cREdo (2021)

In the early third century, just a couple hundred years after Jesus, the traditional practice of baptism looked very different than it did today. On the eve of Easter Sunday, a group of believers have been preparing years for this moment are gathered together, after praying and reading scripture all night long. At dawn on Resurrection Day, the are led to a pool of flowing water. They renounce Satan and are anointed from head to toe with oil. Led naked down to the water, they are asked three questions:

Do you believe
in God the Father Almighty?

Do you believe
in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was born of the Holy Spirit and Mary the virgin and was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was dead and buried and rose on the third day alive from the dead and ascended in the heavens and sits at the right hand of the Father and will come to judge the living and the dead?

Do you believe
in the Holy Spirit and the holy church and the resurrection of the flesh?

With each question, they answer “I believe!” and are immersed in the water after each response. When they emerge from the water, they are again anointed with oil, clothed, blessed, and led into the assembly of believers, where they share communion for the first time. Finally, they are sent out into the world to do good works and to grow in faith.

This declaration of belief, known as the Apostles’ Creed, is the foundation of Christian faith and the driving force behind the mission of the church. It’s more than intellectual ascension, more than ritual recitation—it is a confession of the heart that cries out for salvation and rescue by a good God.