@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'

Stories as Cultural Foundations

Stories of Jesus were foundational to the life of the first community of disciples. Every culture is built on its stories. They are foundational to its identity and way of life, and their significance can be compared to that of a building’s foundations. In many ways a building is only as good as its foundations. If the foundations are weak or inadequate, the structure may fail under certain conditions, bringing destruction and loss. Work can be done to strengthen foundations, but it’s a lot easier to build good foundations in the beginning! And that’s exactly what Jesus did. He made sure that His ekklesia, that’s the Greek word for church, would have all the stories it needed to stand firmly on the rock of revelation, just as He had promised it would. Let us draw strength from the greatest stories ever told!