I often feel, shall we say, a little out of place when I am in gatherings with other pastors. I'm kind of used to this by now. One of the things about going to confirmation camp is that it gives an opportunity to visit with other pastors in a relaxed setting, where there are no resolutions to be debated and theological discussions tend to be limited to amused asides about the theology and musicality of some of the songs that the camp staff (college students all) teach our young teens. But hey, it's camp.
Tonight at dinner there were eight or nine pastors sitting at our table. The discussion across the table turned to the creeds. One pastor was explaining how at their church, they don't make the confirmands memorize the Apostles' Creed. "Once in a while we pull out the Apostles' or Nicene Creeds, on high holy days. But we won't use it for confirmation Sunday." I could feel my blood pressure rising. Why is this? I asked. The reply was that the creeds have a hole in them big enough to drive a truck through (by which was meant that "there's nothing in there about Jesus's life, it just jumps from birth to death"), and what they do instead is have the confirmands (and maybe others, I was feeling a little dizzy and didn't quite follow it) "write their own creeds" which they then use in worship.
I, well, went ballistic. You could actually divide the table into about thirds--one third thought this pastor was terribly profound and progressive, one third were appalled, and one third didn't have a strong opinion, but got a great deal of glee out of my explosion.
I skipped the after-dinner game, muttered something about living in the wrong century, and went off into the trees to sing Evening Prayer at the top of my lungs. It calmed me down, just a bit.
