Apostles' Creed in Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)

Apostles' Creed in Morning Prayer (1928 BCP) is the confession of the baptismal faith appointed after the canticle following the Second Lesson in Morning Prayer in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. In the order of the office, the Church hears Scripture, answers with psalm or canticle, and then confesses the faith before turning to the versicles, collects, and intercessions.

The Creed is therefore not an isolated doctrinal appendix. It is a liturgical act of faith, spoken by "the Minister and the People" as the congregation stands before God. Its place in Morning Prayer shows the Anglican habit of joining Scripture, catholic confession, and common prayer.

Place in Morning Prayer

The 1928 rubric places the Creed after Benedictus or Jubilate Deo:

Then shall be said the Apostles' Creed by the Minister and the People, standing.

This rubric gives the Creed a corporate and bodily form. The minister does not recite it on behalf of silent hearers; the people join the confession. The posture of standing marks the Creed as a public profession, distinct from the kneeling prayers that follow.

The 1928 office also allows the Nicene Creed in the same place:

Or the Creed commonly called the Nicene.

That alternative does not make the Apostles' Creed secondary or disposable. Rather, it shows that Morning Prayer is ordered by the Church's received creedal faith. The Apostles' Creed is the ordinary shorter confession; the Nicene Creed may be used where the fuller catholic statement is desired.

Prayer Book Text

The Morning Prayer Creed begins with the personal confession of faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Son:

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

The first words matter. Morning Prayer does not say merely that the Church discusses God, admires Christian tradition, or studies religious ideas. It says "I believe." Yet this "I" is spoken in common by minister and people, so personal faith and corporate confession belong together.

The Christological center of the Creed follows the biblical history of the Son:

Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead:

This is narrative doctrine. The Creed does not first define abstract qualities; it confesses what God has done in creation, incarnation, suffering, death, descent, resurrection, ascension, judgment, sanctification, forgiveness, resurrection of the body, and eternal life.

The 1928 American book gives a pastoral explanation of the descent clause:

He went into the place of departed spirits,

The rubric says this phrase is "of the same meaning" as "He descended into hell." In Morning Prayer, therefore, the clause should not be taught as Christ's defeat or abandonment by the Father. It confesses that the crucified and buried Lord truly entered the state of the dead before rising again.

Scripture and Article VIII

The Articles of Religion give the Anglican doctrinal rule for receiving the Creeds:

The Three Creeds ... ought thoroughly to be received and believed:

Article VIII immediately gives the reason: the Creeds "may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture." This is important for classical Anglican interpretation. The Creed is not a second source of revelation alongside Scripture. It is a compact confession of the biblical faith.

St. Paul gives one example of the apostolic pattern of summary confession:

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

He then immediately names burial and resurrection. The Creed's account of Christ crucified, buried, and risen is therefore not a later decoration added to the Gospel. It is a liturgical form of the same apostolic proclamation.

The public nature of the Creed also accords with St. Paul's account of faith and confession:

with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Morning Prayer makes that confession audible. After Scripture and canticle, the congregation does not remain at the level of private impression; it confesses the faith of the Church with the mouth.

Anglican Reception

The Anglican Communion describes the historic Creeds as common, catholic statements of faith:

The Creeds are the foundational, ecumenical statements of this universal, or 'catholic' faith.

The same page identifies the Apostles' Creed in baptismal terms:

The Apostles' Creed is the ancient baptismal creed of the Church.

This helps explain why the Apostles' Creed fits Morning Prayer. It is not only a classroom summary. It is the baptismal faith prayed daily by the baptized. The morning office renews the identity first confessed in Baptism and taught in the Catechism.

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral makes the same point in ecumenical form:

The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and The Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.

Morning Prayer displays that Anglican identity in ordinary worship. The Church hears Scripture as the rule of faith, then confesses the baptismal symbol, and then prays as the people formed by that faith.

The Episcopal Church summarizes the worship use of the two primary creeds in similar terms:

the Apostles' Creed used at baptism and daily worship, and the Nicene Creed used at communion.

That statement is especially relevant to the 1928 BCP. The Apostles' Creed appears in Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, in the Catechism, and in baptismal and confirmation contexts. It is the daily and baptismal confession of the Church's faith.

The Creed as an Act of Faith

Michael Ferrebee Sadler's nineteenth-century Anglican catechetical manual explains why the Creed belongs in public worship:

No; we use it as an act of faith.

Sadler's point clarifies a common misunderstanding. The Creed is not addressed to God as a prayer, and it is not a hymn of thanksgiving. It is spoken before God and the Church as confession: the faithful say what they believe, in the form the Church has received.

Sadler also connects the Creed to apostolic preaching:

Because it is the simplest form of the Faith which the Apostles believed and preached.

The phrase "Apostles' Creed" does not mean that each apostle separately composed one clause. In Anglican catechesis, it means that the Creed gives the primitive apostolic faith in its simplest received form. Morning Prayer therefore places the congregation within apostolic doctrine rather than private religious invention.

Sadler finally insists that the Creed demands a lived response:

By living as if we believed our Creed to be true,

This guards Morning Prayer from formalism. The Creed is repeated daily not so that words may replace faith, but so that faith may be confessed, remembered, and embodied in obedience.

Use in Worship and Teaching

In parish worship, the Apostles' Creed should be said distinctly and corporately. It is the hinge between Scripture and prayer: lessons and canticles have declared God's works, and the Creed now gathers those works into the Church's confession before the suffrages and collects.

In teaching, the Creed can be explained through its threefold structure. The first article confesses the Father as Almighty Creator. The second confesses Jesus Christ, the Son, in the saving history from conception and birth to judgment. The third confesses the Holy Ghost, the Church, communion of saints, forgiveness, resurrection, and everlasting life. This structure is simple enough for children and converts, but full enough to govern the Church's daily worship.

For classical Anglican and Reformed Episcopal readers, the Apostles' Creed in Morning Prayer demonstrates Article VIII's rule: creedal faith is received because it is scriptural. For High Church and catholic Anglican readers, it also displays continuity with the ancient baptismal symbol and the Church's public rule of faith. In both readings, the Creed is not an optional party badge. It is the Church's daily confession of the Gospel.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Daily Office (1928 BCP)
• Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)
• Evening Prayer (1928 BCP)
• Apostles' Creed in the 1928 BCP Catechism
• Baptism (1928 BCP)
• Confirmation (1928 BCP)
• The Creeds in the 1928 BCP
• Articles of Religion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer
• Anglican Communion Office: The Creeds
• The Episcopal Church: The Creeds
• M. F. Sadler, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction