The Creed: I Believe in God the Father
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
February 15, 2004
Genesis 1:1-13; Matthew 7:7-11

We begin today a three week sermon series on the Apostle’s Creed. The Apostle’s Creed is one of the oldest articulations of Christian faith. Over the course of these weeks leading into Lent, we will be examining this historic confession of faith and seeing what it has to say to us today.

I. INTRODUCTION

When you're a kid, there's a time when you think your father is god. You think of your parents as dieties on earth: they know how to do everything, they can drive cars, they know all sorts of facts. You can ask them any question and they'll give you an answer. Half the time they'll answer that it's magic, but it's still an answer. You have an image of your parents as all-powerful, all knowing beings. It doesn't last.

The older we get, the more we grow into our own adulthood, the more we suspect that our parents are not infallible. We suspect that they are not able to cure all the hurts in our lives, that they don't know how to do everything, that half of the answers they gave you to the questions you asked weren't quite right. We begin to realize our parents aren't so godlike after all. Especially when we're in college. Later, of course, our estimation of them rises as we realize they were right all along. But it's never the same as when we were very small and held them in awe.

II. GOD THE FATHER

It comes really as no surprise that when we think of language to describe God, that one of the ancient ways of describing God should be as a father, as a parent.

A. Relationship

Of all the terms used to describe God, “father” is the one that seems to bring up the most controversy. And it reminds us that there are consequences to our language: there are consequences to the way we articulate things. For many feel excluded by the term ‘God the Father’ because they believe it implies God is male, or is at least “more like” males than females. Others feel excluded because either they did not have a father or their relationships with their fathers were something other than what they would have wished. And so, the traditional language of the Church can cause some people to feel excluded.

1. Term of relationship

One thing we need to bear in mind is that the use of the language of “Father” does not imply that God is male. The ancients used such language for God, and used all the pronouns “he” “him” “his”. Yet on another level, they knew that God was beyond all gender, that usage of male language was just a shortcut.

The same goes for Jesus. Jesus uses male language for God, but also uses female imagery: such as the parable of the bakerwoman. When Jesus and the Church talk about God as “Father” they are not making a statement about gender. They are making a statement about relationship.

A “father” is a person who can only be defined in relationship. It’s a relational term that has no meaning without relationship. A father is only a father because there is a son or a daughter. If I went around telling you what to get me for father’s day, you’d all think I was nuts (or perhaps that I had been keeping something from you). A father is only a father with children.

Thus, when we talk about God who is “father” we are talking about the relationship between God and us.

2. “…as your heavenly Father is perfect”

Some may still object, saying that no matter what the term says about gender, comparing God to a human father makes them feel excluded.

Jesus reminds us, however, that whatever language we use to describe God, the human definition falls short. Listen again to the words we heard earlier:

Matt. 7:7-11 ¶ “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

God’s ‘father’-hood goes far beyond our ability. The point is not that those with bad experiences of a father can find in God a better father, it’s that all experiences of an earthly father pale in comparison to our relationships with God.

B. Common relationship

If I were to say to you: “Mom is going to meet us at the movies” or some similar statement, you might think it a little weird. After all, “Mom” means a different thing to you than it does to me—it’s referring to a different person. Without a qualifier like “my mom” or “Bill’s mom”, it’s a little strange to refer to someone as “Mom” if there is no common frame of reference. That is, you can say “Mom said…” to your brother or sister, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to say it to someone else.

So, part of our affirmation of God as “God the Father” is a confession of the universality of God’s parental nature toward us. We don’t confess God as “God my father” or even “God our Father” but as “God the Father” meaning that God is father to all. There is no one who falls outside the definition of ‘child of God’ no matter how removed from us by culture, geography, race, religion or anything else. When we confess that God is “the Father” we confess God as Father of All, mother to all, creator of all, not just those within a certain community. It is supposed to remind us that we are all brothers and sisters under one parent. That is the weight of that one word, that troublesome little world.

I believe in God the Father.

III. THE ALMIGHTY

A. “Pantokrator” pantokrator

The word “Almighty” appears only ten times in the New Testament, and nine of them are in the Book of Revelation. The Greek word ‘pantokrator’means all-powerful.

B. “Shaddai”

In the Hebrew Bible, the word "Almighty" gets used a lot: El Shaddai--"God Almighty". There is all kinds of disagreement about what 'almighty' means here, because no one is sure what "shaddai" means. There are differing interpretations ranging from "God the Powerful" to "God the Destroyer" to "God of the One Mountain" to "God the Big-Breasted" (that last one, folks is why you come to a campus ministry--you're not going to hear that one anywhere else). But that last one makes you think--it makes you wonder about a conception of God that is a nurturing, powerful God. That a term of fertility should be associated with God Almighty means that the ancients understood that God was not a tyrant, not a ruthless despot, but rather one whose power was used to uphold, sustain, and nourish. That one who is all-powerful is yet loving toward us.

IV. MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

This can be seen in the very next thing that we say: "...maker of heaven and earth." A lot of us like to create: art, music, poetry. Whether it's building projects or even just castles made out of sand made on the beach. Often we create for our own use or purposes, for our own well-being. When we talk about God as maker of heaven and earth we talk about God who is a creator. Whe might ask ourselves: why does God create?

Does God need a universe to play in? Does God need people to worship him? Does God need heaven and earth--the sum total of the universe in the ancient understanding--all that there is?

We proclaim a God who creates not for his own need but out of love. God creates us, gives us life, not because we deserve it, or because he needs us, but because God in God's creativity seeks to share in life, seeks to be in relationship--to be a Father--to share in being with us. We have been created out of love. Just by being born--by existing--we have received a gift that none of us could have merited. We have received a relationship with a father that none of us could have earned.

I believe in God the Father Almighty who makes heaven and earth.

V. CONCLUSION

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. A day popular in the popular culture for the celebration of romance. In the church it commemorates the martyrdom of St. Valentine, who is sometimes associated with romance because he performed illicit marriages. But in reality, Valentine’s day probably gets its association with romance because of its proximity to the Roman “Feast of Purification” on February 15th, which was a fertility celebration. It’s not a big jump from fertility to romance.

I heard a commercial on the radio the other day. It said that there are holidays for nations and for birthdays, for leaders and for presidents, but “there’s only one holiday dedicated to love.” They go on to say that you should show this love by buying one of their diamonds.

But it made me angry: there are plenty of holidays devoted to love: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Good Friday… Every holiday we associate with God is a holiday to love. Every Sunday is a holiday to love.

God relates to us as a perfect parent in love. God’s love is all-mighty, all-powerful. God created us not out of conceit or out of need, but out of love. It is a God of love, whom we worship. A God of love whom we praise. A God of love whom we confess when we say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth…”