Dear All Saints and St Mary’s

This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. At this council, The Emperor Constantine gathered all the wise and the great in the church to resolve some questions that had been dividing the church. Christianity is a religion centred on the story of God’s relationship with human beings. That story started in the Old Testament and continues to this day. At the heart of the story is the story of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection.

Living out this story, some questions arose. Is God the Father the same as the creator God of the Old Testament? Is Jesus a god, a human or somehow both? If Jesus is in some way a god, are there two gods or one? If there is one God, how is Jesus connected with God the Father? And what do we think about the Holy Spirit, the church, baptism, and resurrection? The answers to these questions have surprising consequences. They affect our attitudes to creation, to human suffering and to community, among other things.

The answers to the questions of the day were summarised in a document that was agreed by representatives of all the churches. This was updated in fifty-six years later in the Council of Constantinople to produce what we know as the Nicene creed. This statement of the Christian faith is still accepted by almost all of those who call themselves Christian.

In honour of this anniversary, we have decided to think about the creed in our Café Church services at All Saints. After a general introduction in October, we will work our way through the creed. We will reflect on what it says and how that makes a difference to our faith and in our lives. All are welcome to our first session on October 26th.

Before then, this Sunday, we have our normal pattern of service for a third Sunday. In addition, there is a memorial service at St Mary’s in the afternoon, “A Time to Remember”.

10.00 am St Mary’s Holy Communion
10.30 am All Saints Holy Communion
3.00 pm St Mary’s A Time to Remember

The services for the coming week are as follows:

Wednesday 22nd 9.00 am All Saints Celtic morning prayer
Thursday 23rd 10.00 am St Mary’s Holy Communion

Sunday 26th October

8.00 am All Saints Holy Communion (said)
10.00 am St Mary’s Holy Communion
10.30 am All Saints Café Church

Your brother in Christ

Mark

Mark Simms
Licensed Lay Minister
Benefice of all Saints and St Mary Fishponds