubt? This service explores the tension between rigid doctrine and the living, breathing reality of faith, inviting believers to bring their questions into the community.
Pastoral Analysis: While the sermon offers a compassionate approach to doubt and community support, it fundamentally compromises the Gospel by redefining faith as subjective trust rather than objective truth, and by teaching that core doctrines must evolve with human experience. Additionally, the sacramental theology lacks biblical boundaries, and the sermon structure relies on thematic moralism rather than expository preaching of the text.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Thyatira — The sermon exhibits active heresy by redefining the nature of saving faith and subordinating divine revelation to subjective human experience. By teaching that core beliefs must change to accommodate life experiences and reducing faith to mere subjective trust, the teaching aligns with the spiritual adultery and false prophecy warned against in Thyatira, where truth is compromised for the sake of cultural accommodation and emotional comfort.
Big Idea: Faith is not a static set of rigid doctrines but a dynamic, communal trust that evolves through shared dialogue and experience, allowing believers to navigate doubt and grief together. [00:32:24 ▶️ 📄]
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: Mark 1:14-20
- Usage Classification: Thematic
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ✅ PASS - The language is respectful and pastoral, though the theological content is severely compromised.
✝️ Christological Focus: Absent
"Christ is mentioned as the host of the table, but the sermon fails to connect the text to the redemptive work of Christ, omitting the Gospel engine entirely."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 9 | Referenced: 3 | Alluded: 3
📖 View 2 Passages Read Aloud
-
Mark 1:14-20
[00:26:30 ▶️ 📄]
"Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news. As Jesus passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea and for they were fishermen and Jesus said to them follow me and I will make you fish for people and immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus he went a little farther and he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John who were in the boat mending nets and immediately he called to them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus"
-
Luke 22:19-20
[00:51:25 ▶️ 📄]
"When Jesus had gathered with the disciples, he took bread. He gave thanks to God. He gave it to the disciples. He broke the bread, gave it to them and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. When the supper was over, Jesus took the cup and after giving thanks to you, gave it to the disciples and said, drink from this, all of you, for this is the blood of the new covenant it given for you in remembrance of me. Do this as often as you drink it."
Key References: Mark 1:14-20, Luke 22:19-20, Matthew 6:9-13
💧 Liturgy & Sacraments
Fencing the Table (Communion):
- Believers Only Stated: ❌ No (Open Table Risk)
- Warning Against Unworthy Manner: ⚠️ None Detected
- Open Invitation: 🔴 Active Commission (Unbelievers Explicitly Invited)
- Verbatim Warning: "I remind you, friends, that this is not the table of our congregation. This is not the table of our denomination. This is the table of Jesus, which means all of us here are invited to come."
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 3,139 words
📌 View 9 Key Topics Addressed
-
Creeds and Doctrine
[00:32:34 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor discusses the definition of creeds, their historical use for unity and exclusion, and the United Methodist Church's non-creedal stance. -
Inclusivity vs. Exclusivity
[00:35:31 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor addresses how rigid doctrines can exclude non-Christians or those with different beliefs, contrasting this with a more accessible, communal approach to faith. -
Community and Shared Faith
[00:35:55 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that wisdom resides in the community gathering rather than individual knowledge, emphasizing the need for others to shed light on our doubts. -
Grief and Comfort
[00:38:35 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal story about his sister's death and his father's need for the Apostles' Creed to fend off despair, leading to a preference for a creed that emphasizes 'We are not alone.' -
The Apostles' Creed vs. United Church of Canada Creed
[00:38:57 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts his father's preference for the Apostles' Creed during grief, but ultimately choosing the 'We Are Not Alone' creed for its emphasis on communal presence in doubt and pain. -
Faith as Trust vs. Belief
[00:42:41 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that childhood faith is based on trust rather than intellectual belief, and that adult faith must evolve to accommodate experience and doubt. -
Theological Dialogue and Doubt
[00:41:27 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor proposes sparking dialogue within the congregation to explore creeds deeply, using the story of Harry Emerson Fosdick to illustrate that honest doubt and questioning can lead to a more robust faith community. -
Communal Support in Grief and Joy
[00:40:41 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor emphasizes that God and the community are present in all human experiences—grief, pain, joy, and doubt—countering the isolation often felt in these moments. -
Communion / The Lord's Table
[00:00:00 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts the denominational table with the table of Jesus, emphasizing universal invitation.
🖼️ View 5 Illustrations & Stories
-
Sermon Illustration
[00:27:45 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts attending 'License to Preach School' 39 years ago, where a quiet, odd-looking man shouted the Apostles' Creed at the top of his lungs during worship, which the professor later praised as the correct way to deliver a creed. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:34:50 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares an anecdote about inviting a pagan friend to church, who experienced a 'gag reflex' at the Apostles' Creed because it felt like her community was being pushed away. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:38:35 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor describes his father's reaction to his sister's death; his father initially wanted to recite the Apostles' Creed for comfort, but preferred a newer creed from the United Church of Canada ('We are not alone') when presented with it. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:38:57 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal story about his father's funeral, where his father insisted on reciting the Apostles' Creed to fend off despair, but ultimately chose the 'We Are Not Alone' creed from the United Church of Canada hymnal because it resonated with his need for communal support in grief. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:43:28 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor tells an anecdote about preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick, who, when confronted by a man raging against God due to family suffering, slammed his fist on the desk and declared, 'I don't believe in that kind of a God either,' validating the man's doubt and opening the door for honest dialogue.
🚀 View 3 Calls to Action
-
Pastoral Charge
[00:46:47 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor invites the congregation to join in prayer for graduates. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:49:26 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor invites specific individuals to assist with communion. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:49:41 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor commands the congregation to stand and recite the affirmation of faith together.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Fundamentally in Error
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ❌ FAIL | The Gospel Engine is not intact. The sermon failed the Safe Harbor check, utilizing the biblical text merely as a thematic springboard for moralistic and communal themes rather than deriving its structure from the Gospel of Christ. The core message of salvation through Christ's finished work is omitted in favor of human experience and evolving beliefs. |
| Soteriology | ❌ FAIL | Saving faith is erroneously reduced to subjective trust and emotional capacity, divorced from the necessary intellectual assent to the objective truths of the Gospel. |
| Bibliology | ❌ FAIL | The sermon teaches that core biblical beliefs are mutable and must be reconfigured in response to life experiences, denying the unchanging nature of divine revelation. |
| Hermeneutic | ❌ FAIL | The hermeneutic subordinates divine revelation to subjective circumstances, allowing human experience to dictate the content of truth rather than allowing Scripture to transform experience. |
| Theology Proper | ⚠️ WEAK | While God's presence is affirmed, the understanding of God's nature is filtered through a lens of cultural accommodation, potentially diminishing His holiness and immutability. |
| Sacramentology | ❌ FAIL | The Lord's Table is presented as an open invitation to all without biblical warning or self-examination, violating the apostolic instruction regarding worthy participation. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ SHALLOW | The sermon explicitly rejects the binding authority of confessional standards, favoring a fluid, experience-based theology over established doctrinal boundaries. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework
What is this? This section checks if the sermon contains the essential building blocks of the Gospel. We look for explicit, substantive mentions of God's holy standard, human inability, and Christ's finished work on the cross.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
❌ The Law And Wrath: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Total Depravity And Inability: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Active Obedience Of Christ: Not observed in the sermon.
