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Presenter: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

What if the best way to understand God the Father isn’t an argument, but a song you can’t forget? We gather around a hymnal and let music do what treatises rarely can: hold storm and stillness in the same breath, pair rock with cloud, and honor a God who is both immortal and invisible yet somehow beside us every hour. Along the way, we correct a common historical mix-up about Arius, trace the politics and pressures surrounding Nicaea, and explore why the Creed says so much about the Son and the Spirit but so little about the Father.

We move through a gallery of living metaphors—sculptor of mountains, nuisance to Pharaoh, host of every table, womb of creation—and watch the room light up as different images give different people a way in. The Navy hymn brings the sea’s danger into view; “Immortal, Invisible” names the mystery that stretched the early church; “God of Great and Small” softens the tone to show how transcendence leans close. Creation hymns turn windows into cathedrals. “All that borrows life from thee is ever in thy care” reframes breath as a gift on loan. And when faith feels thin, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” steadies a grieving congregation, reminding us that God holds when we cannot.

This conversation is a gentle challenge to narrow language and a warm invitation to a wider vocabulary for God the Creator. If the word “Father” has been hard, these hymns offer new doors: light from light, fortress and fountain, guide by day and fire by night. We hold the creed in one hand and a melody in the other, discovering that doctrine can sing and that songs can teach doctrine. Listen, hum along, and tell us which image of God feels most true to you today. If this episode moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the conversation.

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