1. Jesus, Son of God
November 16, 17, 19

2. Welcome Thank you for your presence Journey together
Looking forward to a deeper look at our Creed

3. Question
How do you follow Jesus?

4. Overview of evening Prayer Age specific breakout
Grade 10 - Adults Fr Tom
Grades 6-9 Dennis
Grades 1-5 Libby
3-5 years old Maureen
Closing prayer around font

5. Focus GOF focus for the year The Creed (“I believe”)
Use Bible & Catechism as main sources
Numerous sources from Fr. Bob to Luke Timothy Johnson

6. Creed Longest part devoted to the Son of God Two sections
First describes his relationship with God the Father, maker of heaven and earth
the second deals with his involvement with humanity, from his incarnation to his second coming

7. Distinction not division
It is the One Lord Jesus Chris who is proclaimed in the Creed
To focus on his “divinity” and then on his “humanity” should not lead us to separate them
The Creed asserts simultaneously: he is once fully human and divine

8. Creed
This first part of the Creed characterizes Jesus’ relationship to God in order to safeguard the belief that Jesus Christ is our savior
Jesus was the way in which God became human and through that humanity made it possible for all humans to share in the divine life

9. Creed Developed through theological debates
Greatest disputes are about identity of Jesus – specifically how he was related to God – in third and fourth centuries
Present Creed language defines even more closely the core truths challenged by heretics

10. CREED
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

11. A mystery is something we can’t say enough about
Thought
A mystery is something we can’t say enough about

12. One Lord, Jesus Christ CCC 430 Jesus means in Hebrew: “God saves”
At Annunciation Gabriel gave Jesus his proper name
In Jesus, God “will save his people from their sins”

13. One Lord, Jesus Christ CCC 436
The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah which means “anointed”
Anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also a prophet

14. One Lord, Jesus Christ Gal 4:4-5 Mark 1:1 God has visited his people
Fulfilled the promise made to Abraham and his descendants
He has sent his own “beloved Son” CCC 422
We acknowledge his authority over our own hearts

15. One Lord, Jesus Christ
To say Jesus is Lord because of his resurrection meant that he had entered into the life of God and therefore shared in the power and authority of the Lord God, creator of heaven and earth

16. Only Son of God Acts 9:20 Gal 1:15-16
Jesus’ Baptism (Mt. 3:17) and Transfiguration (Mt. 17:5)
CCC 455 – The title “Lord” indicates divine sovereignty. To invoke Jesus as Lord is to believe in his divinity (1 Cor. 12:3)

17. Begotten
Assert truth: that Christ came from and returned to God in a way that no other human being has or will or could, because when he came from God he remained what he had been and when he returned to God he returned to his own place
In response to Arianism (reduce Jesus to a creature)

18. Begotten not made
CCC The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”. For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God

19. Begotten not made
CCC 460….. – For the Son of God became man so that we might become God. The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods

20. Begotten
Not talking about birth of Jesus as a human but part of God’s life
This begetting is not a making by God but a sharing by the Father out of himself (begotten, not made)
Johns gospel (1:1-18) speaks of the Word becoming flesh
Helps us to think in spiritual not physical terms

21. One in Being
Trinity
CCC 262 – The Incarnation of God’s Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father, the Son is one and the same God

22. All things were made Creation Genesis God, Maker of heaven and earth
seen and unseen
If Jesus is “maker” he is not made (Jn. 1:3, Col. 1:15-16, Hebrews prologue)

23. The Incarnation CCC 461 John 1:14 The Word became flesh
The Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it
Phil. 2:5-8

24. The Incarnation
CCC 483 – The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word

25. Incarnation
Incarnation is not an after-thought, not a rescue operation
Implicit from the beginning
Gen. 1:26 from the beginning God created them Male and female…
Image of Christ, in which the new creation, we are being formed

26. For our salvation The heart of the Creed
Confess that Jesus is Son of God
Reveals God’s love for us
A passionate God
Salvation - 2 Peter 1:3-4
Salvation not a rescue or restoration but an elevation (Rom 5:12-21)

27. Heaven “For our salvation he came down from heaven……”
CCC 326 – heaven can designate both the firmament and God’s own “place” – “our Father in heaven” and consequently the “heaven” too which is eschatological glory
This says two things Jesus is divine in origin and is truly among us

28. Holy Spirit
CCC 485 – The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son. The Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of Life”, is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own

29. Born of Virgin Mary
CCC 484 – Mary was invited to conceive him in whom the “whole fullness of deity” would dwell “bodily” (Col. 2:9)
CCC 487 – What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ

30. Immaculate Conception
CCC 490 – To become the mother of the Savior, Mary was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.
CCC 491 – proclaimed in 1854
CCC 511 – She uttered her “yes” in the name of all human nature

31. Conclusion
The Creed helps us speak about our experiences of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
God entered our world
Fully human and divine
Change our hearts and help us to see ourselves, others and this world differently