One Holy, ________ and Apostolic Church

-or- What Does it Mean to Be "catholic"

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."
(Ephesians 4:4-6)

On Sunday July 7th, I preached a teaching sermon about the word "apostolic," which we use to describe the Church in the third article of the Nicene Creed:

"....  We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church..."

I will not recap my comments on apostolic here.  Feel free to acquire the audio recording of my sermon, or contact me and we can have a discussion about it.  Or, one can always "google it."

Instead, I wish to treat an issue that arose in my preaching on this particular line in the Creed.  My sermon touched on controversy--not because of the radical message that we are all apostles called to spread the Word of the Kingdom of God, that we are all called to be spiritual leaders and mentors in the world, but rather because of another pesky word in this sentence of the creed: "catholic."

At St. John Church, we do not say "catholic."  Instead, we have worship booklets which have changed the word to "We believe in one holy Christian and apostolic church...."  I suppose I should not say "we" don't say "catholic," since some (including me...who speaks in the microphone) do say "catholic."  But this is an old debate at St. Johns that at one time caused an unknown (to me) amount of argument and division.

The issue, as far as I can tell, was that the congregation wanted to differentiate themselves from the Roman Catholic Church in town.  And saying the word "catholic" in the creed brought to mind the Roman Catholics.  Having the Catholics brought to mind in worship was far from up-lifting, because there was a time when Roman Catholics in Toluca were told in strong terms never to socialize--and certainly not worship or commune--with "the protestants."  This created a great deal of hardship to friends and family and spouses that stood across the Catholic/Protestant line from one another.  The Toluca Lutheran retaliation came in the form of changing our creed: "You excommunicate us?  Fine, we excommunicate you---your word is out of our creed."  And so the creed was changed to read "Christian" church.  [I understand that this is not a local phenomenon, but that many other churches prefer to use the term "Christian" in that part of the creed.  However, this is the first and only Lutheran Church that I have lived and worked in that does not say "catholic"--and so the issue seems local to me.]

Since I don't know where I stand with people when I say "catholic" and since I received several questions and comments about my mentioning that part of the creed in my sermon (although my focus was on the very next word, "apostolic"), I feel compelled to explain myself.  What follows, therefore, are some reflections on the word "catholic" and how it both differs from the word "Catholic" and is preferable to the term "Christian."  Please bear with me to the end.

The Nicene Creed was originally written in Greek.  The Greek word in the spot in question is καθολικὴν, which means "universal, general or complete."  It comes from the root words kata (by) + holos (whole), and thus is a word that refers to the whole, undivided Church consisting of those who follow Jesus Christ.  The word catholic in the creed, then, simply means the whole Church, that is, not just this congregation or even this denomination, but all churches everywhere which proclaim Christ crucified.

Historically, the Roman Church has adopted the word "catholic" and have made it a part of their proper name for themselves.  They claim to be THE catholic church.  And before there were any splits in the Church, that would have been very nearly correct.  After Luther and other reformers (and even the much early split between Eastern and Western Christianity), this no longer held true--but the Romans kept the name, and they kept the idea that they were the only ones.

I do not think we should let the Roman Church get away with this claim.  I believe that the ELCA is a part of the universal church and without the Lutherans the catholic church would not be complete.  Therefore, I call the commonly known "Catholic Church" the Roman Church (which is a lot more accurate, as their structure is and has historically been centered in Rome).  And I try to reclaim the word catholic as a term that fits any follower of Christ--which was its original intent.

If that is not compelling, then here is an argument from the other side, namely the reason why using "Christian" is, in fact, worse than using "catholic."  Christian is used to convey the same concept as catholic in the creed.  The intent is to point toward the larger church, recognizing that we are all in the same boat.  On the surface, it would seem like Christian does a better job--since we all seem to claim to be Christian, right?

Well, the word Christian has also been co-opted by a particular denomination--just like the word Catholic.  Here in Toluca, we have Antioch Christian Church.  Although they are technically "non-denominational" and therefore the word Christian is meant to be a descriptor, in reality there is a historical movement in christian theology and church polity that can be designated as the Christian Church.  Think of it this way, just because the word "christian" is not in the name of St. John Lutheran Church, does not mean that our congregation is not christian.  Indeed, we are christian first, and Lutheran is a secondary term that gives people an idea about what type of christians we are.  Just as the words Catholic and Christian are used in St. Mary's Catholic Church and Antioch Christian Church to describe what kind of christians they are.  The names Catholic and Christian are a bit more general than ours, but that does not give them any right to claim that they are representatives of the universal Church while we are not.  In point of fact, we are just as catholic and just as christian.  How?  Because Jesus unifies us and makes us one in the complete and whole and universal church.

Therefore, even if we use "Christian" in our creed (which is quite all right), we must use it in the lower case so that we do not confuse it with the proper name claimed by Antioch and other "Christian" churches.

Moreover, it is much better for us to conjure up the image of Catholic instead of Christian, because we are much closer in theology and in practice to the Roman Church than to the Christian Church.  For instance, (and this was one of the major issues for Luther) we--that is the Lutherans and the Romans--baptize infants.  The Christian Church requires what are called "believers baptisms."  In other words, in the Christian Church, one must be old enough to decide to claim Jesus as personal Lord and Savior before one can be baptized rightly.  For Lutherans and Romans, it does not depend on our decision or even our ability to decide, but instead depends on God's choice and action.  God chooses us, we do not choose him.  We baptize infants to show that God sends the Holy Spirit to us whether or not we call on him.  God can act, even if we choose not to act.  It is about what God can and cannot do--not about what we decide to do.

From a practical standpoint, Lutheran worship is much closer to Roman worship than it is to Christian worship.  Our use of the liturgy and the lectionary bind us together with the Roman Church.  We hear the same Gospel Reading each Sunday.  We both have important parts of the liturgy: a kyrie, a gloria, three readings, confession and forgiveness, etc.  The Christian Church has a similar order of worship (Gathering-Word-Meal-Sending), however they often are a lot looser in their use of the the liturgy.

All this to say that if we kept the word capitalized (no matter which word we decided to say), then it would be best to use the word Catholic--since we are closer to the Romans than to the Christians.  No matter which one you use, always think of it with a lower case "c."

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter.  I encourage you to proclaim loudly and proudly whichever word speaks to you.  As long as what is in you mind and heart is a believe that all christians, everywhere, in every time are all made one in Jesus, then you have the right belief.  Whichever word helps you say, "Yes, even my Roman brothers and sisters are Christian" (and vise versa), then that is the word that is best to use.  Because the point of the creed is to say that in Jesus Christ there is no longer any distinction.  "...for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.  As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female," there is no longer Catholic or Lutheran, there is no longer Christian or Roman, "for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."  (Galatians 3:26-28).

That sentiment from Paul's letter to the Galatians is exactly what the creed is trying to convey when it asks us to say: "We believe in one holy καθολικὴν and apostolic church...."  So whichever word helps you remember that we are all one in Christ, use that word.  For me, the unifying word is "catholic," particularly because it reminds me that we no longer need to have animosity against the church that we have protested against.  Rather, through Jesus Christ, we are one even with our rivals.

Thanks be to God for that....and for the rich words he gives us to understand and convey the Word.
Amen.