How is it that I am 49 years old and do not know the Nicene Creed? I'm sure I said it as a kid but not since that time. In my search through various faith traditions, from no religion to "eastern" religion to Oneness Pentecostalism to Islam to the non-denominational variety, I am now gravitating toward the "Eastern Orthodox" tradition, at least through books and study of the Word.
Will I make the leap? Hank Hanegraaf's leap really caused me to pause as I would imagine he found the same thing I am discovering. It seems for the studious ones there is a sort of homecoming, a tradition that embraces, not shuns, things of the intellect and, paradoxically, through it opens up a deeper mystery.
So I have found myself immersed in the Nicene Creed, not as rote memorization but as having come in to it as the Fathers must have done back in the day as it evolved from their experience. From the study of the Word and its inherent mystery I have come to discover the Trinity as 'experiential' and from this have come to the Creed from the inside, if you will.
My studies have opened up to the Trinity, to the Incarnation, to the Nicene Creed and, in reverse, the Scriptures are much more clear, at least through that filter. Sure we can debate the Scriptures and Tradition and I'm sure this will never end. But I've found a relative level of peace in where I stand that has, again, opened up the Mystery.
My struggle has been not merely "finding" what I believe but uncovering it. It has always been there underneath the accretions over the years and it feels like it is finally being brought to light, i.e. to my understanding. I am finally finding a way to give voice to what it is that I believe. And it must be this that Paul talks about:
"For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." (1 Corinthians 9:16)"
I cannot help but quote the Scriptures. What I am trying to say has already been said. However, it is only because I have come to the point where I have walked into the text. The seed, the Word, has been planted but it is really only over time that those words take root and grow and have a life of their own and our experiences and the reflections from the world around us mirror the reality of what it is the Word expresses.
My struggle has been not merely "finding" what I believe but uncovering it. It has always been there underneath the accretions over the years and it feels like it is finally being brought to light, i.e. to my understanding. I am finally finding a way to give voice to what it is that I believe. And it must be this that Paul talks about:
"For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." (1 Corinthians 9:16)"
I cannot help but quote the Scriptures. What I am trying to say has already been said. However, it is only because I have come to the point where I have walked into the text. The seed, the Word, has been planted but it is really only over time that those words take root and grow and have a life of their own and our experiences and the reflections from the world around us mirror the reality of what it is the Word expresses.
It is at once ecstatic but also filled with a certain sense of madness, as if it all makes sense all at once yet makes no sense at all. Similar to my experience on Yosemite, this is an awakening, a deepening, an enlarging of my being. It is what all of these readings talk about, the being 'open' to participation in the divine. The Trinity takes us "into" the mystery.
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