✅ The Cross And Atonement:
"proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, our judge and our hope." [00:50:29 ▶️ 📄]
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🔴 Critical Progressive Christianity (Mutable Revelation)
Root Cause: Doctrinal Relativism
"Beliefs must change and be reconfigured in response to life experiences and suffering." [00:43:00 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This teaches that core theological doctrines are not fixed but are mutable and subject to alteration based on human circumstance.
Why It's Dangerous: This undermines the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, leading believers to trust their feelings over God's Word.
Biblical Correction: James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
🔴 Critical Progressive Deconstruction (Weaponizing Scripture)
Root Cause: Cultural Accommodation
"Many people have felt excluded by the sometimes churches that have rigid doctrines or narrow theology or, you know, weaponize the scripture to push people away and to shame them." [00:35:31 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This elevates cultural inclusion and rejects doctrinal boundaries, framing biblical truth as a tool of oppression.
Why It's Dangerous: This leads the congregation to view the Gospel as hostile rather than redemptive, fostering a rejection of biblical authority.
Biblical Correction: 2 Timothy 1:13-14 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
🔴 Critical Radically Open Table (Unbiblical Communion)
Root Cause: Sacramental Irreverence
"I remind you, friends, that this is not the table of our congregation. This is not the table of our denomination. This is the table of Jesus, which means all of us here are invited to come." [00:53:48 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This ignores the biblical requirement for self-examination and repentance before partaking, treating the sacrament as a mere social gathering.
Why It's Dangerous: This exposes believers to spiritual judgment by encouraging them to partake in an unworthy manner.
Biblical Correction: 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
🔴 Critical Progressive Christianity (Subjective Faith)
Root Cause: Fideism
"faith is not what it is that we believe faith is how much we trust and a child has more of a capacity to trust than all of us who are so jaded and skeptical" [00:42:41 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This denies the necessity of intellectual assent to the objective truths of the Gospel, reducing faith to a feeling.
Why It's Dangerous: This leads to a faith that is unstable and dependent on emotional states rather than the unchanging Word of God.
Biblical Correction: Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
🟠 Major Assumed Gospel (Thematic/Moralistic)
Root Cause: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
The Belief/Behavior: The sermon omits the substantive Gospel engine, focusing on human experience and moral improvement rather than Christ's atoning work.
Why It's Dangerous: The congregation is left without the power of the Gospel for transformation, relying on their own efforts and community support.
Biblical Correction: John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
🟠 Major Reduction of Saving Faith to Subjective Trust
Root Cause: Subjectivism
"faith is not what it is that we believe faith is how much we trust and a child has more of a capacity to trust than all of us who are so jaded and skeptical" [00:42:41 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This completely divorces faith from the necessary intellectual assent to the objective truths of Scripture.
Why It's Dangerous: This creates a fragile faith that cannot withstand intellectual challenges or doctrinal scrutiny.
Biblical Correction: Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
🟠 Major Rejection of Confessional Authority
Root Cause: Anti-Confessionalism
"The United Methodist Church is not a creedal church. That means, I say that meaning that we do not require people to sign on to a particular statement of belief." [00:33:11 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This erroneously rejects the necessity of subordinate confessional standards for maintaining orthodox doctrine and church unity.
Why It's Dangerous: This leads to doctrinal drift and a lack of accountability within the church.
Biblical Correction: Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
🟠 Major Doctrinal Relativism and Experiential Reconfiguration
Root Cause: Experientialism
"for me, this creed does that because beliefs have to change because life throws things at us that we are not ready to receive." [00:43:00 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This denies the fixed and unchanging nature of divine revelation.
Why It's Dangerous: This leads to a faith that is constantly shifting and unable to provide a stable foundation.
Biblical Correction: Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
✅ Commendations
Pastoral Care | Compassionate Approach to Doubt
The pastor creates a safe space for the congregation to bring doubts and questions into the community, validating the struggle of faith without immediately resorting to condemnation.
Community Building | Emphasis on Communal Support
The sermon effectively highlights the importance of the church community in navigating grief and doubt, encouraging mutual support and shared dialogue.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:02:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:02:33] Hey, good morning, you guys. Happy Sunday. Would love it if y'all stand as you're able to sing some with us.
[00:03:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:03:24] Peace of Christ be with y'all.
[00:06:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:06:46] Y'all take a moment to pass the peace.
[00:12:19] Y'all can grab a seat.
[00:12:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:12:20] I want to welcome you to our worship service today.
[00:12:29] If you are in person and visiting with us for the first time, there is an information card just inside the seat back pocket in front of you.
[00:12:37] It's easy to fill out if you're more technology driven.
[00:12:40] There's a QR code in your bulletin where you could let us know a little bit more about you as well.
[00:12:45] If you are joining us on our live stream, thank you.
[00:12:47] We hope this service is meaningful for you as well.
[00:12:50] Hey, summer is here, yeah?
[00:12:52] A lot of traveling happening.
[00:12:54] And Pastor Kelly has asked that I remind you that even though you may not make it to church, it's always good for your offering to make it.
[00:13:01] And as always, we are truly grateful for your continued support.
[00:13:05] Hey, so a couple of things coming up this week.
[00:13:07] Wednesday at 5 30 there's a popsicle in the park party so I hope that you can join us we have ordered up the best weather from what I hear high of 65 no I'm just kidding it might it might be a
[00:13:18] little warmer but the popsicle will help you cool it off for sure for sure you might like it so much that you decide to come back Saturday for the playground party yeah oh that hit a nerve okay
[00:13:29] yeah playground party it is okay Thursday this Thursday the Red Cross will be here from 2 to 6 30 for a blood drive you're welcome to walk up but if you would like to to be able to secure a spot
[00:13:40] you could do that through the qr code in your bulletin as well finally friday at three o'clock in the sanctuary we'll have a celebration for the life of vivian berkeley oak followed by a reception
[00:13:50] in the fellowship hall pastor kelly is supposed to be doing some prayer things so i'm not really sure what to say other than i'm not sure where pastor kelly is so uh jerry what do you suggest
[00:14:07] we do should we sing should i pray we could yeah we could do that we could and then come back like hide yeah i could tell jokes but that wouldn't go so well but okay uh so okay yeah he's over there
[00:14:33] okay has this ever happened before like is this a thing okay okay all right all right let's do that do you have any prayer requests that you would like to share yes okay all right thank you
[00:14:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:53] someone else yes thank you sandy thank you yes sir thank you for sharing anyone else
[00:16:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:16:19] yes thank you awesome thanks for sharing that hey kelly yeah yeah it was full yeah pictures
[00:16:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:16:59] anyone else yes yes kelly glad you're here man glad you're here just wanted to offer that as a praise would you like to pray okay thank you really late but not this late we had a member
[00:18:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:18:04] in the church um placed bells in the handbell choir and didn't show up to play today and we were very nervous about it we sent somebody to do a help check on her and she's fine but it was a
[00:18:20] little nerve-wracking for the whole bell choir today so just want to deal so we were working on that. I didn't hear any of your prayer concerns. I'm sorry, but I know that God did. So that's
[00:18:33] really all that counts. So for instance, let's bow for a word of prayer, shall we?
[00:18:43] Gracious God, we give thanks for this community of faith where we can come and share our deepest concerns, the wounds, our griefs, our own feeling of despair about the state of our world, about the divisions that are happening so often in our country. We pray for those who
[00:19:11] are experiencing sickness, illness, for those who are in the midst of grief, for Vivian's whole family and we pray that you will do your mending, healing work in our midst.
