What Happened at Nicea: The Creed That Was Formed There: How 226 Words, 44 Days, and St. Nicholas Having a Fistfight Can Change Your Faith and (in English)
Synopsis "What Happened at Nicea: The Creed That Was Formed There: How 226 Words, 44 Days, and St. Nicholas Having a Fistfight Can Change Your Faith and (in English)"
T'he Christian faith is simple enough that the most ignorant among us can know the basic outlines of their faith. At the same time, it's also complex enough that scholars can spend their entire careers studying the faith, and still not plumb the depths of it. But the church has made it easy enough for us to get a grasp on what we are given to believe -- and in getting that grasp can give us a lifetime of material to learn, meditate on, and grow from. That "easy part" is the Nicene creed. Of course, the creed is not easy. Scholars have spent lifetimes just studying the creed itself. But it IS easy in the sense that it will give you an outline of your faith, centered around the confession of the Holy Trinity. Many churches confess this creed every Sunday, and millions of Christians know it by heart. Maybe you are one of those folks. If so, you will find that this book will make you think about your faith, and grow deeper into that faith. But maybe you are someone who was never taught much about the Christian faith. Perhaps you are someone who would like to learn more about what the over 2 billion people on earth who are Christians believe and what motivates their faith.Although this book can easily be read from cover to cover without stopping, it's divided by days. 44, to be exact. There's no magic to that number. The 44 is just taking the creed, bit by bit, phrase by phrase, and learning what each of those small segments are saying to us.In English, the creed has only 226 words. But these are 226 words that can change your life.Every Christmas, many of the world's Christians think about St. Nicholas, who has come to us as Santa Claus. St. Nicholas lived in modern-day Turkey from 270 AD to 343. He had a great reputation for kindness, and gave gifts to poor children. But he was also a great contender for the Christian faith, and he attended the council of Nicea, held in 325 AD. Our creed gets its name from this council, when Christians from all over the Roman world convened to deal with the false teachings of Arius. Arius was a skilled and persuasive speaker who taught erroneously about Christ's nature, and Christ's work, and at the council, Arius defended his teaching in his usual eloquent fashion.Well, St. Nicholas was not happy with what Arius said. In fact, he grew so angry that he punched Arius. St. Nicholas probably still regrets having hit Arius, but it tells us something about how important our spiritual ancestors viewed correct teaching and belief. Their passion for this teaching, their desire to know God better, gave us this creed.So your life can change -- in just 44 days. Because that's what I encourage you to do. Take a segment each day. Read it, think about it, meditate on it, look up the scriptural references, and let it sink in. And prepare to have your life changed. When we think about the big things of life, when we meditate on the big things, it really has the capacity to change us. Not merely to know more about our faith, important as that is. But to have the chance to know the God who loves us even better. And that's the big goal of life.
