@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'

First Century Renaissance

Church today as at the beginning

What was it like to worship in the first Christian church? There are many characteristics we might consider, but perhaps the greatest of these is the influence of its Divine leader, then and now, the Lord Jesus Christ. The fellowship of the first church was deeply influenced by the example of Jesus' interactions with His disciples. Beginning in the days before the church began, these meetings were characterised by a sense of community, worship, and shared commitment to His teaching. This same group dynamic continued after the resurrection and was the cultural climate of the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42-47). The liturgical practices of this early church, although not fully documented, can be inferred from the New Testament, from our knowledge of first century Judaism, and from traditions preserved by the Ancient Orthodox Church. However many centuries have elapsed since those early days, if in our churches we will endeavour like the apostles, “not to knowanything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2) our meetings will be identical in spirit to theirs! Halleluia!