By Mark Harris
Creeds state what the church or the believer believes to be true, and they always have the built-in supposition that the creed states the Truth and truths that are larger than our own partial experience. And, of course, creeds are fighting words, words about things we would defend -- if not with arms, at least with our lives.
But what would it look like to make a statement not of what we believe, but where we go when the going gets rough. Where would we go when, as Howard Thurman said, “our backs are against the wall?” Where would we go for refuge?
I have tried to write a statement of where I would, and do, go for refuge. It closely parallels the Trinitarian creedal formulation, but presents the matter not as truths to be defended but as a tracing of a path to refuge. . . It is not a formula; it is a confession.
I have tried to write a statement of where I would, and do, go for refuge. It closely parallels the Trinitarian creedal formulation, but presents the matter not as truths to be defended but as a tracing of a path to refuge.
It is, of course, unsatisfactory in that it cannot adequately state where any given person should go for refuge. It is not a formula; it is a confession.
The reader will note that I have tried to be informed by some of the prayer and conceptual forms given us by Moslem and Buddhist brothers and sisters. I speak of God as compassionate and merciful, mindful that Islam knows God as both in many of its prayers. I speak of mindfulness, compassion and refuge in ways that echo a sensibility of the Buddha's own three refuges. But, of course, these references are like the early dawn recognitions that the light that comes to every person is somehow seen in whatever light we receive as the Sun rises. They are inadequate.
Inadequate confession: that is the fate of any effort to put in place a witness to faith. And yet at Easter, indeed at any time, what more can we do? Strange and simple marks on paper, odd and strained statements from our mouths: these are all prayer, and prayer is refuge too.
http://www.thewitness.org/agw/harris040204.html
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