Instead of a Show

J.R.R. Tolkien turns the
phrase “there and back again” implying traveling in a circle… Folk in the first century after Christ’s resurrection had just as much difficulty as we do today being influenced by popular culture and attitudes and acting accordingly in an every man for himself manner. Peter address this in his first epistle: 1 Peter 1:23-25 (Amplified Bible)


You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.


For all mankind is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower drops off,


But the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this Word is the good news which was preached to you.

In the next century Tertullian wrote a lengthy piece in defense of Christianity, a portion of which is edited here:

Tertullian's Apology, Chapter XXXIX (39) (end of 2nd century beginning of 3rd century)

"The people of Megara feast as though they were going to die on the morrow; they build as though they were never to die!" We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. We meet together as an assembly and congregation, offering up prayer to God as with united force. We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final consummation. We assemble to read our sacred writings. For with a great gravity is the work of judging carried on among us, as befits those who feel assured that they are in the sight of God; and you have the most notable example of judgment to come when any one has sinned so grievously as to require his severance from us in prayer, in the congregation and in all sacred intercourse. The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honor not by purchase, but by established character. On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are, as it were, piety's deposit fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God's Church, they become the nurslings of their confession. But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another, for themselves are animated by mutual hatred; The Salii cannot have their feast without going into debt; you must get the accountants to tell you what the sacrificial banquets cost; the choicest cook is appointed for the Attic mysteries; the smoke from the banquet of Serapis will call out the firemen. Yet about the modest supper-room of the Christians alone a great ado is made. Our feast explains itself by its name The Greeks call it agape. Whatever it costs, with the good things of the feast we benefit the needy. If the object of our feast be good, in the light of that consider its further regulations. As it is an act of religious service, it permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits the chaste. They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual ablution, and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing,-a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it is closed. We go from it, not like troops of mischief-doers, nor bands of vagabonds, nor to break out into licentious acts, but to have as much care of our modesty and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue rather than a banquet. Give the congregation of the Christians its due, and hold it unlawful, if it is like assemblies of the illicit sort: by all means let it be condemned, if any complaint can be validly laid against it, such as lies against secret factions. But who has ever suffered harm from our assemblies? We are in our congregations just what we are when separated from each other; we are as a community what we are individuals; we injure nobody, we trouble nobody. When the upright, when the virtuous meet together, when the pious, when the pure assemble in congregation, you ought not to call that a faction, but a curia-[i.e., the court of God.]
As the church, the body of Christ, has developed through the centuries there have been ups and downs. Currently it seems this may not be one of the finest hours for the church, with news of denominational schisms, acrimonious doctrinal discourses, moral leadership lapses and dwindling membership rolls. In the midst of this thought, I received an email. Aunt Margaret died in a nursing home in Idaho. As she was dying, there was no immediate family left alive or near to comfort her. The church secretary receiving word that Aunt Margaret was failing and unable to reach the pastor went to the nursing home and spent three hours with her singing hymns, praying and reading scripture until my aunt passed peacefully to heaven. The secretary could have decided to stay in the office and finish her paper work and go home to her family and have been justified by the values of popular culture. Instead she spent her time making sure Aunt Margaret did not die alone. Tertullian would have written of this: See how she agape loved my aunt, that Christian. Peter, the bondservant of Jesus Christ would have been pleased. (2 Peter 1:5-7) Peter wrote: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. There and back again in love, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen.