@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'

Be Mindful of Christ

There’s a lot of talk in our day about ‘mindfulness’. People are realising that what we set our minds on matters! You would think this was already obvious, but there are times when the obvious needs re-stating. I guess our day, with its myriad of distractions, is one of those times. But there is a tragedy in the way mindfulness is generally treated today, for sadly it is rare to find a reference to contemplating Jesus. People are encouraged to focus on their scrambled eggs, or the taste of them, but few think of lifting their eyes to Heaven. Isaiah was a clear thinker who accurately described the benefit of true mindfulness when he wrote: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength” (Isaiah 26:3,4). Let us not be those who merely meditate on the Lord when we go on a retreat, or when we enter a ‘sacred’ space, but let us go full-time. This was Isaiah’s position. When Christ intervened for our salvation, He did not come with fancy words of rhetoric, but He was nailed to a cruel Cross. He went all the way, for His eyes were fixed on the joy that was set before Him. Let us have the same kind of commitment, with our spiritual eyes fixed on Him. It’s a straight choice: occasional moments of peace when we turn to Him, or a life of perfect peace when our mind is fixed on Him.