Why Stay Connected to the Early Church?
Staying connected to the early Church is something we need, as Christians, to take seriously in the modern era. The first commandment regarding our duty to our fellow man is the 5th commandment, not the 6th. We honor the past because God’s Law calls us to, not because of nostalgia. In the old hymn The Church’s One Foundation, we rejoice in our union with the Triune God and in our “mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.” When we receive the Holy Spirit, He unites us with Christ and His people as one. Jesus tells us in John 14:20-23:
“In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
We stay connected to the early church because God, through the Spirit, connects us to them.
He is Dead Not The God of the Dead
Often we think of the saints from the past as “dead.” However, the Sadducees made that mistake. Because they did not believe in a future resurrection every one that had once lived was no more. It is no wonder that they were the theological liberals of their day. Not believing in a future resurrection served to cut them off from their past. Jesus rebukes them for their error when they came to entrap Him with their story about the woman married to seven brothers? Jesus responds to their contrived story by saying, “And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:31-32).”
The Mystic Sweet Communion of Worship
As we saw in John 14:20–23, everyone indwelt by the Holy Spirit is connected to both God and one another. We share a union with God and a communion with fellow believers. Because no Christian is truly dead, we enjoy a “mystic” or invisible spiritual bond with them—a connection that physical death cannot break. They are now worshiping the Father in the spirit, and whenever we ourselves go before the throne of God, they are there too.
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12:22-24)
Staying Practically Connected to the Early Church
One of the ways the Christian Church through the centuries has maintained our connection is through song. First we sing the Psalms as the hymn book of God. They train us in the worship of God. Second, we sing songs that they wrote. When we sing their songs we witness to the universal and continuous work of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s people. We hear in their longings our own. In their words we learn better how to express our own. Then, when it comes to bearing witness with our own songs ours rhyme in meaning with theirs bearing witness to the “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:5b-6).
The One God reveals His work and message through the worship and witness of Christ’s spiritually unified Church. No place is that spiritual unity (or discord) more displayed than in the songs Christians sing.
Connecting to the Early Church in Music: Trisagion
Here’s a song I recently discovered—and I absolutely love it. Trisagion means “Thrice Holy. It is popular in among Eastern Christians. Its first use liturgically was in 270 AD, however, it is believed to be much older than that. The Doxology and the Gloria Patria both extend back into the Greek world before latin became ascendant. Like them, it is a very short song. However, neither is believed to date anywhere near the 3rd century, let alone the 2nd. Liturgical Folk has some really good settings for several ancient hymns and prayers. I share a few more from them in the coming weeks. Wihtout further adieu, Trisagion.
Thanks For Stopping By
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Sermon
This week Pastor Jeremy will be in Acts 21:27-35 “Paul’s Arrest at the Temple”
March Memory & Meditation
Memory & Meditation Verses for this week are Psalm 22:7-8.
Read our latest Blog Series, Forsaken For Us All Part 1 Part 2 based on Psalm 22:1-15 our Memory & Meditation Verses until we Celebrate the Resurrection.
You can also read our previous blog Series, Christ, His Church, & Marriage Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 based on Ephesians 5:22-33.
March Catechism Questions
Westminster Shorter Catechism: Questions 1-6
Reminder that Questions 1-5 which were our WSC Catechism Questions for last month can be presented before any member of the Consistory during lunch this week.
Lord’s Day Meal
No, there will not be a meal this week. The Senior Center is having their yearly Yard Sale this weekend and they need to be in the building by 12:30 on Sunday. Short liturgy this week. Consider it an opportunity to perhaps have someone over for lunch at your house.
Psalms & Hymns of Worship
Psalm 57:1-3 Tune: When I Survey & Hymn – Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Psalm 56:1-4 Tune: Irish & Hymn – Sacred Head Now Wounded
Yes Midweek Worship
Pizza arrives at the Pickens home beginning @ 6:15 pm. First we will begin the Opus Dei promptly @ 7 pm, then we will have our Catechism Lesson & Prayer. We will webcast to the Zoom Prayer Room. The Catechism Lesson will come from Question 7-8 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Join Us for Worship
Finally, come and worship with us on the Lord’s Day. We also meet on three Wednesday evenings a month for Catechism Lesson & Prayer. Another Visit our Homepage or What We Believe for more information. Find us on Google Maps or watch our sermons on Youtube.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
Pastor Jeremy
“The Creation is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most exquisite, and at the same time, the most abundant furnishings. Everything in it tells of God.” – John Calvin
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