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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Reverend Doctor Stephen Wigley.

Good morning.

Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday and Christians around the world will have been sharing in the worship of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But that simple statement reflects on the decision of the Council of Nicaea, which according to some sources formally opened on this day in 325, some 1700 years ago. There have been plenty of meetings of Church and political leaders in recent weeks to mark first the death of Pope Francis and then the election and installation of his successor Pope Leo. But the Council of Nicaea is perhaps the single most significant meeting of the Church in its long history.

It was called by Emperor Constantine to address a crucial issue of belief for the Church in terms of the so-called Arian controversy, the question as to whether Jesus was simply an extraordinary man of faith or whether he was fully the Son of God. This mattered to the Church and it mattered to the Emperor for, following his conversion, Christianity was now the official religion of the Roman Empire. The argument involved two forthright, not to say fiery protagonists, Arius and Athanasius, and the debates at the Council, attended by some 318 bishops and clergy from across the Christian world, included some political manoeuvring alongside the theological discussions. But the decision which the Council reached to affirm the full divinity of Christ was a crucial one, in that it has continued to shape the life and faith of the Church to this very day. So we celebrate it today in the words of Nicene Creed (in the form which was agreed at the subsequent Council of Constantinople) that Jesus Christ is ‘the only Son of God eternally begotten of the Father… true God of true God, begotten not made, of one Being the Father.’

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son and for his willingness to fully embrace our humanity in order that we might be made fit for heaven.

Amen.