I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell:
The third day he rose again from the dead:
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
I believe in the Holy Ghost:
I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of saints:
The forgiveness of sins:
The resurrection of the body:
And the life everlasting. Amen.
I was listening to the Basement Tapes yesterday and they were bashing worldly evangelical Christians, “happy clappy” postmodern seeker-sensitive churches, and so forth. In their liturgy, they corporately recite the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. And RC made an awesome point. He pointed out that part of his liturgy is affirming “the communion of saints” – even the happy clappy postmodern ones.
The differences that divide us are important. Worship is important. Orthopraxy is important. Doctrine is important. Heresy divides us, and rightly so. We can’t always agree to disagree or cling to “unity, not uniformity”. We choose schism over heresy.
But I believe in the communion of saints. Our differences must be kept in perspective. There are few heresies that would put one outside the faith. Although sometimes we must divide here on earth, we are and will be in communion in heaven.