I thought it would be cool to post my Credo on my blog since in many ways it represents 3 years of seminary learning. This is a good marker of where I am at theologically in this moment. Not all of it is in stone and unmovable but it is worth posting... feel free to comment or add insights... i will post more chapters latter!!!
Chapter 1: Who Do I Think I Am?
Chapter 1 Outline
- Introduction: Where do I get off writing a Credo?
- I am not my own… My Personal Life of Faith
- God’s Revelation: General & Special Revelation
- Interpreting God’s Revelation
- Hermeneutics
- Conclusion
Introduction
There I was, a twenty-two year old Wisconsin boy in Chino, California standing in front of thirty high school students who could give a rip that I was a preacher’s son. It strikes me, as I am standing there to tell them about the Bible, why would they listen to me? They don’t know me nor do I know them. At the time I could not come up with a good reason why they would listen. If I am honest I probably just thought that it was up to me to earn their ear. If I could relate to these kids just enough and earn their trust, then they would listen to my advice and be transformed. Five years later I have realized something much deeper about why anyone would listen to what I have to say. The reason is simply because “I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”[1] It is true that I cannot expect a student to actually listen to me without first gaining their trust, but I can gain someone’s trust and still tell them a lie! That happens all the time. It is only because I am Christ’s own that I know that I actually have something of value to share with people! It only makes sense then to share with you a little bit about my journey as Christ’s own, so let me tell you a little story…
I am not my own…
On March 1, 1983 I was born in the Cook County Children’s Hospital in the Chicago area. I was the second son to Paul and Becky Wernlund in an eventual trio of boys (Joel, me, and Corey). My Dad, a pastor in a midsized congregation in the RCA and my mother would eventually go back to work several years after my little brother was born. My Dad is a strong man, both slow to anger and speak out and my Mom is an independent woman who will always speak up for those she loves. This is the family I have been given and I feel so blessed to have them all in my life. I am not my own…
Shortly after I was born my parents had me baptized in our church in Alsip, IL. I obviously cannot recount the events of this day since I was far too young, but since coming to seminary, it is a day I remember often.[2] It was on this day that God brought me into his family under the covenant he first made with my parents. God will be faithful to this covenant throughout my life, which I hope you’ll see as I tell my story. I am not my own…
It was shortly after my baptism that I gave my parents quite a scare and God was faithful. When I was one I came down with a very high fever and ended up in the hospital to undergo a variety of tests. It was found that my left kidney had been destroyed and my body was slowly being poisoned because of urine that was backing up. The only cure was an incredibly dangerous surgery to remove the atrophied kidney. Talk about some earth shattering news for some young parents! When the day came for surgery I had gotten chicken pox from my older brother, Joel and the anxious waiting had to continue another couple of weeks. On the day of my second scheduled surgery my dad walked into the hospital holding his baby boy. This time he had a limp in his step because of a sciatic nerve in his back. Both of my parents were terrified and incredibly anxious. They handed over their son to the doctor for a last round of testing before surgery. A short while later the doctor handed me back to my dad. He told my parents that they could take their son home; he no longer needed this surgery! The problem had “corrected itself” and surgery was no longer needed. I am not my own…
Throughout my childhood I have had people from my home church that taught, loved, and supported me in this spiritual journey. I remember flannel graphs in Sunday school and I remember learning about the parables in children and worship. Some of my earliest memories are with my parents and of them praying with me. We would have family devotions after dinner and I remember both my parents praying with all of us kids before bed. My parents and my church taught me about Jesus and because of this God was always in my framework of reality. . It was during this stage of my life that I asked Jesus into my heart. I am not my own…
As I entered junior high my faith was still pretty simple. I knew I had Jesus in my heart and soon I fell into this pattern of thinking that I had to keep making sure he was in there! I would recommit my life to Christ anytime I was given the opportunity because I wanted to make sure Jesus was with me. Later on someone told me this idea of having a relationship with Jesus. This was so helpful at the time because Jesus became a person instead of a possession to hold on to. In all of this God was at work in my life keeping His covenant promise he made at my baptism. I am not my own…
As I entered high school it didn’t take long for me to figure out that it was when I was with other people that I most felt alive, especially spiritually. It was during youth group, during worship, mission trips, and camps that I felt most alive. During this stage in my development, friends, family and pastors played a huge role. It was then that I realized that my relationship with Jesus Christ was not merely a private matter. This relationship had to impact my entire life. I am not my own…
