Professions of faith

We're taking the Christmas tree down tonight, which is another sign that Christmas 2005 is over. It was a good Advent season, Christmas, and New Year's for us, especially with the more active participation of the children.

I was struck by the section "Professions of Faith" in Doug Pagitt's Reimagining Spiritual Formation (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2003). He writes:

We've found professions of faith to be a powerful way for people to learn about and participate in a confession of belief. Sometimes we use a well-known piece like the Apostles' Creed or a particular section from the Bible like the Doxology from Jude, or other times we use prayers from the rich history of Christianity. (p. 119)

I have to admit, this is new territory for me. I used to think that asking people to profess something they didn't yet believe was tantamount to making them lie. Why ask someone to say in a crowd what she is not comfortable saying on her own? (p. 119)

But I've come to see that the process of believing anything begins with trying it on. Some people cannot fully believe something without saying it out loud to see how it feels and sounds. It is as if believing follows the confession. When we invite people to confess a faith that is not yet fully theirs, we are inviting them to walk into faith and spend time there. (p. 119)

Similarly, I used to think that it was hypocritical for people to confess Christian belief out loud and then not live up to it. In most cases, however, people are in a state of becoming, not a state of hypocrisy. Their profession is not a lie; it is a longing--not a statement of how things are but a pleading for how they want things to be. (p. 119)

Confessions of faith invite people into situations where the information in their heads can connect with the desires of their hearts. When the content of the profession meets people's hopes and propels them toward a way they are not yet living, then those professions become spiritually forming. (p. 119)