"Be Still and Know that I am God"

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (B)
June 21, 2015
Mark 4:35-41

The “Jesus Boat” (Image from WikiMedia)

Introduction

In 1986, a drought brought down the water levels in the Sea of Galilee. Two Israeli brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, discovered the remains of a wooden boat buried in the sand. The boat’s remains were 27 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 4.3 feet high (8.27 meters by 2.3 meters by 1.3 meters). Radiocarbon and other dating methods have placed the age of the boat at around 40 AD (plus or minus 80 years), or around the time of Jesus. There is no proof that Jesus or disciples used the boat, but it must have been typical of the boats of that time. The boat has since been known as “the Jesus boat”.

Today’s Gospel reading is one of the few “nature” miracle stories in the Gospels. There are many stories of how Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons. But only a few involve nature. Other “nature” stories include the Feeding of the Multitudes (the five thousand and the four thousand) and the Walking on Water. Nevertheless, this story of Jesus stilling the storm has the same basic structure as a miracle story, i.e.:

1. The human need - This describes an unsatisfactory aspect of human condition; such as sickness, hunger, being in a storm, & c.
2. The act of Jesus – This describes what Jesus says and does to treat the human condition: the sick are healed, the hungry are fed, the storm is stilled, & c.
3. The human response – This describes how humans react to the power of Jesus: they become afraid, they are filled with awe, & c.

The stilling of the storm shows us the power of Jesus not only over sickness and unclean spirits, but over nature itself.

Exposition. Jesus had just finished teaching the people with parables (we studied two of these last Sunday: the Parable of the Growing Seed and the Parable of the Mustard Seed). There was a multitude on the shores of Lake Galilee; so Jesus had to sit in a boat and teach them from there, a little distance from the shore (Mark 4:1; in order not to be crushed by the crowd, cf. 3:9). After teaching that is when Jesus said, “Let us pass over unto the other side” (v. 35).

I. The Human Condition: Sailing in a Storm (Mark 4:37-38)

While they were sailing, there was “a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was now full” (v. 37, King James Version). Perhaps many people imagine that rain involved here; but the Bible says it was “a great storm of wind”. The boat became full of water not because of rain, but because of the waves. (We Filipinos usually associate strong rains with typhoons; but the word typhoon comes from the Mandarin Chinese 颱風, táifēng*, which means ‘violent wind’. Typhoons are classified by how strong their winds are, not by how much rain they bring.)

The Philippines is a typhoon-prone country. Sometimes classes are suspended because of an approaching typhoon. Back when I was teaching at a state university, I had students from Vanuatu, which is a group of islands in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. I asked them when was the last time a typhoon (which they call a “cyclone”) hit their country. I was surprised that one Ni-Van student said it was five years before**. I was surprised to find out that they rarely have cyclones. (Typhoons that hit the Philippines usually form over the Pacific Ocean; but usually somewhere around the Marshall Islands near the Equator, north of Vanuatu.) And they were surprised when I told them, “Usually in the Philippines we usually get twenty per year; sometimes we run out of letters of the alphabet when naming them!”

We Filipinos know storms very well. Just like the disciples, we become afraid. We lose property, livelihoods, and even people that we love. Just like the disciples we cry, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38, New King James Version).

II. The Act of Jesus: Sleeping in the Storm and Stilling the Storm (Mark 4:38)

A. Sleeping in the Storm. While other gospels tell the same story, St. Mark adds the poignant detail of Jesus in the stern of the boat “asleep on a pillow”. (Tradition says the St. Mark had St. Peter as his source for his gospel; thus the little eyewitness details such as these.) In moments like storms we may feel that “God is sleeping” and that He doesn’t care that we are perishing. But the sleeping Lord shows us that we will not sink because He is with us.

B. Stilling the Storm. “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea. ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39). “Peace!” (σιώπα! siōpa!) 'Be quiet!' “Be still!” (περίμωσο! perimōso!) This shows the power of Jesus over the forces of nature. The winds and the waves obey His word.