[00:19:31] We pray for those who are struggling for the work of justice and for the work of love in this world who are helping people find the resources that they need and access to the places
[00:19:47] where they can receive help.
[00:19:51] Empower us, O God, so that in our believing together we can continue to develop our own faith so that we may live closer to the love of Christ Jesus.
[00:20:06] We pray all of this in your holy name.
[00:20:08] Amen.
[00:20:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:20:09] Dear God, surround me as I speak.
[00:20:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:20:46] The bridges that I walk upon are weak and the frustrations fill the void that I can't solely bear.
[00:20:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:20:55] Dear God, don't let me fall apart
[00:21:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:21:02] You've held me close to you But I have turned away in search for Answers I can't understand
[00:21:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:21:13] They say, like a child Your fate Well, I wonder if I've grown to lose The recklessness I've walked in light of you They say, like a child Like a child
[00:24:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:24:32] By the way, thanks, Shane.
[00:25:09] He left. Did he leave us? Oh, he ran away, didn't he? He thought I was really going to have him preach. So we went to the beach last week and we missed you. Not really. I was still having trouble
[00:25:37] coming back to this life. So it was nice to get away. I knew that it had worked because I really didn't want to work yesterday at all.
[00:25:51] And so anyway, it was effective.
[00:25:57] So our gospel lesson, it comes from Mark's gospel in the first chapter, starting at verse 14.
[00:26:12] This will be familiar to you.
[00:26:13] This is really the beginning of Jesus's ministry right after John the Baptist is imprisoned.
[00:26:20] and we hear this from Mark's gospel.
[00:26:24] So listen for the word of God.
[00:26:30] Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.
[00:26:42] Repent and believe in the good news.
[00:26:47] As Jesus passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea and for they were fishermen and Jesus said to them follow me and I will make you fish for people
[00:26:58] and immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus he went a little farther and he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John who were in the boat mending nets and immediately he called to them
[00:27:13] and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus the word of God for the people of God Thanks be to God.
[00:27:24] Would you pray with me?
[00:27:31] God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight.
[00:27:37] Oh, Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
[00:27:40] Amen.
[00:27:45] 39 years ago.
[00:27:47] Yeah, I'm old enough to be able to say something like that.
[00:27:51] 39 years ago, I attended a two-week boot camp for new preachers called the License to Preach School.
[00:27:59] Sounds exciting, doesn't it?
[00:28:01] This training in the United Methodist Church was a way that the Methodist denomination could supply all the many, mostly rural churches that couldn't afford to pay a seminary-trained pastor.
[00:28:14] We spent two weeks on a university campus, had a crash course in the Bible, pastoral care, church administration, and of course, preaching.
[00:28:27] And after two weeks, we were given our certificate, that is our license to preach, which was a little bit like a license to kill, but they didn't give you a double O before your number.
[00:28:41] Then we were sent out to serve churches, and we were armed with just enough training to be dangerous.
[00:28:50] It was only the beginning of the training that most of those pastors entered into.
[00:28:54] there were about 45 50 pastors there that weekend most all of them were going to do a course of studies over five years and they do it some taking classes there were two of us i think that
[00:29:08] were headed off to divinity school the real education did not happen in those two weeks it really happened in all of those rural churches and they helped all of those preachers decide if they wanted to keep being a preacher or not, but also guiding and directing us. I was the youngest
[00:29:29] of that entire group. In fact, I'm not sure there was anybody under the age of 30 at the time.
[00:29:37] The class was almost all men. Go figure. You wouldn't find that today in licensed preach school. It'd mostly be women, I think. There was one man in our class who was very odd. Well, there were a lot of odd people, but there was one, one guy in particular that was very odd
[00:29:54] And he always had this over-serious scowl on his face.
[00:30:01] But sometimes he would give it away and it would become a very creepy grin.
[00:30:08] He was quiet.
[00:30:09] He sat in the back.
[00:30:10] We were a little nervous about him.
[00:30:11] We had a worship service all the time, morning and night.
[00:30:15] At one of our worship services, about in the middle of the week, we had invited everybody.
[00:30:21] Everybody was invited to stand and recite the Apostles' Creed.
[00:30:25] I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
[00:30:29] Now, let me tell you, young preachers, all right, newly, most of them were at second career and having left one career to go into ministry, they were a very enthusiastic crowd.
[00:30:41] They loved to sing with gusto.
[00:30:43] They would amen the preacher, whoever was preaching that day.
[00:30:47] We recited this creed and a strange thing happened.
[00:30:51] I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, our Lord.
[00:30:55] that strange man sitting in the back began shouting the creed at the top of his lungs it was if he was trying to get the attention of a referee okay all right who was conceived by the
[00:31:09] holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate at first we all kind of wondered who was disrupting the service but others started to up their volume as well and sit at the right
[00:31:21] hand of god the father almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick of the dead pretty soon, we were all shouting the Apostles' Creed. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic
[00:31:33] Church, the Communion. I'm sure that if people walked by that chapel, they would have wondered what was going on. Is there a fight? Is this an Amway convention? What is going on? The resurrection of the body, the life everlasting. Amen. And again, a little louder. Amen. And then one more time.
[00:31:50] Amen. Later that day, we went to classes, broke off into small groups, into our classes. And this group that I was in ended up in the Bible class taught by a professor at a seminary, an older
[00:32:05] man who was quiet, very introverted. And he looked around the class and he didn't see the man, but he asked everybody, he said, who was that man? A couple of people knew him, but not many of us
[00:32:16] did. I mean, you know, he had a creepy grin. And the professor said, when he started shouting the creed, I could hardly contain myself. That's the way a creed should be delivered.
[00:32:34] Now, the word creed comes from the Latin word credo, meaning I believe. I believe in God the Father Almighty. A creed is a statement of faith, a profession of what it is that we believe. Historically, creeds were written to unify a church around core beliefs, to define
[00:32:55] the boundaries of what a Christian should believe. But they were also used to define who was not in the church, who was a heretic. Now, this is something I want to tell you just in case you
[00:33:11] don't know this. The United Methodist Church is not a creedal church. That means, I say that meaning that we do not require people to sign on to a particular statement of belief. We have some
[00:33:26] core principles and core beliefs, but we're not a creedal church like our Presbyterian brothers and sisters and the Westminster Covenant or the Nicene Creed that some churches make everybody say you've got to agree to with all of these things. If you look in our hymnal, I know you
[00:33:44] don't have hymnals in here, but if you looked in the hymnal, page 881, what you'd find is not one creed, you would find a bunch of them as affirmations of faith. You would find that
[00:33:57] there's a bunch of them. Some of them are very traditional, and some of them are more recent.
[00:34:03] The wisdom of that in the Methodist tradition is that no one statement of faith gets to define what is true. A number of creeds say what the truth is in different ways. Some are more accessible.
[00:34:19] Some are more historic.
[00:34:21] John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist church.
[00:34:24] He was not a Methodist himself.
[00:34:26] Although he did ordain a couple of Methodists, which he wasn't really allowed to do, but he did it anyway.
[00:34:31] And he died an Anglican priest himself, but he liked to quote the statement that our Moravian brothers and sisters love.
[00:34:38] It says, in essentials, unity, and in non-essentials, tolerance, right?
[00:34:50] Years ago, I had invited a non-Christian friend of mine.
