Happy 1700th birthday to the Nicene Creed!

This year marks a significant milestone in the life of the worldwide church: the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. Originally formulated at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD (20 May to 25 July),¹ this creed has stood for seventeen centuries as the cornerstone of Christian orthodoxy ('correct teaching').

Born out of a time of theological conflict and confusion, the creed was written to unify the church’s understanding of who Jesus is — fully God and fully human — and how the persons of the Trinity relate together: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all equal and all eternal. It arose from a theological dispute between Bishop Alexander and Arius, whose teaching denied Jesus' full divinity. The controversy spread, threatening church unity. Emperor Constantine, seeking peace in the empire, convened the Council of Nicaea. Over 200 bishops debated whether Jesus was of the same substance ('homoousios') or a similar substance ('homoiousios') as God the Father. The resulting creed, championed by Athanasius, affirmed Jesus’ full divinity and therefore rejected Arianism.

The creed’s enduring strength lies in both in its theological clarity and its theological depth. Especially in our Anglican liturgy, it has become a living, breathing affirmation of our faith. As we say these words together every Sunday across the Holy Trinity churches, we remind each other of the biblical truths we believe as Christians. Even 1700 years later, the Nicene Creed continues to teach us, correct us, encourage us, and unite us, in the worship of the one, true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So, next time you say these words, remember you’re not just saying them with believers across the pews, but across the globe and across the centuries too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what do you believe?

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic² and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Yours in Christ,
Mark Barry

Assistant Minister
Outreach & Community Connections

7 July 2025

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[1] The creed was later revised and adopted with additions at the Council of Constantinople in AD 381. 
[2] In the context of this creed, ‘catholic’ simply means ‘universal’, rather than being a reference to the Roman Catholic Church.

Is Jesus enough?

Is Jesus enough? That’s the big question we’ll grapple with over the next eight weeks, as we work through the wonderful little letter of Colossians.

So, as we start this series on Sunday, I want you to imagine that you suddenly got a text out of the blue from a really close friend to say they've finally become a Christian. They’ve finally stepped over the line and entrusted their lives to Jesus. Can you imagine the sheer joy you’d feel in that moment?

Then imagine the absolute dread you’d feel, if you received another text a couple hours later from this same friend, saying that one of their neighbours had just come over and told them that trusting in Jesus simply wasn’t enough. They also needed to obey all these rules and do all these things to actually be right with God.

What would you say? How would you set your friend right?

The Apostle Paul was in a similar situation, as he heard the wonderful news that this brand new church has sprung up in the city of Colossae (in Asia Minor or modern day Turkey). However, soon after, he heard that these young Christians were being led astray by false teachers, with a fake gospel, telling them that trusting in Jesus was not enough. They needed to do so much more to have spiritual fullness.

So Paul wrote to the Colossian church to assure them that Jesus is more than enough. In fact, Jesus is everything we need for true spiritual life, growth, and fruitfulness. For Jesus gives us complete fellowship with God, perfect forgiveness of our sins, and total freedom from every spiritual law and power over us.

As such, Paul urges these Colossians to stick with the Jesus who has already saved them. 

Listen to the heart of his letter, from chapter 2, verses 6 and 7:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

These are words that every Christian today needs to hear and heed. So, as we start working through this letter on Sunday, let’s pray that these very verses would be true of us, across the Holy Trinity churches:

Heavenly Father,

As we look at your word over the coming weeks, we pray that each one of us would continue to live our lives in Jesus, being rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as we were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness to you.

We pray this in Jesus’ saving name.
Amen.

Yours in Christ,
Mark Barry

Assistant Minister
Outreach & Community Connections

18 June 2025

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Image from Pexels

A Spirit-filled church? 

What a joy it was to celebrate Pentecost together on Sunday! As we remembered the coming of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the first disciples in Acts chapter 2, we were also reminded that we too have the wonderful gift of the Spirit as followers of Jesus today, the very presence and power of God within us.

But what does it actually look like for us to be a Spirit-filled church?

We don’t have to go very far in the Bible to get a picture of that. In fact we see it only a few verses later, at the end of the chapter. In response to Peter’s Pentecost sermon, 3000 people turned to Jesus, were forgiven of their sins, were baptised as his followers, and were filled with the Holy Spirit (2:38-41).

However, these new believers didn’t simply go back to their own individual lives. Rather, they were knit together as a new spiritual community. And while there was no repeat of the wind, fire or tongues from earlier that morning, the lives of these 3000 people were nevertheless powerfully transformed by the work of the Spirit, in four significant ways:

1) Learning

Through the Spirit’s power, they became a learning community.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” (Acts 2:42)

As John Stott writes: “the Holy Spirit opened a school in Jerusalem that day, with 3,000 new students”, hungry for the life-giving words of Jesus.

2) Caring

Through the Spirit’s power, they became a caring community.

“They devoted themselves to … fellowship” (Acts 2:42)

They devoted themselves to those who were devoted to Jesus. That meant more than sharing a cup of tea after the service (as good as that is). They shared their whole lives together. In fact, rather shockingly, they were willing to share everything with their fellow believers:

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)

It’s important to note that they weren’t forced into communal living. They still met in each others homes after all (2:46). Rather, they freely chose to give what they could, when they could, to meet the needs of others.

3) Worshipping

Through the Spirit’s power, they became a worshiping community.

“They devoted themselves … to the breaking of bread and to prayer. … They broke bread in their homes … praising God.” (Acts 2:42, 46, 47)

Saved by God’s grace, they worshiped him in response: sharing the Lord’s Supper together, praying, and praising God with ‘glad and sincere hearts’.

4) Growing

Lastly, through the Spirit’s power, they became a growing community.

“... enjoying the favor of all the people. The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-7)

As they lived out the truth, generosity, and joy of Jesus, others were drawn into this community—ultimately to meet the loving Saviour at the centre of it all.

What a vision of the kind of community our churches could all be!

Let’s continue to pray that these four spiritual marks would become more and more a reality for each of our four centres in the Holy Trinity Parish, through the power of the Spirit, for the glory of Jesus.

Yours in Christ,
Mark Barry

Assistant Minister
Outreach & Community Connections

9 June 2025

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The image above is a Wikipedia Commons (copyright free) image of El Greco's 1597 Pentecost painting.