@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'

Go to Heaven’s Gym

Many people today are concerned to maintain their physical health and fitness, but not so many are aware of the need to stay in good spiritual shape. Our title for today’s brief reflection is a little bit tongue in cheek, because the path to spiritual fitness is somewhat different to the path to physical fitness. Nevertheless, out title is true in principle, because spiritual health and strength also require exercise. Not physical exercise, but spiritual. There are various spiritual exercises that we may use to become spiritually strong, but the greatest will always be waiting on God, which is why Isaiah writes, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). When we choose to be still and look to Jesus (that is, we practice the presence of God with us), and we use our God-given imaginative faculty to actively listen to Him, something miraculous happens. We hear His personal word to us, which progressively transforms us into His likeness, renewing our mind and strengthening our spirit. This is the guaranteed outcome of ‘working out’ in Heaven’s gym!