This Ancient Creed Can Rescue Us From Spiritual Homelessness ft. Glenn Packiam | 011

What if faith was never a test you were supposed to pass? This year the Nicene Creed turns 1,700 years old, and Glenn Packiam thinks it might be the most important thing the modern church has forgotten how to use. John and Glenn talk about the difference between hope and comfort, why the ancient world treated hope as a moral weakness, what a rope strung between a house and a barn has to do with belief, and why the Creed’s insistence on saying “we believe” instead of “I believe” might be the most countercultural thing a Christian can do today.

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What this Conversation Explores:

• Why the ancient Stoics considered hope a moral weakness, and how the resurrection flips that on its head
• The difference between hope and comfort, and why John and Glenn think the church has confused the two
• What the boat metaphor for faith reveals about setting down your oars without losing your place in the crew
• Why the Creed says “we believe” instead of “I believe,” and what that costs a culture built around personal validation
• Why only 48 percent of churchgoers say a pastor is a trustworthy source of wisdom, and how Glenn thinks the church should respond
• The King Charles coronation story that reframes what it means to swear allegiance to Jesus
• Why “deconstruction” isn’t really about doctrine, but about a whole story and the community attached to it
• Glenn’s answer to the question, “What does Jesus see about the church that you don’t?”

Resources Mentioned:

• What’s a Christian, Anyway? — Glenn Packiam
• This Is Not the End — Glenn Packiam
• The Intentional Year — Glenn and Holly Packiam
• The Intentional Year Journal — Glenn and Holly Packiam
• The Divine Conspiracy — Dallas Willard
• The Denial of Death — Ernest Becker
• Reflections on the Psalms — C. S. Lewis
• Salvation by Allegiance Alone — Matthew Bates
• Tell It Slant — Eugene Peterson
• On Bullshit — Harry Frankfurt
• The Adult Hope Scale — C. R. Snyder

About Formation:
Formation is a podcast that explores the science and soul of spiritual formation. Each episode brings together the ancient wisdom of the contemplative tradition and the best of modern research. John Ortberg sits down with some of the most rigorous and honest thinkers working at the intersection of faith and human flourishing for extended, unhurried conversations about how we are being shaped. New episodes every other week, wherever you listen to podcasts.

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