LENT COURSE 'Celebrating Nicaea'

Celebrating Nicaea - seeing afresh the faith that holds us together

This year almost all the Christian world celebrates the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, held in modern-day Turkey: this important meeting gave birth to the Nicene Creed, which we say almost every week in our Sunday Eucharist. We join in the celebrations by sharing in the multi-media Lent Course Celebrating Nicaea published by our diocese, with each of our weekly sessions on Zoom led by a different minister serving our Chaplaincy. The course is thoughtful but not too academic, so don't worry that you are going to be drowned in technicalities!

Material for those taking part will be sent out with Friday Focus shortly: to get the best from each session you are asked to do a small amount of preparation - maybe to read something, or watch a short video. Session leaders will be glad to answer questions before, during and after meetings, and can point you to further information if you want to dig more deeply into a particular topic.

These are the sessions, and the ministers who have offered to lead them, each Tuesday in Lent from 19h45 - 21h15 on Zoom.

Session 1 - Why Creeds? 11th MARCH Fr Chris Probert
An introduction to the creeds generally in the life of the church, and a first look at the early version of the creed under discussion which emerged in 325. We’ll call this the Creed of Nicaea which we’ll compare to the Nicene Creed.

Session 2 - Which God? 18th MARCH Donna Derrick
We’ll look in detail at the first part of the Nicene Creed concerning ‘one God’ and how this description is significant for Jews and Christians. We’ll then start to consider the views of two theologians present at the Council, Arius and Athanasius with respect to the Person of Christ.

Session 3 - One Lord: Definitely Divine 25th MARCH Mary Jackson
We turn to the longest section of the creed beginning ‘one Lord, Jesus Christ’, which looks at both his divinity and his humanity. Because of the length and significance of this section we’ll look at it in two parts, taking up two sessions. In this session we’ll consider Christ’s divinity.

Session 4 - One Lord: Wholly Human 1st APRIL Adrian Grainge
We then consider Christ’s humanity, and the parts of the Creed telling of his life and death. We’ll draw together these two parts of the Creed - on Christ’s divinity and humanity - and look for their deepest significance.

Session 5 - The Spirit & The Church 8th APRIL Revd Dr Helen Wordsworth

In the final session we think about the last two parts of the Creed, on the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, and the Church, and how the decisions made at the Council of Nicaea are fundamental to its worship and mission.

We look forward to following this programme together, and pray that our faith will be deepened, broadened and enriched by our 2025 Lent Course

Please find attached two files - one giving preparation material (a short video, or something to read) we hope people will find 15 mins to look at the relevant section before each session. The second file is of handouts to accompany the weekly sessions. Both of these contain the material needed for every session up until Easter.