Creedal Catholicity
Many conservative minded Americans stress the importance of history. They understand that the foundations of the nation are important, and it is important to take seriously the intended meaning of the constitution. There is a sense that the unity of our nation depends upon this shared heritage. We must reform ourselves to be in accordance with the intended civil plumbline laid in 1776. This impulse is not unique to conservative Americans. This is a principle that has been recited in the Church since Genesis. The Church is constantly being called back to the plumb line of her initial purpose. Her foundational genetics. This DNA mapping is first and foremost deposited in Holy Scripture then lived out in the life of the Church. Just as Josiah reformed Israel according to the long-lost Law of God, so the Church in Maine must be reformed to wisdom long forgotten.
The problem of Church disunity in Maine is not fundamentally a problem of the Scriptures being lost. Or the Scriptures being forsaken (although an argument could be made that Scripture is forsaken when it is no longer sung, read, or prayed throughout the service and only a handful of verses are used as a launch pad for a sermon…but that’s another article.). Our primary driver of disunity is our disparate interpretations. Our church bodies emphasize what makes us particular. “We are the church with this music…”. “We are the church for dispensationalists…”. “We are the church for the truly Reformed…”. It is in exalting our particulars that we lose our understanding of the whole.
To confess, as the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed, we believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Is to say that our churches must hold closest what is “Catholic” meaning what is in accordance with the whole. What has been believed, taught, and confessed in all places at all times. Just as the constitutionalist looks back, so must we. If we want to find a plumb line to center ourselves on what is in accordance with the whole, we also must look back. We must walk forward with our eyes fixed on our ancient fathers. We must start with creedal Christianity. We must start with the Creeds that outlined the ultimate essentials of Christian doctrine. If we start with our founding documents, that summarize what it means to be Christian, to be a little Christ, then we will begin understanding what it means to be one as the Son and the Father are one. A monumental step in the right direction would be for every church in Maine to recite the Apostles and/or Nicene Creed after the reading of Scripture or preaching of the Word. We would begin confessing the foundation upon which the Church in built. We would be memorizing the summary of the faith once delivered, and through memorization we would embody the unifying truth of what the Christian must believe.