III. The human response: Fear and Faith (Mark 4:40-41)

Jesus asks, “Why are you so fearful?” He knows that we are afraid; and yet it is a mild rebuke:
Why are you afraid when I am with you? “How is it that you have no faith?” (v. 40) Fear is the opposite of faith. When we fear, we lose focus on the One who were should trust. When the disciples saw the power of Jesus, “they feared exceedingly and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’” (v. 41). The disciples became afraid because the Person in the boat has the power to control nature. The wind and the waves obey His word.

Conclusion: “Jesus is Lord; and He will not let you down”
 

Pope Francis preaching at an open-air Mass at Tacloban National Airport.

One of the most touching sermons I’ve heard is the homily of Pope Francis, bishop of Rome, which he delivered in an open air Mass at Tacloban National Airport on January 17, 2015 during his pastoral visit to the Philippines. He came to visit the victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) which hit the area 14 months earlier. Quite fittingly, there was also a typhoon when he celebrated Mass there. He had a prepared sermon but he decided not to use it. Instead, he delivered a homily straight from his heart, in his native Spanish. He told the people, “Jesús es el Señor; que Jesús no defrauda”: ‘Jesus is Lord, and He will not let you down’. It was a bold statement to those who have lost homes and loved ones during the catastrophe; and yet it was true. There were plenty of wet eyes on that day.

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* Actually 颱風 táifēng is a doubling of the word 風 fēng, ‘wind’. Note that the first character, 颱 tái, also contains the character 風 fēng, ‘wind’.

** Probably referring to Cyclone Funa in 2008. Vanuatu was recently hit by Cyclone Pam last March 6, 2015.

"Big Things Come in Small Packages"

Third Sunday after Pentecost (B) 
June 14, 2015
Mark 4:26-34
 

Introduction

In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus used figurative stories called parables* to teach people about the Kingdom of God. According to John Wesley, parables are “a kind of instructive speech, wherein spiritual things are explained and illustrated by natural [means]….” (Note on Mark IV:2, Notes Upon the New Testament). Furthermore, a parable has two layers: 1) the proverb, which is “the literal sense”; and 2) the interpretation, which is “the spiritual [thing] resting in the literal sense”.

Jesus taught using parables to speak the Word “to them as they were able to hear it” v. 33); i.e., according to their level of understanding. Earlier in the chapter Jesus said, “To you [i.e., the disciples] it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables” (v. 11). Jesus did not use parables to blind the people from the truth, but to show how unperceptive they have grown to be—if they understood, they would have understood the message of the parables.

Today’s Gospel reading contains a “twin” of parables, the Parable of Growing Seed (4:26-29) and the Parable of the Mustard Seed (4:30-32). (The Parable of the Mustard Seed is also told in the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark and is the more well-known one. The Parable of the Growing Seed in only told in the Gospel of Mark.) Both parables use the imagery of a seed. What can we learn about the Kingdom of God from these parables?

I. The Parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-29)

In the Parable of the Growing Seed, we can see the mystery of how a seed grows. A certain man scattered some seed on the ground. Then he went about his daily routine—sleeping by night and rising by day—while the seed grows—how, he does not know (v. 27). But soon the seed grows into a plant and produces grain; and when the grain ripens it is harvested (v. 28).

There are many people who are obsessed with “church growth” as if it was a matter of numbers, without acknowledging that there is a mystery behind it. People believe that by implementing this outreach activity or that discipleship program, the church will grow—and if these fail, they feel frustrated. We fail to understand that church growth involves a synergy (in Greek, συνεργέω, sunergeō, ‘working together’) of two things: the work of man and the work of God.

On our side, it is our duty to sow the seed; that is, the Word of God (see Mark 4:14). We cannot harvest if we do not sow because grain does not automatically grow on fields where it was not sown! But on the other side there is the work of God, who makes the seed grow. If you think about it, there is something wonderful and mysterious about the growth of a seed. John Wesley wrote,

For as the earth by a curious kind of mechanism, which the greatest philosophers cannot comprehend, does as it were spontaneously bring forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear: so the soul, in an inexplicable manner, brings forth, first weak graces, then stronger, then full holiness: and all this of itself, as a machine, whose spring of motion is within itself. Yet observe the amazing exactness of the comparison. The earth brings forth no corn (as the soul no holiness) without both the care and toil of man, and the benign influence of heaven. (Note on Mark IV:26)

There are people who believe that talking and singing to plants makes them grow better. But no amount of talking or singing can make a plant grow! It is a mistake to think that we can make seeds grow through our own efforts. It is our duty to sow seeds; it is God’s work to make them grow.

