Quodlibet
The Modernist Creed
by John Boonzaaijer
Western culture prides itself on leaving behind past ignorance while gleefully confessing the enlightened insights of scientific man. As long as the earth can be controlled, mankind will be saved, and all manner of thing shall be well.
What faith is there for our friends to chant in hope, and against all hope, in the purest tones and highest churchmanship of the finest cantor? Perhaps it is this:
I believe in Man almighty, measurer of heaven and earth.
And I believe in the Self, my only lord; conceived by choice; born of inadequates; lived authentically, led by my passions; I was educated, inebriated, used, and disposed of; I descended to despair; the third decade I ascended into apathy, questioning all dogma; yet I sit in judgment over the politically incorrect, whom the state should silence, whether quick or dead.
I believe in the primal Spirit; the pagan, androgynous church; the communion of the tolerant; the absence of sins; the worship of the body; and the Lie everlasting. Amen.
Long before the sound of this creed has died away, those with eyes to see have already discerned the silhouette of the King of kings and Lord of lords, made manifest in his glorious Epiphany to all the world—his arms raised in blessing, judgment, atonement, and reconciliation. Those with ears to hear confess another Faith—of the Apostles, in the Church, and for the World.
Rev. John Boonzaaijer is the rector of The Chapel of the Cross, a Reformed Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas.
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