Was Paul a Methodist?

My tax form used to arrive in my letterbox pre-printed with the words "Ohne Konfession". Since 2000, the forms have been redesigned, so now it is only a computer in the tax office which knows how little I confess. For in the Canton of Berne, one must be either Reformed, or Roman Catholic, or Old Catholic, or nothing at all. If the apostle Paul had stitched his tents in Gemeinde Köniz, no doubt he too would have been "Ohne Konfession."

Our Creed was written well before the Bernese tax laws, though there were rifts and splits in the church even back in the fourth century. After confessing a belief in the Spirit, it continues "and one holy catholic and apostolic church". These words are not the beginning of a rag-bag of miscellaneous things we ought to believe in (church, baptism, resurrection, eternal life), but they flow on naturally from the work of the Holy Spirit.

The church is one. Paul reminded the Ephesians that there is "one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all" (Eph 4:4-6), and he reminded the Corinthians that "we who are many are one body, because we all partake of the one bread." (1 Cor 10:17). God must rejoice at our diversity, but at the same time must grieve at our divisions. We do not all partake of one bread: and we disagree about questions of faith - do we need bishops, should we baptize babies, how real is Christ's presence in the bread and wine which we share, can we pray for those who have died, and can they pray for us? But we all "believe in" one church, even if we cannot all agree on what it is we believe in!

The word holy is easier. We are called to be "a holy priesthood" (I Pet 2:5), to be set apart for God, to live in the world, but not to be of the world. The church is called to act as Christ in the world, and to be not only human, as Jesus was human, but divine, as Jesus was divine. Our worship should be a foretaste of heaven, and our witness should be an invitation to follow Jesus, and to share in that holiness.

The church is catholic - with a small 'c' (or, the joke goes, with a small 'k', for at one time it was the custom to spell it 'catholick', to make sure that nobody confused it with the Roman Catholic Church!). It is a pity that the word has been hijacked as the name of one group of Christians, but then so has 'orthodox' ('with the right beliefs'), and so has 'reformed' (for any church that fails to adapt itself to the times is a dead church!). If something is catholic, it is all-embracing, open to all. It is outward-looking: just the opposite of a club or a closed society.

And the church is apostolic. After Jesus' resurrection, the eleven who were his disciples are sent out to preach the good news in the world. Now they are called apostles, the Greek word for messengers. The work of the church is to proclaim the same message - to carry on the work of the apostles. If we fail to do this, we wither and die. May God make us one, may we be truly holy, may we be open to all, and may we never cease to share the message of salvation with all around us!

HD