[00:34:54] She was a professing pagan.
[00:34:57] I invited her to come visit me at the church I was serving at.
[00:35:02] And I was preaching that Sunday.
[00:35:03] She brought her daughter and we got to speak after the church service.
[00:35:06] And she came up to me and she said, you know, I really, really liked that service.
[00:35:11] But when you got to the Apostles' Creed, I had a bit of a gag reflex.
[00:35:18] That was more than she could stomach.
[00:35:19] because she heard her community of pagans pushed out and away.
[00:35:31] Many people have felt excluded by the sometimes churches that have rigid doctrines or narrow theology or, you know, weaponize the scripture to push people away and to shame them.
[00:35:47] You know, we're all people in process though.
[00:35:49] And nobody knows all that they need to know.
[00:35:52] Nobody has unlocked all of the mysteries of faith.
[00:35:55] And what I've come to believe is that there is a wisdom within community, within this gathering, that is greater than any of us as an individual can know.
[00:36:09] There is a wisdom that we need that other people shed light and they may ask questions that we ourselves have.
[00:36:18] And so we need this in community.
[00:36:22] This right here, you can't even read that, can you?
[00:36:24] Those are two affirmations of faith.
[00:36:27] The one is the Apostles' Creed that I talked about, all of the traditional language that is often used.
[00:36:32] The one on the left is newer.
[00:36:34] It's from the United Church of Canada.
[00:36:38] And it's one that we use in the traditional worship service, but I don't really find it to be a very traditional creed in some respects because the language is more contemporary.
[00:36:51] It's more accessible.
[00:36:53] It came from the United Church of Canada, which, interestingly enough, doesn't have a long history because in the 1900s, they actually came together.
[00:37:02] They brought different churches together.
[00:37:05] Can you believe that?
[00:37:06] We did too, actually, in 1968.
[00:37:08] We merged a couple of churches, the United Brethrens and the Methodist Episcopals.
[00:37:14] So at one point, churches actually got together instead of dividing apart.
[00:37:19] But if you compare this affirmation with the Apostles' Creed, there's some differences in that. Right off the bat, notice what we have with the Apostles' Creed. I believe. But in the other creed, we say we believe. The focus is
[00:37:37] really about community. The emphasis in this creed is more space for people to enter in, not shutting people out. They are not meant to be, the creeds are not meant to be a fence that
[00:37:50] keep people out, but a gate that can draw us in. The language in this one is theological. It's also a little poetic if you read it. And it draws your imagination into both the story of Jesus as well
[00:38:10] as thinking about the story of faith. The other thing I love about this creed is that it gives a reason for our need for faith, our human need for God. And it's right at the very beginning.
[00:38:24] We are not alone. We are not alone. So we as human beings are not even alone because God is with us.
[00:38:35] My older sister died at age 40. I was 30 when she died. Her death was very unexpected. It was a huge shock to our family. Now, some of y'all know that my dad was a preacher and he was nearing
[00:38:57] retirement at the time. And we gathered with my sister's pastor. She went to another Methodist church near Indianapolis. We gathered with my sister's pastor in his office to plan out the order of the funeral. And my dad insisted that we recite the Apostles' Creed. He wanted that.
[00:39:16] And I was like, dad, you really want to recite that?
[00:39:21] I mean, we're going to, we got a bunch of Nazarene relatives coming in here and I don't think that they are going to get with this.
[00:39:28] And he looked at me and he said, this is for me.
[00:39:35] I need it.
[00:39:39] And I understood what my dad was saying.
[00:39:41] In the face of Karen's untimely death, dad needed to fend off his own despair by reminding himself of what he believed.
[00:39:52] And for him, he thought about the Apostles' Creed.
[00:39:56] I asked him, I said, you know, I said, I get it, Dad.
[00:40:01] But I wanted to ask you about perhaps a different creed that we could use.
[00:40:05] And I read for him this one that was in the hymnal from the United Church of Canada.
[00:40:09] And I said, when you think about this one, Dad, when you hear these words, we are not alone.
[00:40:14] We live in God's world, in life, in death, in life beyond death.
[00:40:20] God is with us. And my dad just teared up right there and he's choked up and he said, that's better. Let's go with that one. We are not alone. We are not alone when we doubt. There's a lot of
[00:40:41] good doubters in this room. Not going to name any names, but I could. We are not alone in our grief.
[00:40:50] We have people in grief in this room.
[00:40:52] In our pain, in our joy, even in our faith.
[00:40:58] Sometimes, you know, you have a joyful moment and there's nobody to share it with.
[00:41:02] We're not alone then.
[00:41:04] God is celebrating with us.
[00:41:06] God is weeping with us.
[00:41:08] God is anguishing with us.
[00:41:13] This summer, what my hope is, that during the worship services, we hope to spark a little theological dialogue within our congregation.
[00:41:27] Maybe we can even have a couple of opportunities where we really dialogue about this creed, about what it says.
[00:41:36] We'll spend some time with the key phrases of this affirmation of faith.
[00:41:39] We'll explore the depth of meaning in these words.
[00:41:44] In a word, what we'll be doing is what St. Anselm used to talk about, his definition of theology, which is faith, seeking, understanding. We're going to seek understanding together. It's one thing to parrot back what the beliefs are and to say this out
[00:42:02] loud. It's another to look into it and dig in and say, how is it that we believe in that?
[00:42:11] You know, the reality is that beliefs change. I am going to speak about this next Sunday, but you know the beliefs we received as children will not hold up in a world of experience when that
[00:42:25] experience does a number on our innocence so you know faith like a child well it makes sense you know that song in one regard it's because really at root faith is not what it is that we believe
[00:42:41] faith is how much we trust and a child has more of a capacity to trust than all of us who are so jaded and skeptical and we think that we are even rational at times that we've outgrown the need to
[00:42:59] trust a good creed should challenge us should invite us to reconfigure how we understand our relationship with God. And for me, this creed does that because beliefs have to change because life throws things at us that we are not ready to receive. There's a great preacher
[00:43:28] by the name of Harry Emerson Fosdick. He was once sitting at his desk in his office and a man just burst through the door and he ran up to the desk where he was seated and he slammed his fist down
[00:43:43] on and he declared, he goes, I don't believe in God. Fosdick's secretary had stood in the door and was kind of trying to explain that she tried to stop him and Fosdick motioned that it was all
[00:43:59] right. She left and he said to the man, why don't you have a seat and tell me what kind of God it is that you don't believe in but the man continued to stand and he started a tirade saying that he
[00:44:15] couldn't believe in a god that would cause suffering in people a god that would he recited a long litany of all the world's evil of from victims of natural disaster and malnourished children and fatal diseases and pretty soon it it became clear that this that someone in this man's
[00:44:35] own family was dying of an unexplained infection. And you know, Fosdick stood up and he slammed his fist on the desk and he said, I don't believe in that kind of a God either. I am convinced, folks,
[00:44:58] that when we stop ruling ourselves out from a faith community, but instead bring the doubts and the questions and our experiences, wherever that takes us in our lives, and to be open open and honest in our dialogue with one another, we can grow together. Closer to one another for
[00:45:23] sure, but also more in-depth, more well-rounded. I'm convinced that we will remind ourselves, one, by being in dialogue, remind ourselves that we're not alone. We'll experience a sense of community, but that we will also deepen ourselves into this well of faith. So that's my first sermon
[00:45:49] on the credo. And next week, I'll give you the second and we'll start digging into it.
