Midweek Musing- 4/15/26

Midweek Musing April 15, 2026

We live in an age of images.

Memes, reels, graphics, short videos, emojis, and captions seem to carry so much of our communication now. We scroll quickly, laugh quickly, react quickly, like/share, and move on.

Ours is, as I heard one commentator state, the age of the graphic.

In one sense it seems to me we moved from pictures telling stories on cave walls to hieroglyphics to papyrus scrolls to the printing press and newspaper stories and suddenly back to graphics telling stories on digital walls.

And yet, as Christians; as people of faith, we are a people of the Book.

We are a people of words.

That may sound old-fashioned in a world that prefers pictures over paragraphs, but it is still true.

Our faith has always been carried by words. In the beginning God speaks creation into being.

Later, the prophets proclaim, “Thus says the Lord.”

The psalmists give us words for joy, grief, anger, praise, and longing.

And the Gospel of John tells us that in the beginning was the Word.

And when life becomes heavy, when grief arrives, when we do not know what to say or do, it is often words of faith that steady us.

This week has been one of those times for me and many around me.

On Monday, the assistant principal I am honored to work alongside lost her father unexpectedly to a sudden heart attack. It was sudden, painful, and deeply heartbreaking. I was privileged to go to the hospital to be with the family and to pray with them as they waited with their loved one until the funeral home arrived.

In moments like that, honesty matters. And when I was asked to pray, I told them what I believe to be true: there are no words that can take away grief like that. No sentence can erase the ache. No phrase can fix what has been broken by loss.

And yet I still went to God in prayer because I also believe this with all my heart: that while there are no words that remove grief, there are words that can hold us in it and bring comfort.

Friends as a people of faith, we have been given words of comfort and hope. We find them first and foremost in the words of Holy Scripture. We also find them echoed and explained in the creeds and confessions of the church, where generations of believers have tried to put onto paper the hope that sustains us and the love that holds us up when our own words fail.

Now one of the confessional statements I return to again and again is the Brief Statement of Faith from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Initially conceived of at the time of reunion, when the northern and southern branches of the Presbyterian Church came back together in 1983 (yes 1983, which is another musing and story altogether.) This is a statement was formally adopted as a part of the PCUSA Book of Confessions in 1991.

While reformed in nature it is intended to reflect the beliefs of the entire Church and thus is shaped by deep conviction and deep hope. It reminds us of who God is, who Christ is, and who we are called to be in light of the Good News.

These words have long brought me personal comfort. I have turned to them in seasons of struggle, uncertainty, and sorrow. As I prayed in that hospital room, I realized that some of the very ideas shaping my prayer had come from that statement. Later that evening, I returned to it again in my own devotion, letting its words carry me when my spirit felt tired and heavy.

That is one of the gifts of our faith: when we do not have words of our own, the church lends us hers.

So today I share this statement with you in the hope that these words, inspired by Scripture and shaped by faithful believers, might bring you comfort as they so often have brought comfort to me.

I would also encourage you to hold on to them so that when you are holding on to grief, weariness, or uncertainty, these words of hope might help sustain you too.

The Brief Statement of Faith

In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve.

We trust in Jesus Christ,Fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts,forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.

We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God's image male and female, of every race and people,to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God's commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God's condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.

We trust in God the Holy Spirit,everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God's new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.