Miraculous births were common in the ancient world. Is the virgin birth mentioned in the Apostles' Creed any different? Must we believe in a literal virgin birth to be biblical? Must we reject it to be reasonable?

SLIDE GEORGE READ IN THE GATHERING

Mary is not an icon to be reverenced, but the pattern for how the incarnation is to continue, for how God continues to take on flesh in this world.  And that pattern is perennially the same: we must say “yes” to the Holy Spirit giving birth in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

—Fr. Ronald Rolheiser

What makes a better world? Jesus gives us a new way of understanding power to make a better world. The Apostles' Creed says: "We believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, our LORD." The title of Lord, is the title of the God whose power is love.

SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING

To call Jesus “Christ” is to say that human categories are too small to contain him, and to affirm our faith that nothing less will do than to say that God was in Christ. It is to affirm that we believe that in Jesus we are in the presence of God, that through him alone we fully know God.    

The Apostles’ Creed (William Barclay, 1967, 1998)

Faith in Jesus as OUR LORD finds expression in one's commitment to the ultimate authority of Love to which he bears witness in the world. Without this commitment, Lord is an empty title, but to make this faith commitment has vast practical implications. If divine love embodied in Jesus is our ultimate authority, we will have to question the claims of all other authorities.   

Living The Apostles’ Creed (David Steindl-Rast)

If "God Is Love" why is the word love not written in the Apostles' Creed?  Because it might just already be assumed by the writers. When it says, "We Believe In Jesus," it is saying "We Believe In Love." 

Jesus is love revealed. Love here is not abstract or theoretical. It is not a feeling or a concept. It is love embodied.

SLIDE GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING

As Jesus expressed it, we’re created with two overriding aims in life: to love God with all that is within us and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So sin is anything we do in thought, word, or deed that is inconsistent with loving God or neighbor or ourselves.

—Adam Hamilton, Creed

In this teaching, we explored the second line of the Apostles' Creed "creator of heaven and earth." George talked about the biological process of creation and the theological story of creation given to us in Genesis.

The creed is an ancient way of narrating a particular story about reality that Christians have trusted for a millennium and a half. We want to root our community in this story and simultaneously ask new questions about it for our modern world.

SLIDES GEORGE USED IN THIS GATHERING

James Webb Space Telescope

We have come to see that these chapters are poetry and not science, that they are religious symbolism and not history. They do not tell us anything of God's method of creation; they do lay down the one supreme fact that life came into being through the power of, and by the will of, God. Whatever the method of creation, God remains the Creator without whom life is possible.

William Barclay

In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. 

Augustine of Hippo

Read About The "Babylonian Genesis" Story Here

George-the Apostles’ Creed's first line begins with “I believe in God, the father…” Credo “I believe” in Latin means "I give my heart.” The word has the same linguistic root as love. May we all find our hearts drawn not just in ideas or beliefs but in trust and love of the God the Creed calls “Father.”

SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING

The Creed is a statement of faith, not of beliefs. There are many beliefs, but there is ultimately only one faith: faith in God. May the Creed help you find new meaning in the words and—deeper than words that divide—the faith that unites all human beings.   -David Steindl-Rast

Stacia Freeman-Our actions of love make the invisible visible. God's love not only unites us with God but with all of humanity. God who comes in human form teaches us that we must search for God's love in flesh and weakness. Love is the epiphany of God in our poverty.

John 2 - Jesus changes water to wine. The story of this wedding is actually about transformation. Yes, the water is transformed into wine, and we are transformed into people made in God's image and who reflect his glory by being fully alive.

SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING:

So John is saying: you are here in a trinitarian universe not just for survival but for thriving. There is an overflow to everything, and this is about how to live with that overflow so new life is spilling over. It’s about joy, vitality, creativity, radiance, your heart bursting forth in love and service to self and other and for the world. -Alexander John Shaia

The glory of God is every person fully alive! -Saint Irenaeus

GRACE: “It’s the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person— having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful heart will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping.” - Unknown

Matthew 17:1 (the transfiguration)-Jesus is being revealed for what and who he already is, but his friends now realize it and see him in a whole new way.  

Like Peter, James, & John; we need moments of transfiguration in our lives when Jesus shows us who he really is and what is really good. And we can also see transfiguration in others, where we realize something new about who they are or what they mean to us.

SLIDES READ BY GEORGE

Belief in Jesus is seeing him as the gateway to an endless journey into God's love.-Richard Beck

God saves humanity not by punishing it but by restoring it! There are two utterly different forms of religion: one believes that God will love me if I change; the other believes that God loves me so that I can change! Ideas inform us, but love forms us—in an intrinsic and lasting way. God is always willing to wait for the lasting transformations brought about by love. —Richard Rohr

Epiphany is about the surprise of finding God's light and love in Jesus. In this teaching, George talked about Jesus' baptism (Matthew 3:13-17).

Jesus, too, was someone on a spiritual journey from which we can learn. What changes us? The sacred voice that calls us beloved. And being beloved expresses the core truth of our existence.

SLIDES READ BY GEORGE

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

—C.S. Lewis

“You can’t start a spiritual journey on a negative journey foundation. If you seek God out of fear, shame, or guilt—you don’t go very far. But if we remember the voice that spoke those powerful words of love we will find a new way of living and being.”

—Richard Rohr

George & Scott Reall in a part 2 conversation about transformation in our lives for a new year and this season of Epiphany.

SLIDES READ BY GEORGE

Epiphany is a wonderful celebration for those who are committing themselves more deeply to the process of spiritual transformation, for it contains themes of journeying from the known to the unknown with only a mysterious light to guide us. It has to do with seeing something new on the horizon that stirs something new in us. We don’t just talk about our desire; we walk toward it with great intention, making concrete choices along the way.

-Ruth Haley Barton

To love is to change. And to love perfectly is to change many times.

-John Henry Newman

Name your deaths. Claim your births. Grieve and adjust. Do not cling. Receive new life. Nature follows this pattern. Jesus Christ followed this pattern. Our lives follow this pattern—unless we fight it!

-Fr. Ronald Rolheiser