From City Pres Church: Denver
Trinity Sunday. While every Christian worship service is a celebration of the Trinity, Trinity Sunday focuses explicitly on the mystery, power, and beauty of the triune God. Our Christian identity and mission are given to us as we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). Our worship is not only directed to the triune God but is also enabled by the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the mediation of Jesus Christ. At its best, our worship is also an expression of the unity and common purpose of the church, which Jesus prayed would reflect the unity between himself and God (John 17:20-21). Trinity Sunday, which is traditionally celebrated one week after Pentecost, marks the acknowledgment that all three persons of the Trinity exist together from eternity to eternity.
During our worship this morning we will be reciting the Nicene Creed. In the third century A.D. a controversy arose regarding the nature of the Trinity, and of Christ in particular – was he only a mortal endowed with unique wisdom, or was he indeed God incarnate, having both a human and divine nature? To deal with this controversy, over 300 bishops gathered together at the urging of Emperor Constantine to settle this issue and maintain the peace and purity of the Church. This was known as the first great Ecumenical Council, convened in 325 in Nicaea (now Isnik, Turkey).
After lengthy study and discussion the Council affirmed the historic understanding of Christ. The Nicene Creed was formulated upon the truths reaffirmed at the Council of Nicaea, and declares “We believe 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.”
Christians throughout the centuries from many denominations and traditions have used historic creeds such as the Nicene Creed to publicly confess their faith in worship, to demonstrate the essential unity of Christ’s Church in all its manifestations, and to teach Christian doctrine.