In his first epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul dealt with an issue about factionalism in the church in Corinth. Some were for Paul, others were for Apollos, and some claim they were for Christ! St. Paul wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase” (I Corinthians 3:6-7 New King James Version).

St. Paul “planted” the church in Corinth (Acts 18:1-11) and apparently Apollos (a Grecian Jew from Alexandria, Egypt) continued (“watered”) the work Paul started there (Acts 18:23-28; esp. v. 27). But for Paul, it was not important to know who is more important. He and Apollos both did their part; but the growth of the church in Corinth can be credited to neither of them. In His mysterious way, it was God who “gave the increase”.

II. The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30-32) 

Mustard seeds in Israel. (Image from Dqhall59.com)

The second parable, the Parable of Mustard seed, tells us of the mystery of how something small can grow to be something big. A mustard seed is only about one to two millimeters in diameter; hence, in the Bible, the mustard seed is proverbial for something very small (as in faith the size of a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6). But when sown, the mustard seed can produce a tree** (generally considered to be the black mustard, Brassica nigra, which is common in the Mediterranean region) which can grow from seven to up to nine feet tall.

The General Sherman, one of the biggest trees in the world. (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

One of the biggest species of trees in the world is the giant sequoia (Sequoiadrendron giganteum). The largest specimen is found in California and named the “General Sherman”; it is 275 feet (83.8 meters) tall, 25 feet (7.7 meters) in diameter, and has an estimated age of 2,500 to 2,700 years. The surprising thing is the size of a sequoia seed: It is only one millimeter long and a wingspan of four to five millimeters wide. Because of its wing and small size, the seed is carried away by the wind. Yes these seeds can produce trees hundreds of feet that can live for more than three thousand years. Big things come is small packages.

The seed of the giant sequoia. (Image from A Life Without Borders)

In the book of Zechariah the Prophet, the LORD said, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (4:10, Jewish Publication Society). During the time of Zechariah, the Jewish people had a problem. A few years before, they have just returned from the Babylonian Exile. They began to rebuild the Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians 70 years before, under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. But by the time of Zechariah, the people have had grown complacent and stopped rebuilding the Temple. Thus, the LORD showed Zechariah several visions in order to inspire the people to rebuild the Temple. One of these visions was of their governor Zerubabel holding a plumb line, a measuring instrument used in building. God is telling the people: Do not let get discouraged with what you have begun, no matter how small.

Guess what this is. (Image from Ship of Fools)

Often small churches envy the big churches; some traditional churches envy “megachurches” in the malls, & c. We try to imitate their methods, such as bright lights, upbeat music, and entertaining sermons. But these are methods of the world and the world will always be better than the Church in these matters. If people want to be entertained, they can just watch TV or go to a concert. But if they want to go to church, they will go to church!

 The altar of Salcedo Central United Methodist Church.

We are often frustrated of why our churches here in Cavite are often small. I once went on a retreat with some pastors in Ilocos Sur and we visited some of our churches there. There were churches in nearly every barangay and many of them are big and magnificent. One church, Salcedo UMC, was even bigger than the neighboring Roman Catholic parish and the locale of the Iglesia ni Cristo. Most of the churches here in Cavite are around twenty to thirty years old—but many of the churches in Ilocos Sur are more than a hundred years old! If we want to harvest something in a few months, let’s plant a squash; if we want to harvest fruit for years to come, let’s plant a tree!

Conclusion

Jesus used parables to communicate the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. In a seed we can see the mystery of how something that appears to be lifeless can sprout into something that has life. In a seed we can see the mystery of how small things can grow into big things. It is our duty as citizens of the Kingdom to sow the seed of the Word; and let God, in His mysterious power, to make it grow in people’s lives. Amen.

