The Rev. Noah Van Niel
The Chapel of the Cross
June 16th, 2019
Trinity Sunday (C): Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16: 12-15
The title of my master’s thesis was “Credo, Credimus: I believe; We believe,” and its organizing question was “What is the role of doctrine in The Episcopal Church today?” This was a live question when I wrote it and yet somehow, even with this work of sparkling scholarship, the question remains far from settled. This is probably because my mom was the only one who read it. But the fact is, I continue to hear people talking about doctrines as antiquated, or even counter-productive to living the life of faith and building the Kingdom of God. People would much rather get busy living a good life than waste time and energy on arcane theological formulations. Because our creeds and other statements of faith are man-made and not God-given they are seen as getting in the way of just following Jesus. And so an increasing number of people are simply done with doctrine. 
And not without good reasons. Continue reading