@FirstChurchofJerusalem
Today's Early Church Wisdom
“I shall not hesitate also to put into ordered form for you, along with the interpretations, everything I learned carefully in the past from the elders and noted down carefully, for the truth of which I vouch. For unlike most people, I took no pleasure in those who told many different stories, but only in those who taught the truth. Nor did I take pleasure in those who reported their memory of someone else’s commandments, but only in those who reported their memory of the commandments given by the Lord to the faith and proceeding from the Truth itself. And if by chance anyone who had been in attendance on the elders arrived, I made enquiries about the words of the elders—what Andrew or Peter had said, or Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and whatever Aristion and John the Elder, the Lord’s disciples, were saying. For I did not think that information from the books would profit me as much as information from a living and surviving voice.
~ Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60–130 AD) From the Preface to his lost ‘Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord’
This week's Psalm is Psalm 31 'My Rock, My Shield, My Song'

Anxiety & Circumstances

Anxiety can be a response to actual or possible external threats. We live in a world of death and decay. Sin and its effects surround us on every side. As finite beings with limited resources, we face the challenge of surviving in that uncertain world, of finding some meaning for our lives, and of meeting our needs as best we can. Faced with so many challenges beyond our control or resourcing, it is inevitable that we will have to battle with anxiety. Options in this case include changing the environment or changing the way we see the environment. Contextual changes may need to be made, but these are not always easy or even possible. The Bible records numerous situations where physical miracles occur, reducing fear and anxiety. The parting of the Sea of Reeds in the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 14), the fall of the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6), and Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41), are all examples of remarkable and dramatic contextual changes that brought peace and security. Praise God, they point towards a day that is coming when He will completely transform the environment, and creation will be restored to a state even greater than its original pre-Fall condition. But until then, we need an answer to life’s uncertainty, and that answer often involves changing the way we see the environment.