Then during my senior year of High School I learned that my parents were not indestructible. I learned that tragedy can strike a household such like mine. My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and although he survived and is now cancer free, I can never forget when I saw him after surgery needing morphine every several minutes to drive away the pain. The man I saw as superman now I realized was only a man. The world was no longer black and white even though I fought to keep it that way. This event rocked me because I had to hold it in due to my dad’s position as pastor our church. So I denied it and kept living life as it if it were normal. Even still, I remembered that my dad could actually die! Then it all came spilling out during a boys Bible study. These guys were there for me and just let me weep there and express all the emotions I was holding inside. God taught me to cherish those people I love in this life and he was faithful. I am not my own…
Even after all this I still was not really grasping the reality that I cannot control my own destiny. It was not until college that God taught me about my own finite nature. This was a huge humbling step toward understanding that I am not my own…
During these college years I began serving in a youth group as the worship leader. I loved leading worship and they offered some compensation that this poor college student desperately needed, so it made sense. It was in this time that I started to more fully realize the passion God had put in my soul to serve youth in a pastoral role. After a full year of helping out I went on the group’s summer mission trip to Montana. It took 40 hours to get their while riding in a school bus that could barely make it up steep inclines. I found rest by sleeping on the luggage rack, but also had the chance to talk with many students. I realized the call God had place on my life to serve in ministry on this trip and I shared with the group that I would become a youth pastor. When I shared this with my parents they were supportive despite the fact that I had already paid for two years of Hope College with a focus on the natural sciences. I changed my major to religion and continued to serve as the worship leader at this same church. God put a passion for youth in my heart and called me into the ministry. I am not my own…
When I graduated from Hope College, this same church was looking for a new youth pastor and I thought it would be the perfect spot to start to serve out this call to ministry. I knew them, they knew me, and it would be a perfect transition. God had a different plan though, and a month later I found myself in Chino, CA, as the youth intern at a church with a thriving community focused youth program. I had never been to California before! I am not my own…
Now we are back in Chino, CA and I have recently become the youth pastor at the church. I am standing in front of these students and I am trying to figure out why they should listen to me. It did not take long for me to experience severe doubt about my ability to lead and pastor these students. Most of them were from the community and several had behavioral problems that stemmed from a harsh environment at home. I had some leaders call me out and question my authority and ability. In some ways I felt beaten up and inept. Then a friend and youth pastor hinted to the greater reality. He said to me, “J.B. you are here because God has brought you here to be the youth pastor at Oaks Community Church. God has called you here and doing his work through you!”[3] The only reason I could be these students’ youth pastor; the only reason I could come to seminary and be minister at a church is because “I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.” He has called me to this joyous and difficult work and I will be faithful to his call. The only reason I feel confident enough to write this credo is because I believe that God is gracious enough to reveal God’s self to me by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who has been and continues today to actively reveal God’s self to people throughout human history. This work of revealing is called revelation.
God’s Revelation: General and Special
After coming to seminary I was a little bit surprised when I got to know John Calvin a little bit. Granted, my positive experience probably had something to do with the fact that I attend a Reformed seminary but still I realized I had gotten the wrong impression of the man. One of those things that actually surprised me was his view of God’s revelation to humanity. I thought that the obvious location of God’s revelation would be through the Bible, but John Calvin leaves room for the Spirit to reveal God’s self outside of the divine book all while holding the book on a very high level. Calvin writes,
He not only sowed in men’s minds that seed of religion of which we have spoken but revealed himself and daily discloses himself in the whole workmanship of the universe. As a consequence, men cannot open their eyes without being compelled to see him. Indeed, his essence is incomprehensible; hence, his divinenss far escapes all human perception. But upon his individual works he has engraved unmistakable marks of his glory, so clear and so prominent that even unlettered and stupid folk cannot plead the excuse of ignorance.[4]
Calvin is saying that there is evidence of God’s glory in throughout the universe in a way that every person on earth could not open their eyes without taking notice. He goes on later to talk about how we cannot fully see God’s glory because sin clouds our vision. It is only by grace that we can take notice of what is clearly God’s glory that is all around us. Furthermore we need the Bible as an inspired word by which we interpret all that we see by the power of the Holy Spirit. In short, God’s glory is all around us but we must understand it through the guide of scripture and we cannot see God’s glory in either scripture or nature, except by the grace of the Holy Spirit’s revelatory action and power.
