I've been reading this small book about Irish saints and came across this really excellent catechism (for the uninformed a catechism is [in general] a collection of principles for a particular understanding of the essence of Christianity) for Baptists it is similar to but not exactly like a doctrinal statement ("What we believe"). Catechisms come in the form of questions and answers for the purpose of memorization and then finally incorporation into one's life. The following is the catechism of Saint Ninian a 5th Century Missionary to the Picts - the native people of Scotland - I love its simplicity and aim.
Ninian's Catechism
Question What is the best thing in the world?
Answer To do the will of our Maker.
Question What is His will?
Answer That we should live according to His laws.
Question How do we know these laws?
Answer By study - studying the Scriptures with devotion.
Question What tool has our Maker provided for this study?
Answer The intellect - which can probe everything.
Question And what is the fruit of study?
Answer To perceive the eternal Word of God reflected in every plant and insect, every bird and animal, every man and woman.
For the ancient Christians there was a desire to see the presence of God in all things. This is something many modern (and particularly evangelical) Christians fear. I certainly understand the fear of sounding pantheistic, but our Creator's eternal power and divine nature we are told, are clearly revealed from creation (Rom. 1:20, Ps. 19). The Lord even urged us to "...consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air" that we might learn from them not to worry but to trust and rest.
The fruit of our study and incorporation of Scriptural principles is to make us holy and make us like the Savior - but as Ninian stated - it should also cause us to see all of reality different - to perceive the eternal Word of God reflected in everything, or as William Blake said, "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour ." God's glory is everywhere! For as Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote we live, "in a universe charged with the grandeur of God."