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* In Tagalog, the word parable, in Greek παραβολη, parabolē, is usually translated as “talinhaga”; as in the Ang Biblia (1901; revised 2001), the Magandang Balita Biblia (Tagalog Popular Version, 1985; and Revised TPV, 2005) and the Ang Salita ng Dios version (2010). But in Tagalog, “talinhaga” means ‘figure of speech’ in general. A parable is just one of the many figures of speech (the others being: simile, metaphor, personification, paradox, irony, & c.). Hence, this author prefers the loan word parabula.

** The mustard “tree” is actually a shrub. The expression used in the Bible is that it is “greater than all herbs” (Mark 4:32; in Greek, λάχανον, lachanon, literally, ‘vegetable’ or perhaps also 'herb' or 'shrub'). St. Matthew uses the expression “it is greater than the herbs (λάχανον, lachanon) and becomes a tree (δένδρον, dendron; ‘tree’)” (Matthew13:32).

If No One is Offended by You, You're Probably Not Doing Your Job

Second Sunday after Pentecost (B)
June 7, 2015
II Corinthians 4:5-12; Mark 2:23-3:6

Introduction

The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham once said, “Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone—except God.” Last May 22, the Republic of Ireland voted in a referendum (62% yes) to allow same-sex marriages—the first nation in the world to do so. (In the United States, same-sex marriage is allowed only in certain states but not allowed in others.) The President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Rev. Peter Murray issued a statement on the referendum. He said:

I strongly urge Methodist families, small groups and larger fellowships to be safe places where LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] people feel accepted and loved, be able to share their stories freely and be involved in the life of the church.

At the same time the referendum result is not compatible with what the Methodist Church in Ireland recognizes as the basis of Christian marriage. Our understanding is that marriage is between a man and a woman and so in the context of weddings with Methodist churches our practice remains that no minister has the authority to conduct the marriage of same-sex partners.

Rev. Murray further stated that while the Irish parliament passes the referendum into law, the government should “ensure that church and other faith bodies will not be compelled by law to act contrary to their definition of marriage”.

The Methodist Church in Ireland could have said, “All right, since 62% of all Irish people believe in same-sex marriage, maybe we should too.” While its president called on “the people called Methodist” not to discriminate against LGBT people, Rev. Murray remained firm on the stand of the church regarding same-sex marriage. (Sadly, it’s a different story in many parts of the UMC in the United States.)

It seems nowadays we are emphasizing on “being nice” and avoiding to offend other people. But I say: If no one is offended at you, you’re probably not doing your job. I’m not telling you to be lazy so that your parents will get angry at your for being lazy. I’m not telling you that it’s your job to offend people. What I’m saying is that if you’re too busy at “being nice”, you’re probably not doing your job.

I. Treasure in Clay Jars (II Corinthians 4:5-12)

In his second epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul the Apostle describes himself and his associates (including St. Timothy, 1:1) as “earthen vessels” that contain spiritual treasure, “that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (4:7).

We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed….

(II Corinthians 4:8-9, New King James Version)

The Orthodox Study Bible says, “This is victorious, but not trouble-free, Christianity. These trials ‘show both the power of God and, more, disclose His Grace’ (St. John Chrysostom)” (note on 2 Corinthians 4:8-12).

II. Jesus and His Disciples Pluck Grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-27)

In the first part of our Gospel reading (Mark 2:23-27), Our Lord and His disciples passed through a field on the Sabbath and “as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain” (v. 23). (According to St. Luke, this happened “on the second Sabbath after the first” [6:1]; i.e., the Sabbath after the Passover.) In the Torah, the people of Israel were told not to harvest the edges of their vineyards and fields in order for poor people to “glean” on them (Leviticus 19:10 and Deuteronomy 24:21). This is what apparently what the disciples did.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said that what the disciples did was “not lawful on the Sabbath” (v. 24) because apparently, gleaning falls under the same category as harvesting, which is work and forbidden on the Sabbath. (In addition, St. Luke adds that the disciples rubbed the grain in their hands, which is the same as grinding them, and is also work forbidden on the Sabbath.)

