In Sunday morning worship, we commonly say the Apostle’s Creed which is similar to parts of the Nicene Creed. All of the Creeds provide us a reminder and opportunity to publicly proclaim as a church what we and fellow Christians believe and have believed about God from the time of Jesus. In fact, the next time you have a United Methodist Hymnal in front of you take a look at 880-889 and you’ll see several affirmations of the Christian faith that we share with other United Methodists and many denominations of Christians around the world. 881 is the Apostle’s Creed that we say most often on Sunday mornings.
A question I often get is about the word “catholic” with a small c. The word catholic often causes confusion. The creeds use the Greek word for universal that was brought over to English and not used often in modern language. When catholic is spelled with a lower case c it means universal or for all peoples. When Catholic is spelled with an upper case C it is referring to the Roman Catholic denomination. The hymnal has an asterisk and footnote to help clarify. The Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds point us back to a time when the church was one before denominations of East / West / Orthodox / Catholic / and later Protestant emerged. Although I am very much a protestant, like Wesley, Calvin, and others I look back toward the day when the church was one. And, when we say Creeds as a response to the proclamation of the word on Sunday mornings we for a moment yearn that Jesus’ prayer in John 17 might be fulfilled that the followers of Jesus would be one in all that he has taught us.
Also, any of the other affirmations would be theologically sound and an appropriate response to the proclaimed word. The hymnal is a theological document that was approved by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. In the United Methodist worship service, the response of the people is an important part of worship. So, it is appropriate that affirming what we as a whole believe follows the sermon as a response to the proclamation of the word. An order for United Methodist Worship Services can be found on page 3-5 of the hymnal. The pages contain the basic order of worship that we follow. Of course, there are seasonal variations, but we get it pretty close to following the hymnal each week. And, if you peek over on page 2 you’ll notice that all three of our services tend to follow the order available in the hymnal even in their variations.
Another question might be asked of why are there variations amongst different United Methodist Churches / congregations in practice? Most people in this part of the country have been to worship services that have the sermon at the very end. Elders, what we call our ordained pastors with these responsibilities, are ordained and charged with Order, Word, Service, and Sacrament in the congregation to which they are appointed. So, although most elders like myself follow the order of worship from the hymnal and the traditions established in the local congregation they serve, there are times and contexts when they change the order or do something different to meet the need of that context. But, most UMC congregations throughout the world come pretty close to the order in the hymnal. So, when you travel, it is nearly the same service each time. Kind of cool.
I hope this explanation helps. Or, that it helps you sleep. Sorry it was long and tedious, but I wanted to cover several of the facets. Thank you for the excellent question!
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