[00:45:58] In the gospel lesson I read for you, Jesus, you know, begins his ministry, calls to baptism, to repentance, to turn around, and then says to them, believe the gospel, believe good news.
[00:46:15] And I know, as you have shared with the concerns this morning, that that is a hard sell. Perhaps it is hard for us now because of the state of the world that we are in to really believe in the good
[00:46:32] news. But we need one another to encourage one another so that we can believe that together and to go and engage in this world and invest in it. We're all people in process. We are all
[00:46:47] trying to grow our way into being more faithful disciples of Jesus. Would you pray with me?
[00:47:00] Gracious God, we give you thanks this day and we pray for those in our community of faith who are graduating, because in every life transition, you are with us. And today we pray for graduates from kindergarten all the way up to grad school, a time to look ahead towards
[00:47:26] the future and the next step on the path of either future education or a new job or a new career.
[00:47:32] God, may your word keep all of them on the path toward love. No matter what age we are or no matter where we are on the path of learning, make us lifelong students.
[00:47:45] Prepare our future and blaze a path for each of us to follow.
[00:47:50] We pray that you will blanket the graduates that we know with love, that you will wrap them, smother them, and fold them in the love that never dies and that gives life meaning.
[00:48:01] We pray, God, that you will touch the world through them, equip them to make your kingdom come on this earth, empower them to pursue justice and peace and when the time comes that they may face choices
[00:48:15] or help others face hard decisions you will give them a prophetic voice speak truth to power and bear prophetic witness may the whole world know of the burning passionate love that we know in Christ Jesus our Lord
[00:48:32] we pray this in your holy name Amen a little footnote for you Well, Mary Jo shared with us that there's a Girl Scout troop here.
[00:48:45] And it looks like the whole Girl Scout troop is graduating.
[00:48:50] They have been together since 2013.
[00:48:54] Troop number 02811.
[00:48:57] They were a Daisy troop, 02811, and then they became a Girl Scout troop.
[00:49:02] And they had a few people move away and another person moved in.
[00:49:05] but eight girls are graduating and they're all gonna attend universities here in North Carolina.
[00:49:11] I think that's pretty cool.
[00:49:12] So anyway, that's part of our ministry as a church.
[00:49:16] And so we pray for them as well.
[00:49:23] I've got some folks who are gonna help me with communion.
[00:49:26] Would you all come on up here and join me?
[00:49:31] Oh, I know something we're gonna do.
[00:49:33] Can you go back to this slide so we can say this together?
[00:49:36] So if y'all take a look at this, we're going to say an affirmation to faith.
[00:49:41] So we have heard the word read and the word proclaimed, it's time for us to say together what it is that we believe. So would you stand as you are able and let us say this together. We are not alone. We live in God's world.
[00:49:56] We believe in God who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God.
[00:50:14] We are called to be the church, to celebrate God's presence, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
[00:50:29] in life, in death, in life beyond death.
[00:50:34] God is with us.
[00:50:35] We are not alone.
[00:50:37] Thanks be to God.
[00:50:39] Amen.
[00:50:40] You may be seated.
[00:50:49] We gather at this table.
[00:50:50] And as we gather here, we are reminded of Jesus's work in this world and the meaning of it.
[00:50:59] But we also remember when Jesus gathered with disciples for one last meal.
[00:51:05] It was there that Jesus poured out his heart and love by washing their feet, but also giving the gift of his presence in the midst of any meal, the common meal that they would have, so that they would be able to reconnect with him and experience that presence anew.
[00:51:25] When Jesus had gathered with the disciples, he took bread.
[00:51:29] He gave thanks to God.
[00:51:30] He gave it to the disciples.
[00:51:32] He broke the bread, gave it to them and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you.
[00:51:39] Do this in remembrance of me.
[00:51:42] When the supper was over, Jesus took the cup and after giving thanks to you, gave it to the disciples and said, drink from this, all of you, for this is the blood of the new covenant
[00:51:52] it given for you in remembrance of me. Do this as often as you drink it. And so we who gather here, who come to eat of this bread, to drink of this wine, we gather so that we may take within us
[00:52:10] that very presence of love that Jesus embodies and that we may embody it ourselves and share it with others. Friends, would you join with me as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray
[00:52:21] together. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
[00:52:38] as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Friends, as we take
[00:53:18] communion, we'll do so in this fashion. You know the drill. We're going to serve our servers first and then serve our musicians as they come up and get into place. And then we're going to invite
[00:53:28] you to come down by the center aisle. We'll give you a piece of bread. If you'll take that bread, hold on to it. If you'll dip it in the cup, either on the right or the left. And if you'd
[00:53:35] rather have the cup individually, you can get one of those as well. And then you can return by the side aisles. If you would like to get some bread that is without gluten, we have that option as
[00:53:48] well. So just be a squeaky wheel. I remind you, friends, that this is not the table of our congregation. This is not the table of our denomination. This is the table of Jesus, which means all of us here are invited to come.
[00:59:47] So a reminder to all of you here, David Berklio could use your love.
[00:59:56] So if you've got the time to do it, three o'clock on Friday, come to hear about Vivian's life.
[01:00:05] When we all stood up the other day and looked at the camera, she saw that and that was moving to her.
[01:00:11] And I want you all to know that.
[01:00:12] So let's be there for each other if we can.
[01:00:14] and I just invite you to come to that service at three.
[01:00:18] It'll be in the sanctuary and afterwards there'll be a reception here in the fellowship hall.
[01:00:23] So friends, let's go from this place.
[01:00:25] Let's taking the presence of Christ with us now inside of us, let us go and share that presence with others who are in desperate need of it.
[01:00:34] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our creator, our sustainer and our redeemer.
[01:00:39] Amen.
[00:02:33] Hey, good morning, you guys. Happy Sunday. Would love it if y'all stand as you're able to sing some with us.
[00:03:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:03:24] Peace of Christ be with y'all.
[00:06:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:06:46] Y'all take a moment to pass the peace.
[00:12:19] Y'all can grab a seat.
[00:12:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:12:20] I want to welcome you to our worship service today.
[00:12:29] If you are in person and visiting with us for the first time, there is an information card just inside the seat back pocket in front of you.
[00:12:37] It's easy to fill out if you're more technology driven.
[00:12:40] There's a QR code in your bulletin where you could let us know a little bit more about you as well.
[00:12:45] If you are joining us on our live stream, thank you.
[00:12:47] We hope this service is meaningful for you as well.
[00:12:50] Hey, summer is here, yeah?
[00:12:52] A lot of traveling happening.
[00:12:54] And Pastor Kelly has asked that I remind you that even though you may not make it to church, it's always good for your offering to make it.
[00:13:01] And as always, we are truly grateful for your continued support.
[00:13:05] Hey, so a couple of things coming up this week.