The Lord answered them with the story of how Abiathar the High Priest (actually his father, Ahimelech; Abiathar would later become High Priest during the reign of King David) gave David and his men, who were starving, gave “showbread” from the Tabernacle to eat (I Samuel 21:1-6). According to the Torah, the showbread are twelve loaves of bread that are placed in a table in the Tabernacle (and later in the Temple) for seven days, and replaced with fresh bread every Sabbath (Exodus 25:30, 39:36). Only priests were allowed to eat the showbread that was taken out of the Tabernacle. David and his men were fleeing for their lives from King Saul, so they were very hungry. So Ahimelech gave David and his men the showbread that had just been taken out of the Tabernacle.

Jesus showed the Pharisees that they cared more about the letter of the Law than it’s spirit; i.e., that it was written for the good of people. That is why He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (v. 27).

III. Jesus Heals the Man with a Withered Hand (Mark 3:1-6)

In the second part of our Gospel reading (Mark 3:1-6), Jesus healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue during the Sabbath. Again, the Pharisees “watched Him closely…so that they might accuse Him (v. 2). So Jesus asked,

Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?

(Mark 3:4)

In Jewish Law, all of the commandments can be broken only by the commandment to save a life. “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world” (Mishnah, Tractate Sanhedrin 4:9; Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 37a). When Jesus asked, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill,” the Pharisees knew the answer—they just don’t like it. So “they kept silent” (v. 4). Jesus broke the law of the Sabbath to save a life—by healing a man’s withered hand. He cared more about doing good than not offending other people’s hypocritical religious sensibilities.

Conclusion

If no one is offended by you, you’re probably not doing your job. Our job is not to “be nice”. Our job is not to please people, but God.

A Sermon for Trinity Sunday - An Exposition of the Nicene Creed

First Sunday after Pentecost (Ordinary Time)
Trinity Sunday (B)
May 31, 2015

Introduction

Last Sunday we celebrated the Day of Pentecost, the end of the Easter Season. Today is the First Sunday after Pentecost, the beginning of Ordinary Time (or, as we United Methodists prefer to call it, “Kingdomtide”). The First Sunday of Ordinary Time is celebrated as Trinity Sunday (called “the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity” in the Roman Catholic Church), which celebrates the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

In our sermon last Ascension Sunday, we said that “mystery” (Greek, μυστηριον, mustērion) does not mean ‘unknown’ but rather ‘cannot be fully expressed in words’. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity can be summed up in the following words: “There is only one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”. But we cannot fully explain in words how one became three and three became one. It is a mystery.

I don’t like giving illustrations to explain the Holy Trinity because no illustration is perfect; often it repeats past heresies. “The Trinity is like an egg: the shell, the albumen (egg white) and the yolk.” But the shell, the egg white, and the yolk are different substances; that is like saying that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are “parts” of one God. “The Trinity is like I am a father to my children, a husband to my wife, and a pastor to my church.” But this repeats the heresy of Modalism where the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are only one Person. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is best summarized as: “There is only one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”.

There is no verse in the Bible that says, “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God”.* The doctrine of the Holy Trinity was born from a wide reading of the Scriptures, where the fathers of our faith saw that there is only one God; but the Son and the Holy Spirit share characteristics that only the Father possesses. It is out of this study of Scripture that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was formulated. And this doctrine is expressed in statements of faith called creeds.

Today, I would like to use as my “text” the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is one of the two ancient creeds used by The United Methodist Church, the other one is known as the Apostles’ Creed. This creed was called “Nicene” because it was composed during the Council of Nicaea (in modern-day Turkey). Emperor Constantine convened bishops from all over the world in order to end disunity among Christians due to heresy. The greatest threat to the unity of Christians during that time was a heresy called Arianism. During this time, a priest named Arius taught that Jesus Christ was not God but only man. (Until today this heresy is taught by certain groups, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Iglesia ni Cristo.) It is said that there was a “lively” debate among bishops on the true nature of Christ.

One of the bishops was St. Nicholas of Myra (popularly known as Santa Claus). He was known to be a meek and mild person; but it is said that during the debate he punched Arius on the side of the head. Nicolas was removed from his council membership and suspended from his bishopric. Nicholas accepted this suspension; until he was recalled to the Council and was restored to the episcopacy. It was decided that the best way to fight Arianism was to compose a statement of faith called a creed; and St. Nicholas was among those chosen to write it. This statement of faith was eventually called the Nicene Creed.

