The Word is one of two foci of the worship service. The other being the Sacrament. These are the means of grace that God gives to his people when they gather for worship. What is it that makes the Word so powerful? God makes his promises of love and forgiveness in the word. He has promised that he will never let his word pass away. Even if heaven and earth pass away, his word never will.
One piece of the worship service that goes right next to the word is the creed. There are three historical creeds. The Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds are all publicly used at Star of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The Apostle’s and Nicene creeds are used every other week or so. The Nicene creed is normally used on a communion Sunday. The Athanasian creed is publicly confession once each year on Trinity Sunday. It is longer and more difficult to use for the congregants, but it is marvelous in it’s redundance. These creed combat ancient heresies and focus the church on the doctrines of Christianity. One author compared them to gutters in a bowling lane. They keep the doctrine focused on what God says in the Bible. There are many ancient heresies that have come and gone. These creeds were written to clarify what the church believed removing the specter of the heresy from the picture. If a church forgets its history it is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. This isn’t just true for churches.
Want to hear more – including a discussion of the church year? Watch this week’s lesson – The Word from our study, Worship Windows.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.
Please click HERE for the other lessons from our series Worship Windows.