SCHOOL OF FAITH
ASSEMBLY OF CONFESSING CONGREGATIONS
OF THE UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA
DEVOTIONAL SACRED SEASON
DAY 11 and 31 - 15th June, 5th July
PRAYER TIME FOR DAY 1 and 21 - JUNE 5th and 25th
Especially designed for zoom prayer times during the Sacred Season of Prayer and Fasting but can be used in face to face prayer times as well. Spontaneous prayer is offered in times of prayers of praise and confession from group members using if possible some of themes in the psalm or scripture reading. The prayers for others can also be prayed spontaneously and can weave in thoughts from scripture reading, passage from Basis of Union and devotional reading.
OUR HOPE: SAFEGUARDING OUR FAITH IN CHRIST THROUGH CONFESSING THE CREEDS
REV DAVID KOWALICK
David is the minister in placement at the Walkerville Uniting Church. He is a Teacher of the ACC School of Faith.
OPENING PRAYER
BIBLE READINGS: 1 Corinthians 15:2-4
Leader
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
PRAYERS OF PRAISE AND ADORATION
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
BIBLE READINGS: 1 Corinthians 15: 2-4
Reader 1
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
Reader 2
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
PARAGRAPH 9: BASIS OF UNION
Reader 1
The Uniting Church enters into unity with the Church throughout the
ages by her use of the confessions known as the Apostles’ Creed and the
Nicene Creed.
Reader 2
She receives these as authoritative statements of the Catholic Faith, framed in the language of their day and used by Christians in many days, to declare and to guard the right understanding of that faith.
Reader 3
She commits her ministers and instructors to careful study of these creeds and to the discipline of interpreting their teaching in a later age. She commends to ministers and congregations their use for instruction in the faith, and their use in worship as acts of allegiance to the Holy Trinity.
REFLECTION
Reader 1
In paragraph (9) the Basis of Union acknowledges that our unity, and thus our right to be considered part of the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” (see paragraph 2), demands that we hold to the confessions of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. The Basis of Union accepts that the creeds have been, and continue to be, one of the means by which the church can “declare and guard the right understanding of [the] faith.” (paragraph 9). If there has ever been a moment when UCA has needed the guardianship afforded to us by the creeds, then that moment is right now.
Reader 2
The Creeds bear faithful witness to Christ because they follow the same
trajectory and linage of the gracious revelation of truth that began with the
witness of the Old Testament foreshadowing the ultimate revelation of God in the incarnation of the Son of God - Jesus Christ - followed by the eye witness testimony of the Apostles in the New Testament. There is an observable lineage from Paul’s articulation of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15: 1-3 to the creeds. Concerning this passage Scot McKnight writes, “[1 Corinthians 15: 1-3] is the genesis of the great Christian creeds… One can say with accuracy that the Nicene Creed is an exegesis or exposition of the gospel tradition of Paul’s in 1 Corinthians 15.” 1 Thus, the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds stand together with the scriptures to hold the Church to its original course.
Reader 3
Accordingly, paragraph (9) begins with the words, “the Uniting Church enters into unity with the Church throughout the ages by its use of the confessions…” (paragraph 9). Thus, authentic unity can only exist when it is founded on truth. Unity is the fruit of the truth; not the cause of it. Without truth our so-called unity is fated to fail. Pray that the Uniting Church does not give up its proper place within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and that it will maintain its unity in the faith as articulated in the creeds.
PRAYER
Leader:
Almighty Father, we pray for the Uniting Church, that she will remain faithful to her calling within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and that the Creeds will inform its councils and its members of the basis of that unity, and that the church will not be overcome by the desire to merely appease the culture. May your Holy Spirit draw attention to the lordship of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRAYERS FOR OTHERS
CONFESSION FROM BASIS OF UNION
Leader:
Within this fellowship of the Uniting Church in Australia, and as part of the Christian church around the world, let us confess Christ in the following words from the Basis of Union.
Reader 1:
We joyously ‘acknowledge that Christ alone is supreme in his Church’ and declare our ‘readiness to go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church’.
Leader:
We acknowledge ‘the need for a constant appeal to Holy Scripture’,
Reader 2:
and declare ourselves ready to ‘hear anew the commission of the Risen Lord to make disciples of all nations’.
Nb. The words in quotation marks are direct quotes from the Basis of Union
Prepared by Rev Rod James.