Not long ago a friend of mine said that he didn’t like the fact that the Nicene Creed in Holy Communion uses “We”. He said, “I don’t know if the person next to me believes this or not.” I must admit that I was at a bit of a loss for words– not because it’s a hard statement to refute but because there are so many ways to answer this concern.
Let’s start with the fact that the primary services Book of Common Prayer are written in the first person plural. Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Compline, Holy Communion–everything “WE” do together is written in this voice. The collects, the prayers, the Gloria, the general confession and the eucharistic prayer are all designed for us to say together. Why? Because worship is a corporate event. It is the body of Christ assembled. Even the Lord’s Prayer itself is given to us in the plural. So to draw a line with the use of the first person plural at the creed ignores the fact that the entire service is in that voice.
There are items in the Prayer Book that are in first person singular because those services are assumed to happen one-on-one. This would include things like Reconciliation of a Penitent or Ministry to the Dying. Those rites are directed to individuals and take place in that context.
When the Church gathers for Morning Prayer or Holy Communion, its primary public services, it is proclaiming, interceding, confessing, and celebrating as a community –not as isolated individual members. The choice of voice in the Book of Common Prayer runs deliberately counter to the hyper-individualism of our post-modern society. Each time we come together we are (as we say in the introduction to the Sanctus), “joining our voices with Angels, Archangels and with all the company of heaven.” (2019 BCP, 115 et.al.) So yes, “We” is most appropriate.
But I’d also suggest that there is something very special and powerful about “We”. When I’m sitting on my back porch praying Morning Prayer by myself, I still say the prayers as they are written– in the first person plural. I do this because I recognize that even by myself I’m saying the prayers of the Church. I’m confessing not just the fact that “I” have sinned, but that “We” have sinned. I’m praying the suffrages “O Lord save your people” –not just me. I deeply desire that God will “Create in us clean hearts,” not just me. I’m praying with my brothers and sisters as well as for them –and they for and with me.
So, “I believe” in the use of “We Believe.”