“Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” Ps. 105:1-2 (ESV)
Whereas the Nicene and Athanasian creeds are primarily focused on confessing the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation, the Apostles’ Creed is primarily focused on confessing the works of God. This makes the Apostles’ Creed an excellent basis for a meditation/ prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God for what he has done.
First Article - “I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
Here we are reminded and confess that God is the author of all that exists around us, visible and invisible, though he is not the author of the corruption of these things. That which God does is good and very good. Consequently, we ought to thank and praise God for every good thing we have and experience in our lives in this world; for the food we receive to sustain us, for our friends and family, and for our very life itself along with so much more.
Second Article - “And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into Hell, the third day he rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty from where he shall come to judge the living and the dead.”
Here we are reminded and confess how it is that God determined to save his creation out of the corruption, sin, and death to which it had become subjected. Such salvation was not accomplished by God simply snapping his fingers as it were. Rather it was accomplished by God the Son taking humanity and creatureliness upon himself. He did this to bear our sin and our death that, with him sharing in our death, we would also share in his resurrection from the dead.
The fact that God would be willing to save us, his rebellious creation, in such a way ought to drive us to thankfulness everyday. It ought also to drive us to help and care for our neighbor, for a disciple is not above his teacher.
Third Article - “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”
Whereas in the second article we consider the winning of salvation, here we consider the delivering of salvation. It is in the Church where Christ’s undershepherds feed his sheep with the life giving word of the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. Having all been united with Christ, we also have a real fellowship with our Christian brethren. We are washed clean by water and the word that we may stand before Christ blameless, being forgiven of all our sins. And we have a certain and true hope that this fleeting life and mortal flesh, today so impressive before our eyes, will not have the final word. But the final word will be “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Cor. 15:55 (ESV)
Truly we have much reason to give thanks to God today and every day.