[00:13:07] Wednesday at 5 30 there's a popsicle in the park party so I hope that you can join us we have ordered up the best weather from what I hear high of 65 no I'm just kidding it might it might be a
[00:13:18] little warmer but the popsicle will help you cool it off for sure for sure you might like it so much that you decide to come back Saturday for the playground party yeah oh that hit a nerve okay
[00:13:29] yeah playground party it is okay Thursday this Thursday the Red Cross will be here from 2 to 6 30 for a blood drive you're welcome to walk up but if you would like to to be able to secure a spot
[00:13:40] you could do that through the qr code in your bulletin as well finally friday at three o'clock in the sanctuary we'll have a celebration for the life of vivian berkeley oak followed by a reception
[00:13:50] in the fellowship hall pastor kelly is supposed to be doing some prayer things so i'm not really sure what to say other than i'm not sure where pastor kelly is so uh jerry what do you suggest
[00:14:07] we do should we sing should i pray we could yeah we could do that we could and then come back like hide yeah i could tell jokes but that wouldn't go so well but okay uh so okay yeah he's over there
[00:14:33] okay has this ever happened before like is this a thing okay okay all right all right let's do that do you have any prayer requests that you would like to share yes okay all right thank you
[00:14:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:53] someone else yes thank you sandy thank you yes sir thank you for sharing anyone else
[00:16:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:16:19] yes thank you awesome thanks for sharing that hey kelly yeah yeah it was full yeah pictures
[00:16:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:16:59] anyone else yes yes kelly glad you're here man glad you're here just wanted to offer that as a praise would you like to pray okay thank you really late but not this late we had a member
[00:18:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:18:04] in the church um placed bells in the handbell choir and didn't show up to play today and we were very nervous about it we sent somebody to do a help check on her and she's fine but it was a
[00:18:20] little nerve-wracking for the whole bell choir today so just want to deal so we were working on that. I didn't hear any of your prayer concerns. I'm sorry, but I know that God did. So that's
[00:18:33] really all that counts. So for instance, let's bow for a word of prayer, shall we?
[00:18:43] Gracious God, we give thanks for this community of faith where we can come and share our deepest concerns, the wounds, our griefs, our own feeling of despair about the state of our world, about the divisions that are happening so often in our country. We pray for those who
[00:19:11] are experiencing sickness, illness, for those who are in the midst of grief, for Vivian's whole family and we pray that you will do your mending, healing work in our midst.
[00:19:31] We pray for those who are struggling for the work of justice and for the work of love in this world who are helping people find the resources that they need and access to the places
[00:19:47] where they can receive help.
[00:19:51] Empower us, O God, so that in our believing together we can continue to develop our own faith so that we may live closer to the love of Christ Jesus.
[00:20:06] We pray all of this in your holy name.
[00:20:08] Amen.
[00:20:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:20:09] Dear God, surround me as I speak.
[00:20:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:20:46] The bridges that I walk upon are weak and the frustrations fill the void that I can't solely bear.
[00:20:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:20:55] Dear God, don't let me fall apart
[00:21:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:21:02] You've held me close to you But I have turned away in search for Answers I can't understand
[00:21:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:21:13] They say, like a child Your fate Well, I wonder if I've grown to lose The recklessness I've walked in light of you They say, like a child Like a child
[00:24:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:24:32] By the way, thanks, Shane.
[00:25:09] He left. Did he leave us? Oh, he ran away, didn't he? He thought I was really going to have him preach. So we went to the beach last week and we missed you. Not really. I was still having trouble
[00:25:37] coming back to this life. So it was nice to get away. I knew that it had worked because I really didn't want to work yesterday at all.
[00:25:51] And so anyway, it was effective.
[00:25:57] So our gospel lesson, it comes from Mark's gospel in the first chapter, starting at verse 14.
[00:26:12] This will be familiar to you.
[00:26:13] This is really the beginning of Jesus's ministry right after John the Baptist is imprisoned.
[00:26:20] and we hear this from Mark's gospel.
[00:26:24] So listen for the word of God.
[00:26:30] Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.
[00:26:42] Repent and believe in the good news.
[00:26:47] As Jesus passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea and for they were fishermen and Jesus said to them follow me and I will make you fish for people
[00:26:58] and immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus he went a little farther and he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John who were in the boat mending nets and immediately he called to them
[00:27:13] and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus the word of God for the people of God Thanks be to God.
[00:27:24] Would you pray with me?
[00:27:31] God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight.
[00:27:37] Oh, Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
[00:27:40] Amen.
[00:27:45] 39 years ago.
[00:27:47] Yeah, I'm old enough to be able to say something like that.
[00:27:51] 39 years ago, I attended a two-week boot camp for new preachers called the License to Preach School.
[00:27:59] Sounds exciting, doesn't it?
[00:28:01] This training in the United Methodist Church was a way that the Methodist denomination could supply all the many, mostly rural churches that couldn't afford to pay a seminary-trained pastor.
[00:28:14] We spent two weeks on a university campus, had a crash course in the Bible, pastoral care, church administration, and of course, preaching.
[00:28:27] And after two weeks, we were given our certificate, that is our license to preach, which was a little bit like a license to kill, but they didn't give you a double O before your number.
[00:28:41] Then we were sent out to serve churches, and we were armed with just enough training to be dangerous.
[00:28:50] It was only the beginning of the training that most of those pastors entered into.
[00:28:54] there were about 45 50 pastors there that weekend most all of them were going to do a course of studies over five years and they do it some taking classes there were two of us i think that
[00:29:08] were headed off to divinity school the real education did not happen in those two weeks it really happened in all of those rural churches and they helped all of those preachers decide if they wanted to keep being a preacher or not, but also guiding and directing us. I was the youngest
[00:29:29] of that entire group. In fact, I'm not sure there was anybody under the age of 30 at the time.
[00:29:37] The class was almost all men. Go figure. You wouldn't find that today in licensed preach school. It'd mostly be women, I think. There was one man in our class who was very odd. Well, there were a lot of odd people, but there was one, one guy in particular that was very odd
[00:29:54] And he always had this over-serious scowl on his face.
[00:30:01] But sometimes he would give it away and it would become a very creepy grin.
[00:30:08] He was quiet.
[00:30:09] He sat in the back.
[00:30:10] We were a little nervous about him.
[00:30:11] We had a worship service all the time, morning and night.
[00:30:15] At one of our worship services, about in the middle of the week, we had invited everybody.
[00:30:21] Everybody was invited to stand and recite the Apostles' Creed.
[00:30:25] I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
[00:30:29] Now, let me tell you, young preachers, all right, newly, most of them were at second career and having left one career to go into ministry, they were a very enthusiastic crowd.
[00:30:41] They loved to sing with gusto.
[00:30:43] They would amen the preacher, whoever was preaching that day.
[00:30:47] We recited this creed and a strange thing happened.
[00:30:51] I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, our Lord.
[00:30:55] that strange man sitting in the back began shouting the creed at the top of his lungs it was if he was trying to get the attention of a referee okay all right who was conceived by the
[00:31:09] holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate at first we all kind of wondered who was disrupting the service but others started to up their volume as well and sit at the right
[00:31:21] hand of god the father almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick of the dead pretty soon, we were all shouting the Apostles' Creed. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic
[00:31:33] Church, the Communion. I'm sure that if people walked by that chapel, they would have wondered what was going on. Is there a fight? Is this an Amway convention? What is going on? The resurrection of the body, the life everlasting. Amen. And again, a little louder. Amen. And then one more time.
[00:31:50] Amen. Later that day, we went to classes, broke off into small groups, into our classes. And this group that I was in ended up in the Bible class taught by a professor at a seminary, an older
[00:32:05] man who was quiet, very introverted. And he looked around the class and he didn't see the man, but he asked everybody, he said, who was that man? A couple of people knew him, but not many of us
[00:32:16] did. I mean, you know, he had a creepy grin. And the professor said, when he started shouting the creed, I could hardly contain myself. That's the way a creed should be delivered.
