At the church we attend, it is common to recite the Apostles' Creed as a part of the service. It’s not something that Derek or I grew up doing but we enjoy it and embrace it.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
The ritual is different, but the beliefs are the same ones that we’ve both held since childhood. For us there is nothing new here. But the newness of saying them out loud every week has been a good thing for me because of the things that Christians believe are pretty preposterous. For example:
On the third day he rose again
Saying it out loud forces me to publicly affirm these things that are hard to swallow. And it provides an opportunity for me to think about what these beliefs mean to me.
For me, the resurrection means that evil has been overcome. Without the resurrection, the life of Jesus makes little sense. He lives a perfectly sinless life, performs miracles, preaches about loving God, loving your neighbor and other such goodness. And then he is crucified. It seemed like a crushing defeat for goodness.
I think it's part of our nature is that we like to keep score. I like to keep score. Sometimes I do these stupid calculations to determine whether or not I’m making a difference in the world. For example, I was able to give food to 7 students in need on Thursday, talk with a group of 18 students who face discrimination, and help three students in emotional crisis. But then on my way home from work I heard a story on the radio about civilians killed in Libya. And I chalk the days like that up as a loss. The bad guys won and I’ll try again tomorrow.
But the resurrection reminds me that no matter how the tally looks on a given day, love conquers evil. Jesus’ victory over the grave proves it. It means that we serve a living God, who is busy even now bringing light to darkness and making broken things new. It means that someday he will return and there will be no more crying or pain because all of that will be vanquished.
All of this because on the third day he rose again.
Happy Easter.
