We believe in God...
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen
Dear friends,
In his book, Tokens of Trust: An introduction to Christian Belief, Rowan Williams makes this statement about the first words of the creed:
“The first phrases of the Creeds are not just about the beginning of the
universe. They’re about the present state of the universe and the present state of you and me and our society. They express a confidence in the God who can make us one with ourselves and with our world, the God who can take the darkness in us and heal it and turn it towards the light.” (emphasis mine).
I find these words to be a starting place for hope. When so much in myself and in our world seems broken and separated, Williams invites us to know God as the One who heals and brings together the broken pieces of our lives and our world. He tells us that because God is the Creator of this world, there are no areas that are “off-limits” for God. “Every aspect of who we are needs to be brought into the circle of God’s light, because he can deal with all of it.” God is the One who holds everything (seen and unseen) and draws all conflict and imperfection into a holy wholeness: you, me, everyone else, the world and the universe. It is a mystery we cannot understand, but trusting in God’s almighty power to save, to make whole, can be a way to nurture hope even when what we are able to see with our human eyes looks very far from whole and healed.
This understanding of God is revealed in the words of the psalmist too: “Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You trace my journeys and my resting places and are acquainted with all my ways.
Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.”
Psalm 139:1-40
As we live into these days of summer; whether we are resting in special places with family or friends, or kept awake at night by the constant reports of violence and brokenness–or some of each; may we trust in the Almighty, the Creator, the One who loves us and heals us. He lays his hand upon us and the world.
While we pray to see that healing in our world, may we BE bearers of Light, healers of division, peace-makers. As we say the words “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of all that is, seen and unseen” may we hear and trust that God is constantly at work in our lives, in our church, in our community, in our world in ways we can see and in ways that we may never see. Our hope is that we, who are made in God’s image, may by our prayers and our actions, our very lives, reveal the love of God, who made us out of love.
Blessings,
Nancy+
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