[00:32:34] Now, the word creed comes from the Latin word credo, meaning I believe. I believe in God the Father Almighty. A creed is a statement of faith, a profession of what it is that we believe. Historically, creeds were written to unify a church around core beliefs, to define
[00:32:55] the boundaries of what a Christian should believe. But they were also used to define who was not in the church, who was a heretic. Now, this is something I want to tell you just in case you
[00:33:11] don't know this. The United Methodist Church is not a creedal church. That means, I say that meaning that we do not require people to sign on to a particular statement of belief. We have some
[00:33:26] core principles and core beliefs, but we're not a creedal church like our Presbyterian brothers and sisters and the Westminster Covenant or the Nicene Creed that some churches make everybody say you've got to agree to with all of these things. If you look in our hymnal, I know you
[00:33:44] don't have hymnals in here, but if you looked in the hymnal, page 881, what you'd find is not one creed, you would find a bunch of them as affirmations of faith. You would find that
[00:33:57] there's a bunch of them. Some of them are very traditional, and some of them are more recent.
[00:34:03] The wisdom of that in the Methodist tradition is that no one statement of faith gets to define what is true. A number of creeds say what the truth is in different ways. Some are more accessible.
[00:34:19] Some are more historic.
[00:34:21] John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist church.
[00:34:24] He was not a Methodist himself.
[00:34:26] Although he did ordain a couple of Methodists, which he wasn't really allowed to do, but he did it anyway.
[00:34:31] And he died an Anglican priest himself, but he liked to quote the statement that our Moravian brothers and sisters love.
[00:34:38] It says, in essentials, unity, and in non-essentials, tolerance, right?
[00:34:50] Years ago, I had invited a non-Christian friend of mine.
[00:34:54] She was a professing pagan.
[00:34:57] I invited her to come visit me at the church I was serving at.
[00:35:02] And I was preaching that Sunday.
[00:35:03] She brought her daughter and we got to speak after the church service.
[00:35:06] And she came up to me and she said, you know, I really, really liked that service.
[00:35:11] But when you got to the Apostles' Creed, I had a bit of a gag reflex.
[00:35:18] That was more than she could stomach.
[00:35:19] because she heard her community of pagans pushed out and away.
[00:35:31] Many people have felt excluded by the sometimes churches that have rigid doctrines or narrow theology or, you know, weaponize the scripture to push people away and to shame them.
[00:35:47] You know, we're all people in process though.
[00:35:49] And nobody knows all that they need to know.
[00:35:52] Nobody has unlocked all of the mysteries of faith.
[00:35:55] And what I've come to believe is that there is a wisdom within community, within this gathering, that is greater than any of us as an individual can know.
[00:36:09] There is a wisdom that we need that other people shed light and they may ask questions that we ourselves have.
[00:36:18] And so we need this in community.
[00:36:22] This right here, you can't even read that, can you?
[00:36:24] Those are two affirmations of faith.
[00:36:27] The one is the Apostles' Creed that I talked about, all of the traditional language that is often used.
[00:36:32] The one on the left is newer.
[00:36:34] It's from the United Church of Canada.
[00:36:38] And it's one that we use in the traditional worship service, but I don't really find it to be a very traditional creed in some respects because the language is more contemporary.
[00:36:51] It's more accessible.
[00:36:53] It came from the United Church of Canada, which, interestingly enough, doesn't have a long history because in the 1900s, they actually came together.
[00:37:02] They brought different churches together.
[00:37:05] Can you believe that?
[00:37:06] We did too, actually, in 1968.
[00:37:08] We merged a couple of churches, the United Brethrens and the Methodist Episcopals.
[00:37:14] So at one point, churches actually got together instead of dividing apart.
[00:37:19] But if you compare this affirmation with the Apostles' Creed, there's some differences in that. Right off the bat, notice what we have with the Apostles' Creed. I believe. But in the other creed, we say we believe. The focus is
[00:37:37] really about community. The emphasis in this creed is more space for people to enter in, not shutting people out. They are not meant to be, the creeds are not meant to be a fence that
[00:37:50] keep people out, but a gate that can draw us in. The language in this one is theological. It's also a little poetic if you read it. And it draws your imagination into both the story of Jesus as well
[00:38:10] as thinking about the story of faith. The other thing I love about this creed is that it gives a reason for our need for faith, our human need for God. And it's right at the very beginning.
[00:38:24] We are not alone. We are not alone. So we as human beings are not even alone because God is with us.
[00:38:35] My older sister died at age 40. I was 30 when she died. Her death was very unexpected. It was a huge shock to our family. Now, some of y'all know that my dad was a preacher and he was nearing
[00:38:57] retirement at the time. And we gathered with my sister's pastor. She went to another Methodist church near Indianapolis. We gathered with my sister's pastor in his office to plan out the order of the funeral. And my dad insisted that we recite the Apostles' Creed. He wanted that.
[00:39:16] And I was like, dad, you really want to recite that?
[00:39:21] I mean, we're going to, we got a bunch of Nazarene relatives coming in here and I don't think that they are going to get with this.
[00:39:28] And he looked at me and he said, this is for me.
[00:39:35] I need it.
[00:39:39] And I understood what my dad was saying.
[00:39:41] In the face of Karen's untimely death, dad needed to fend off his own despair by reminding himself of what he believed.
[00:39:52] And for him, he thought about the Apostles' Creed.
[00:39:56] I asked him, I said, you know, I said, I get it, Dad.
[00:40:01] But I wanted to ask you about perhaps a different creed that we could use.
[00:40:05] And I read for him this one that was in the hymnal from the United Church of Canada.
[00:40:09] And I said, when you think about this one, Dad, when you hear these words, we are not alone.
[00:40:14] We live in God's world, in life, in death, in life beyond death.
[00:40:20] God is with us. And my dad just teared up right there and he's choked up and he said, that's better. Let's go with that one. We are not alone. We are not alone when we doubt. There's a lot of
[00:40:41] good doubters in this room. Not going to name any names, but I could. We are not alone in our grief.
[00:40:50] We have people in grief in this room.
[00:40:52] In our pain, in our joy, even in our faith.
[00:40:58] Sometimes, you know, you have a joyful moment and there's nobody to share it with.
[00:41:02] We're not alone then.
[00:41:04] God is celebrating with us.
[00:41:06] God is weeping with us.
[00:41:08] God is anguishing with us.
[00:41:13] This summer, what my hope is, that during the worship services, we hope to spark a little theological dialogue within our congregation.
[00:41:27] Maybe we can even have a couple of opportunities where we really dialogue about this creed, about what it says.
[00:41:36] We'll spend some time with the key phrases of this affirmation of faith.
[00:41:39] We'll explore the depth of meaning in these words.
[00:41:44] In a word, what we'll be doing is what St. Anselm used to talk about, his definition of theology, which is faith, seeking, understanding. We're going to seek understanding together. It's one thing to parrot back what the beliefs are and to say this out
[00:42:02] loud. It's another to look into it and dig in and say, how is it that we believe in that?
