STEPPING INTO GOD’S STORY
READ Deuteronomy 26.1–11
‘ … so now I bring the first fruits of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’
REFLECT
God calls Abraham, a wandering Aramean. Abraham went down to Egypt and became father to a great nation. God delivered the nation from slavery and brought them to freedom in the promised land.
Every generation of God’s people needs to remember this long story (and there are other chapters still to come). But every generation needs also to make this story their own story: to stand within the long history of the people of God.
This is what is happening here in this simple ritual. Every person, in every generation, takes some of the first fruits of the harvest and brings it before God as an offering and makes a confession of faith before God and before the people.
This is what is happening when Christians declare our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed. We too are stepping into God’s story and making that story our own. We are remaking and re-membering the people of God in our own generation and becoming part of the chain of faith ourselves.
PAUSE
In your own life, who are your ancestors in faith and heroes and heroines in the faith?
PRAY
Give thanks for all those who have helped to pass on the Christian faith to you and helped you to make it your own.
DAY 4
GOOD NEWS
READ 1 Corinthians 15.1–11
‘Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me.’
REFLECT
Paul offers one of the very earliest summaries of the good news: an early creed. Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
Through Christ, God’s call now comes to everyone in every nation. The power of declaring our faith in God through Christ is immense.
Abraham is justified with God through faith: when he says ‘I believe.’ Paul is justified with God through faith when he says: ‘I believe’ on the Damascus road. You and I are made right with God not because of our inherent goodness or because of the good deeds we do but when we say and mean these great words of power: ‘I believe and trust in him.’
Every time we say the first line of the Apostles’ Creed we echo the declaration of faith made at our baptism. These are words of great life and power.
PAUSE
Are you able to tell – or show – someone today that you believe and trust in God?
PRAY
Make these words – spoken by new Christians at the service of Baptism – your prayer today:
I believe and trust in him.
Common Worship Baptism Service
DAY 5
MY LORD AND MY GOD
READ John 20.24–31
‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
REFLECT
The journey of faith is not always easy. Thomas initially refuses to believe the news of Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus deals patiently with him and calls Thomas to a still deeper encounter. This deeper encounter draws an even deeper response: my Lord and my God. It is Thomas who comes to faith more slowly who sees more clearly who Jesus really is.
Jesus deals gently with his disciple but saves a blessing for us: those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. The chain of believing begins with Abraham and continues through the people of Israel, to the first disciples, to the early church and down the generations to you and me today. God still calls and saves and shapes and remakes us.
The Apostles’ Creed we are exploring together summarizes and unfolds these wonderful truths at the heart of God’s call and God’s salvation. As we respond to God in the creed’s opening words, we stand in this long, deep, worldwide tradition of believing.
PAUSE
Who are your great heroines and heroes of faith in the Scriptures and Church history?
PRAY
Pray today using Thomas’s words, repeating them slowly:
‘My Lord and my God.’
John 20.28
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