In the beginning when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5 NRSV)
We will be exploring the creed for the next few weeks and we begin “In the beginning…”
The first article of the creed says simply, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” It is the shortest article and the most generic. You could probably be Jewish, Muslim or from many other faith traditions and feel okay saying that.
The brief nature of this article reminds us that the creeds don’t say everything – they don’t cover all the bases. They talk about what needs to be talked about based on the issues facing whoever writes them has at the moment. The creeds we have were written a few hundred years after Jesus when the church was big enough to have figured out what they stood for in some important areas. Where there were more issues – they said more. Where there were less issues – they said less.
Creation being made by God was not an issue – everyone agreed with it so they started by saying not much in the first article. God made the world – let’s move on.
But that wasn’t enough for Martin Luther. He wanted people to know more and see that God not only “made” (past tense) the world and all that is in it. God is also caring for the world (present tense) and Luther wanted us to see that, be thankful for it, and live in response to it. So Luther’s meaning of the creed says all sorts of important things about God’s providence, love and protection. It talks about all of this being because God is gracious and merciful. God gives it for all of us to have and to use, not because some of us deserve it and some don’t, but because God wants everyone to have what they need and be thankful for it.
Luther then reminds us that because of this, we should live lives that are thankful for this and respond to these gifts in ways that are pleasing to God. We are called to be good stewards of creation, good neighbors to the people in our lives, and to remember that even though God wants to provide for everyone, not everyone gets what they need and we should be concerned about love and justice being at the center of our lives of faith.
So, God made the world and everything in it (including you!). Be thankful and live grateful lives that honor God’s creation and show love and concern for all of it. God is good – all the time!