The evidence of the Spirit’s work is found throughout history and the Spirit continues to be active in Christ’s church and in the world. The two-fold work of the Spirit in the revelation of scripture is the first gift of grace I would like to explore. As the Biblical authors were writing and the patriarchs were compiling the canon, the Holy Spirit was intimately involved in this sacred process. Then as a person reads the scripture it is the Holy Spirit who offers revelation to the reader that allows them to see some truth about God in their reading. This is what has allowed believers to continually read the scriptures for ages and still find truth and revelation. It makes this book something unique in its forming but also in its reading. All the truth of God that believers need to know or can know are found in the Bible, but only the Spirit can reveal this truth.
Another activity of the Spirit occurs in the Spirit’s work in a person’s heart. People on earth experience God in real and often life-changing ways through what Jonathan Edwards called religious affections. In fact, Edwards argued that experiencing God through the Holy Spirit is required if one should claim they have true knowledge of God. However this does not mean that any emotional, “spiritual” experience is necessarily the work of the Spirit. Edwards notes the important work of discernment when trying to determine if an experience is gracious or inauthentic. One way of knowing whether the Spirit is at work is that fruit will be evident. In the book of Galatians Paul outlines what this fruit looks like when he writes, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5: 22-23)
It is important to also note the Spirit’s work continues to reveal and point to God’s glory in places other than the scriptures or the church. Wherever these fruit are evident it is by God’s grace through the power of the Holy Spirit. When people act in patience or kindness it is the work of the Holy Spirit. When a truth of God is revealed it is the Holy Spirit who reveals. The Spirit is intimately connected also to creation. It is only the power of the Holy Spirit that can empower the creation to give praises to their King. Isaiah 55:12 says, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (NIV) Furthermore, Genesis 1 gives a beautiful image of the spirit of God “hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2) This shows that the trinity, including the Spirit, was involved in the creation of the world and continues to be deeply connected to creation today. This is the one true God; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All praise and glory to you, Amen.
Interpreting God’s Revelation
Interpreting this revelation from God is not always an easy task. Whether it is the book of nature or the book that we love, Christians have been wrestling with how to interpret each book’s meaning for centuries. If it snows on my birthday and it’s May does that mean God is mad at me? Or does an earthquake mean that God is judging a certain people group? In junior high school a couple of friends and I, along with my brothers built this amazing fort in the woods behind our house. We had several possible locations for the fort but finally we settled on a sweet hidden location just outside the woods where some drainage ditches had been dug years prior. The ditches were roughly 5 feet deep and maybe 10 to 12 feet wide. The field in which these ditches were located had long grass so from any distance away you could not see the ditches or our fort. We took weeks bringing over branches, tree, and anything else we could find in the woods to build our fortress. The design was simple. We would lay branches over the ditch for our framing. Dug out the sides of the ditch for seating. Used stones and mud to seal up the opening of the ditch and then used chicken wire, tar paper and sleeping bags to cover our roof. By the end of our build the fort was complete with a stone oven, skylight, carpeted seating, a linoleum floor, steel door and my very favorite outdoor bench.[5]
As winter got closer two of my friends thought it would be great to have a Christmas tree for the fort. A noble thought for two thirteen year olds. I suppose they wanted to fort to feel more like a home. So they did what any normal person with no fluid income would do, they prayed for a Christmas tree. We were in the woods but there were only deciduous trees, no Christmas trees. When they finished their prayer, they started walking and looking for signs from God to show them where to search. The signs were a variety of things including hearing movement in the leaves or a gust of wind. Then suddenly they saw a rabbit and one said, “Follow that rabbit!” They did and finally when they lost the rabbit, there in front of them was a perfectly sized pre-cut, green Christmas tree. They picked it up and brought it to the fort and our fort became a home that day. The prayer was answered and the book of nature spoke to us! Now, I do not know if that was truly God’s intent in that instance but he sure impressed a group of kids. The point is, how we interpret even the book of nature is important. I would suggest that we should not make such grand conclusions based on natural disasters. It is poor pastoral care, in poor taste and based on even worse theology. However I do believe that you can see the glory of God in the mountains, or his artistic mastery in the brush strokes of a sunset. It’s also true there might be something of God’s wrath in the crash of thunder or his devotion and companionship in a family dog. I do not doubt any of this, but it is important that the only tool used for interpreting this book is the book that we love, the Bible. The book of nature cannot teach us something beyond or outside of the living book of scripture.
