The creed, it is faded, musty, ancient, and it blinds me with light all the same

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Who was nonchalant about creeds before today? My church doesn't employ them in worship, nor did they put me through catechism or offer prizes for memorization of the creed's fixed stone phrases. Creeds are something for old fogies, for people who can't think for themselves what they believe and need to reference what dead bishops believed in order to have an opinion.

I've had a metamorphosis of the mind. This creed, this is something mind-boggling. Three hundred bishops formulated the basis for this statement of Jesus's Lordship, the power of God, and indescribable hope on the way at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. It's September 30, 2010, and I scan the creed for homework. Intro to the History of Christianity. Rewind through the ages, speedily swim through years and years of history, confusion, hurt, pain, literature, art, inventions, wars, denim jeans and saris and togas, popcorn and potatoes and grapes, and boom, here it is. Truth emitting the brightest light. Jesus... here he is in the Nicene Creed, coming to earth, God in man, to show us what God would look like if he suddenly appeared on the shores of our lakes, stopped in at our weddings, dined at our dinners.

Athanasius said, "For he was made man that we might be made God; and he manifested himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father."

I'm getting chills, goosebumps. Jews believed that to see God's face meant death. Jesus came to earth with a face. The idea of an unseen father.

Wow.