@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'

Church As God Sees It

Concerning the Church, the issue is not so much ‘What do we see?’ but ‘What does God see?’ The letters to the churches in the New Testament book of Revelation remind us that God sees the Church and evaluates it, commending it for what is good and correcting it for what is lacking. Jesus, the head of His body, the Church, knows the body better than anyone. A person who cannot move their legs is usually aware of it! It may be said that if Christ is not the active head of His church, He might as well not be head at all. We maintain that active reliance on Jesus is the greatest key to the health and mission of the church, not only in the first century, but in every age. At the beginning, the church walked closely with Jesus. His love was felt, His power flowed from Heaven, and people were added daily. Let us encourage the Church to be still and listen to Jesus, its Divine Head!