Resources for further study & to deepen your faith.

For a selection of our recent sermons please click here.

Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Kingdom Come (TKC) is a global ecumenical prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension (28th May) to Pentecost (8th June) for more people to come to know Jesus. Every Christian across the globe is asked to pray that God’s Spirit might work in the lives of 5 people who have not responded with their ‘Yes’ to God’s call.

This is the 10th Year of TKC and to help us all pray there are a number of videos and resources, including some for children, that can be accessed here: Thy Kingdom Come | Thy Kingdom Come.

Nicene Creed

“This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed which was agreed at the Council of Nicaea in 325. The Nicene Creed, is the affirmation of faith we declare together in our more formal services. For some, the words may be so familiar that we are able to say them from memory. It is perhaps hard to believe now that the formulation of this Creed was extremely controversial.

Emperor Constantine summoned the bishops for the first ecumenical council in Nicaea in order to sort out the different views about Christ that were circulating at the time across the Empire. This was largely in response to the Arian controversy. Arius, a priest in Alexandria, argued that since God is eternal and unknowable, Jesus cannot be in the same sense God since we know about him and his actions in the Gospels and that he must have come after the Father, making him inferior to the Father. The council rejected the Arian position and affirmed that Jesus is of one substance with the Father, in other words that Jesus is both fully divine as well as fully human. The Creed was later extended at the Council of Constantinople in 381, which also addressed other debates that had emerged. The Nicene Creed was adopted and has been part of Christian worship ever since.

Furthermore, the Nicene Creed is not just Anglican. It is a creed that is said by most Christian denominations around the world – Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant (including Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists). It has been estimated that 98.2% of the world’s Christians subscribe to the Nicene Creed. It is a reminder that we have more in common with most of our Christian brothers and sisters than what we disagree about and, as we profess our faith each week, we connect 3 with others around the world as well across time with all Christians who have gone before us.

Taking time to ponder the elements of the Creed might not be something we do very often. (-) If you would like to know more, copies of a Church of England booklet exploring the Creed over 24 days with readings, reflections and prayers can be obtained here from Church House Publishing (www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/9781781405154/we-believe-single copy), or come and talk to me and we can order one for you. The reflections will also be available on the Everyday Faith app from Trinity Sunday (15 June). Pondering more about the statements in the Nicene Creed is a good way for us all to go deeper in our faith, and in doing so, draw closer to God.”

With every blessing,

Rev’d Kathryn Waite