Seeking Refuge

By Mark Harris

Creeds state what the church or the believer believes to be true, and they always have the built-in supposition that the creed states the Truth and truths that are larger than our own partial experience. And, of course, creeds are fighting words, words about things we would defend -- if not with arms, at least with our lives.  

But what would it look like to make a statement not of what we believe, but where we go when the going gets rough. Where would we go when, as Howard Thurman said, “our backs are against the wall?” Where would we go for refuge?  

I have tried to write a statement of where I would, and do, go for refuge. It closely parallels the Trinitarian creedal formulation, but presents the matter not as truths to be defended but as a tracing of a path to refuge. . . It is not a formula; it is a confession.

I have tried to write a statement of where I would, and do, go for refuge. It closely parallels the Trinitarian creedal formulation, but presents the matter not as truths to be defended but as a tracing of a path to refuge.

It is, of course, unsatisfactory in that it cannot adequately state where any given person should go for refuge. It is not a formula; it is a confession.

The reader will note that I have tried to be informed by some of the prayer and conceptual forms given us by Moslem and Buddhist brothers and sisters. I speak of God as compassionate and merciful, mindful that Islam knows God as both in many of its prayers. I speak of mindfulness, compassion and refuge in ways that echo a sensibility of the Buddha's own three refuges. But, of course, these references are like the early dawn recognitions that the light that comes to every person is somehow seen in whatever light we receive as the Sun rises. They are inadequate.

Inadequate confession: that is the fate of any effort to put in place a witness to faith. And yet at Easter, indeed at any time, what more can we do? Strange and simple marks on paper, odd and strained statements from our mouths: these are all prayer, and prayer is refuge too.

Three Christian Vows of Refuge

I take refuge in God,

           compassionate and merciful,

Source of all that was, and is, and will be,

Whose name is beyond naming,

Who yet is so present with us

That we call out to the One whose offspring we are

in names of affection,

The names we give our parents.

I take refuge in Jesus Christ,

           compassionate and merciful,

In whom we have known God's word and wisdom,

           Present and incarnate.

In Jesus, who comes among us as attentive as a servant,

Whose mindfulness heals,

Whose teaching is the way of life,

Who welcomes us to eat and drink with him

           And calls us brothers and sisters.

His compassion is our refuge,

Even his compassion in death.

For we remember:

Under imperial authority

In a captured province

He suffered humiliation and agony

           And death on the cross.

That cross has become our sign,

For his death was not the end,

But a new mark of his healing Grace.

Death could not keep him from us,

His compassion and his teaching

Have no boundaries.

In Him we find ourselves alive.

He is our refuge for all time.

I take refuge in the Holy Spirit,

           compassionate and merciful;

Who is present in the source of all our being,

In Jesus the Christ, the incarnation of God's mercy,

And in the community of all who at table

Together are the Body of Christ,

Where God's mercy and compassion reign,

Where the way of life is practiced,

And Presence and the present are one.

The Rev. Canon Mark Harris is author of The Challenge of Change: The Anglican Communion in the Post Modern Era , and a member of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company's ( The Witness magazine) board of directors. He lives in Lewes, Del., and may be reached by email at poetmark@worldnet.att.net .