The Creed

After the sermon, we pause to consider what we have heard means for us and for our faith. And then we stand and affirm that faith, taking ownership of it in the creed.   

The creeds arose out of the early Councils of the Church as a way of setting down precisely what we believe (and weed out heresies).We use them in worship to keep central the mystery of who God is, and who we are in him. 

Each time we read them, we might feel different things: we might say them proudly or tentatively; we might be encouraged or confused; new things might jump out at us.

During the creed we bow at the account of the Incarnation: ‘he came down from heaven… and was made man.’ We reverence this amazing mystery with our bodies.

Intercessions

The intercessions that follow the creed are the prayers of the people. These are not simply a divine shopping list, telling God what we want. Instead here, just like with bowing in the creed, or turning during the Gospel procession, we are putting ourselves in the posture of Christ, who loves and intercedes for our world. 

We come to God and hold before Him the brokenness and need  of His/our world, and bring that with us to the Eucharist, the saving mystery of Christ, who entered into that brokenness and redeemed it, and who at the altar gives us a glimpse of a world beyond war and suffering and death.