Hermeneutics
This raises an important question then. How do we interpret the Bible? Or do we read with pure objectivity like some have suggested? As a teenager I remember gravitating toward the letters of Paul because I just read his letters like they were written to me. This was an easy way for me to apply it to my life. Paul was giving me an instructional guide on how to live my life and it was pretty straight-forward. Today after three years of seminary my understanding of scripture has shifted some and now I love reading the narrative of scripture. I believe that God accommodated the words in the Bible to the people. God did not include lessons in organic chemistry in the book of Genesis because that would have been beyond comprehension to ancient people. God helped them understand who God was within their own social context. If this is true, then when we interpret scripture we must take that accommodation in account to get at the deeper meanings of each text. Those deeper meaning and deeper truths then can applied to our own context, which then should shape, challenge and form our way of life today. This, I believe, is a deeper understanding of scripture and interpretation. Truth then becomes something broader that the modern definition that limits it to something that is factual. There is something profound that we can learn from the parable of the Good Samaritan even though it is a parable. This is not to say that events in the Bible are not historical in nature. The truth in many of these stories, however, is not found in their historicity but rather from some deeper truth that can penetrate into our lives today. We would be much better off spending our time in search of God in these stories than trying to prove their historical accuracy.
In college, I had the privilege to take New Testament ethics with a renown scholar in the field of biblical ethics. This is when I heard the word hermeneutics for the first time. I just kept thinking of the word hermit or hobbit or something in that nature. To be honest, I did not even know what it meant till about mid-way through the semester. Most simply hermeneutics is “the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of scriptural text.”[6] I soon began to understand hermeneutics similarly to putting on a pair of glasses. When I put on glasses the lenses change how I see; things become clearer assuming I have the correct prescription. When reading scripture I always begin with a prayer so that the Holy Spirit, my optometrist, can provide me with the correct prescription. The hermeneutical lens I use changes how I interpret what I am reading on the pages of my bible. I take my cues for my hermeneutical lens from a conversation Jesus had with the Pharisees,
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."[7]
This is the lens I look through when I read scripture and it also guides how I live my life. When I read a passage of scripture I seek to understand how this passage is telling me “The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord!”[8]
Conclusion
[1] Heidelberg Catechism, Answer 1
[2] I remember my baptism as a way of remembering the covenant promises God made to my parents and me. You will hear more about this in Chapter 4… Call this the teaser J
[3] This was not the exact quote but it was the gist of what he told me and it was one of the things that helped me through that first year.
[4] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; 1.V.1, Library of Christian Classics, ed. John T. McNeill, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975) p. 51-52.
[5] These are generous descriptions of specific elements of our fort. Our “oven” had a radiator from a car as a chimney. Pretty gross. My favorite bench just consisted of branches wedged into the ditch at specific depths to form a bench with back and foot rests. It was awesome!
[7] Matthew 22: 34-40 (NRSV)
[8] Psalm 33:5 (NRSV)
[9] Ibid, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion; 1.I.1, p. 35
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