I. On God the Father.

The Nicene Creed says, “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.” We believe that there is only one God (not three; as the Athanasian Creed says, “So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords”). “We believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth” says the Apostles’ Creed. He made all things, “visible and invisible”; i.e., the physical world in which we live in and the spirit world, which is composed of Heaven and Hell, and inhabited by angels and demons.

II. On God the Son.

The Nicene Creed says, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God”. Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God (John 3:16) is called the Lord, just like the Father and the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17). The Creed explains the nature of Jesus Christ: He is “eternally begotten of the Father”; using these beautiful words: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God”. Jesus Christ is “begotten, not made”, meaning that He was not created by God but “begotten”. The Creed also says that Jesus Christ is “of one substance with the Father”. Since He was “begotten, not made”, Jesus is “of one substance with the Father”, meaning He is also God. What does it mean that Jesus was “begotten” by the Father in eternity past? Again, it is a mystery. “Through him all things were made.” This means that like the Father, the Son is the Creator of all things.

The Nicene Creed also says that Jesus “came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man”. This is the mystery of the Incarnation, which we celebrate every Christmas Season. The Bible is clear that the Virgin Mary “conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit” (from the Apostles’ Creed; cf. Luke 1:35) but it is not clear on what it means. (Another ancient creed, the Athanasian Creed, explains thus: “Who although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ; One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God”.) Again, it is a mystery.

The Nicene Creed furthermore says that Jesus died for our sins: “he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried”—which we commemorate during Holy Friday. “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures”—which we celebrate during Easter. “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father”—we recently celebrated on Ascension Sunday. The Creed also teaches His coming again: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end”.

III. On God the Holy Spirit.  
“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord”. The Holy Spirit is Lord: “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

“The Giver of life”. The Holy Spirit is the Giver of Life. In Genesis, we read that the Spirit of God was moving “upon the face of the waters” (1:2). According to Bishop Emerito P. Nacpil, in his book The Spirit that Secularizes, the “waters” here are a symbol of nothingness; and it was the Spirit of God that made creation out of this nothing (creatio ex nihilo) possible. In our Psalm for today, the psalmist says that God sent the Holy Spirit and all things (“they”) were created, and he renews “the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:30).

“Who proceeds from the Father”. Before Jesus left the world, He promised to send the Holy Spirit to the disciples: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me” (John 15:27).

“With the Father and the Son, he is worshiped and glorified”. Since the Holy Spirit is the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:17), together with the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.

“He has spoken through the Prophets”. The Bible itself says that it was written through the “inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16; in Greek, θεόπνευστος, theopneustos, literally ‘God-breathed’). The Bible also says that the writers of the Bible were only able to do so because of the Spirit; in fact, even the interpretation of Scripture is through the help of the Holy Spirit: “[K]nowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as there were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 3:20-21).

The Holy Spirit is the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from God the Father. Together with the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.
Conclusion: The rest of the Creed.

The Creed ends with other articles of faith. “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church”. It contains the four characteristics of the Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. There is only “one” Church—denominations, while being a sad reminder of the divisions within the Church, are merely manifestations of the one true Church. The Church is “holy”; i.e., it is separated from this world. The Church is “catholic”—not Roman Catholic but ‘universal’—it’s faith is the same at all places and at all times. The Church is “apostolic”; i.e., its faith comes directly from the Apostles.

The Creed also says, “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins”. There is only “one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5)—meaning that we are only baptized once. “For the forgiveness of sins”—as Jesus said in John 3:5, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”.

Finally, the Creed says, “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come”. We Christians believe in “the resurrection of the dead”, which means that we do not believe (as many mistakenly believe) that after we die, we will live as spirits in Heaven forever. No! We believe that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”. He will resurrect those who are dead during His Coming and judge them, as Daniel 12:2 says, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt”.

This is the Christian Faith. Let us meditate in silence, and rise to profess our faith.

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* In the King James Version and the New King James Version, I John 5:7 reads, “For there are three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” Meanwhile, other versions have, “For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree” (I John 5:7-8, English Standard Version). The KJV is based on the Textus Receptus (‘Received Text’), which is not the oldest Greek manuscript. Nevertheless, even in versions that do not have this verse, the teaching on the Holy Trinity is clear.