[00:42:11] You know, the reality is that beliefs change. I am going to speak about this next Sunday, but you know the beliefs we received as children will not hold up in a world of experience when that
[00:42:25] experience does a number on our innocence so you know faith like a child well it makes sense you know that song in one regard it's because really at root faith is not what it is that we believe
[00:42:41] faith is how much we trust and a child has more of a capacity to trust than all of us who are so jaded and skeptical and we think that we are even rational at times that we've outgrown the need to
[00:42:59] trust a good creed should challenge us should invite us to reconfigure how we understand our relationship with God. And for me, this creed does that because beliefs have to change because life throws things at us that we are not ready to receive. There's a great preacher
[00:43:28] by the name of Harry Emerson Fosdick. He was once sitting at his desk in his office and a man just burst through the door and he ran up to the desk where he was seated and he slammed his fist down
[00:43:43] on and he declared, he goes, I don't believe in God. Fosdick's secretary had stood in the door and was kind of trying to explain that she tried to stop him and Fosdick motioned that it was all
[00:43:59] right. She left and he said to the man, why don't you have a seat and tell me what kind of God it is that you don't believe in but the man continued to stand and he started a tirade saying that he
[00:44:15] couldn't believe in a god that would cause suffering in people a god that would he recited a long litany of all the world's evil of from victims of natural disaster and malnourished children and fatal diseases and pretty soon it it became clear that this that someone in this man's
[00:44:35] own family was dying of an unexplained infection. And you know, Fosdick stood up and he slammed his fist on the desk and he said, I don't believe in that kind of a God either. I am convinced, folks,
[00:44:58] that when we stop ruling ourselves out from a faith community, but instead bring the doubts and the questions and our experiences, wherever that takes us in our lives, and to be open open and honest in our dialogue with one another, we can grow together. Closer to one another for
[00:45:23] sure, but also more in-depth, more well-rounded. I'm convinced that we will remind ourselves, one, by being in dialogue, remind ourselves that we're not alone. We'll experience a sense of community, but that we will also deepen ourselves into this well of faith. So that's my first sermon
[00:45:49] on the credo. And next week, I'll give you the second and we'll start digging into it.
[00:45:58] In the gospel lesson I read for you, Jesus, you know, begins his ministry, calls to baptism, to repentance, to turn around, and then says to them, believe the gospel, believe good news.
[00:46:15] And I know, as you have shared with the concerns this morning, that that is a hard sell. Perhaps it is hard for us now because of the state of the world that we are in to really believe in the good
[00:46:32] news. But we need one another to encourage one another so that we can believe that together and to go and engage in this world and invest in it. We're all people in process. We are all
[00:46:47] trying to grow our way into being more faithful disciples of Jesus. Would you pray with me?
[00:47:00] Gracious God, we give you thanks this day and we pray for those in our community of faith who are graduating, because in every life transition, you are with us. And today we pray for graduates from kindergarten all the way up to grad school, a time to look ahead towards
[00:47:26] the future and the next step on the path of either future education or a new job or a new career.
[00:47:32] God, may your word keep all of them on the path toward love. No matter what age we are or no matter where we are on the path of learning, make us lifelong students.
[00:47:45] Prepare our future and blaze a path for each of us to follow.
[00:47:50] We pray that you will blanket the graduates that we know with love, that you will wrap them, smother them, and fold them in the love that never dies and that gives life meaning.
[00:48:01] We pray, God, that you will touch the world through them, equip them to make your kingdom come on this earth, empower them to pursue justice and peace and when the time comes that they may face choices
[00:48:15] or help others face hard decisions you will give them a prophetic voice speak truth to power and bear prophetic witness may the whole world know of the burning passionate love that we know in Christ Jesus our Lord
[00:48:32] we pray this in your holy name Amen a little footnote for you Well, Mary Jo shared with us that there's a Girl Scout troop here.
[00:48:45] And it looks like the whole Girl Scout troop is graduating.
[00:48:50] They have been together since 2013.
[00:48:54] Troop number 02811.
[00:48:57] They were a Daisy troop, 02811, and then they became a Girl Scout troop.
[00:49:02] And they had a few people move away and another person moved in.
[00:49:05] but eight girls are graduating and they're all gonna attend universities here in North Carolina.
[00:49:11] I think that's pretty cool.
[00:49:12] So anyway, that's part of our ministry as a church.
[00:49:16] And so we pray for them as well.
[00:49:23] I've got some folks who are gonna help me with communion.
[00:49:26] Would you all come on up here and join me?
[00:49:31] Oh, I know something we're gonna do.
[00:49:33] Can you go back to this slide so we can say this together?
[00:49:36] So if y'all take a look at this, we're going to say an affirmation to faith.
[00:49:41] So we have heard the word read and the word proclaimed, it's time for us to say together what it is that we believe. So would you stand as you are able and let us say this together. We are not alone. We live in God's world.
[00:49:56] We believe in God who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God.
[00:50:14] We are called to be the church, to celebrate God's presence, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
[00:50:29] in life, in death, in life beyond death.
[00:50:34] God is with us.
[00:50:35] We are not alone.
[00:50:37] Thanks be to God.
[00:50:39] Amen.
[00:50:40] You may be seated.
[00:50:49] We gather at this table.
[00:50:50] And as we gather here, we are reminded of Jesus's work in this world and the meaning of it.
[00:50:59] But we also remember when Jesus gathered with disciples for one last meal.
[00:51:05] It was there that Jesus poured out his heart and love by washing their feet, but also giving the gift of his presence in the midst of any meal, the common meal that they would have, so that they would be able to reconnect with him and experience that presence anew.
[00:51:25] When Jesus had gathered with the disciples, he took bread.
[00:51:29] He gave thanks to God.
[00:51:30] He gave it to the disciples.
[00:51:32] He broke the bread, gave it to them and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you.
[00:51:39] Do this in remembrance of me.
[00:51:42] When the supper was over, Jesus took the cup and after giving thanks to you, gave it to the disciples and said, drink from this, all of you, for this is the blood of the new covenant
[00:51:52] it given for you in remembrance of me. Do this as often as you drink it. And so we who gather here, who come to eat of this bread, to drink of this wine, we gather so that we may take within us
[00:52:10] that very presence of love that Jesus embodies and that we may embody it ourselves and share it with others. Friends, would you join with me as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray
[00:52:21] together. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
[00:52:38] as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Friends, as we take
[00:53:18] communion, we'll do so in this fashion. You know the drill. We're going to serve our servers first and then serve our musicians as they come up and get into place. And then we're going to invite
[00:53:28] you to come down by the center aisle. We'll give you a piece of bread. If you'll take that bread, hold on to it. If you'll dip it in the cup, either on the right or the left. And if you'd
[00:53:35] rather have the cup individually, you can get one of those as well. And then you can return by the side aisles. If you would like to get some bread that is without gluten, we have that option as
[00:53:48] well. So just be a squeaky wheel. I remind you, friends, that this is not the table of our congregation. This is not the table of our denomination. This is the table of Jesus, which means all of us here are invited to come.
[00:59:47] So a reminder to all of you here, David Berklio could use your love.
[00:59:56] So if you've got the time to do it, three o'clock on Friday, come to hear about Vivian's life.
[01:00:05] When we all stood up the other day and looked at the camera, she saw that and that was moving to her.
[01:00:11] And I want you all to know that.
[01:00:12] So let's be there for each other if we can.
[01:00:14] and I just invite you to come to that service at three.
[01:00:18] It'll be in the sanctuary and afterwards there'll be a reception here in the fellowship hall.
[01:00:23] So friends, let's go from this place.
[01:00:25] Let's taking the presence of Christ with us now inside of us, let us go and share that presence with others who are in desperate need of it.
[01:00:34] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our creator, our sustainer and our redeemer.
[01:00:39] Amen.
