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'The Holy Spirit' and 'The Church'

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  We started by praying a prayer of St Anselm and noticed his exploration of joy in the third paragraph this time. This session was different in that we reflected on what we'd been doing throughout the course with some overarching themes. As we were discussing experiences of the Holy Spirit, it was also agreed  that some of our shares on this topic would be private. In exploring the Creed we had been able to deepen our relationship with God and examine our faith. It hadn't just been analysing the wording of the Creed in an intellectual way. What do the words 'Holy Spirit' make you think of and is it important that it is mentioned in the Creed? 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. The feeling was that it is important that it is mentioned in the Creed as the 3rd party of the Trinity and we need to understand that ...
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Session 4 - Jesus is definitely human

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We started by praying a prayer of St Anselm and noted that St Anselm wrote approximately 500 years after the Nicene Creed was put together. Although he wrote in Latin, it was perhaps one of the first times someone had put theology into normal language. He had faith and was seeking understanding. (The picture is of Johnathan Roumie, an actor, who plays the role of Jesus in a recent film called 'The Chosen'.) Last week we studied the first part of the Creed which is about Jesus' divinity : 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 ...
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Session Three - 'One Lord' - Jesus is definitely divine

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We started by praying   A prayer of St Anselm as usual. Different things jumped out from the prayer on different readings, as is often the case when returning to a text several times. ‘MY PRAYER IS A COLD LITTLE THING, LORD, because it burns with so faint a flame’  gave rise to the image of St Anselm praying by candlelight. In his second paragraph, St Anselm writes how he doesn’t understand but believes and wants his belief, such as it is, and his understanding to grow.  A prayer of St Anselm We were reminded of the father who comes to Jesus, to heal his mute son, and says to Jesus, ' Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! '. This also reflects the idea that those who met Jesus were very like us at times. We know Jesus can perform miracles, but don’t believe he will perform them for us.  We also noticed that the more we understand of God, the more we understand that there is to know of God and, therefore, the less we understand Him. However, the good news G...
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Session 2 One God, the father, the Almighty

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Our discussions were very much in the spirit of asking questions and exploring our faith from different perspectives to learn from each other and grow. A prayer of St Anselm MY PRAYER IS A COLD LITTLE THING, LORD, because it burns with so faint a flame. But you are rich in mercy. As your kindness is above all human love, so let your eagerness to hear be greater than what I feel when I pray. LORD, I AM NOT TRYING TO REACH YOUR HEIGHT, for my poor mind could not even approach it. But I do want to understand the little of your truth which my heart already believes and loves. I do not seek to understand so that I may believe, but I believe so that I may understand; and further, I believe that unless I believe I shall never understand. I HAVE FOUND A FULLNESS OF JOY that is more than full. This joy fills the whole heart, mind, and soul; it fills the entire person, yet there remains more joy that is beyond measuring. God of truth, I ask that I may receive so that my joy may be full. Meanwhil...
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Who is Jesus?

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Growing prayerfully in faith and fellowship by sharing ideas:  who is Jesus? A Lent Course Celebrating Nicaea: seeing afresh the faith which holds us together Written by Revd Dr Donald McFadyen, Diocese in Europe We chant the Nicene Creed regularly in church. However, have you ever wondered exactly what it means? A small group of All Saints met with Alison, our curate, in the beautiful setting of the Centre Jean XXIII, to learn about the Nicene Creed. Alison is taking a dynamic approach and the sessions will be based on the wishes and interests of participants around the theme. In our first session, we deepened our understanding of the context in which the Nicene Creed was developed, and shared our experiences of how we came to know the Nicene Creed growing up.  We were taken to church as children and developed our understanding of faith, including the Nicene Creed, through idiosyncratic family preferences, circumstances and structures. For example, Alison and Tania had naval ...
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