The Early Church

Recently friends of mine went on a trip to Armenia. One of the things that they brought back for me as a gift was a candle from the very first established church in the world. The Etchmiadzin Cathedral was consecrated in 301AD. The cathedral hosts the Catholicos, which is the administrative head of the Armenian Church, and served as a refuge for Turkish Armenian refugees during the Armenian Genocide. The candle was an incredibly thoughtful gift, but it also got me thinking, the church has been around for a long, long time. The Church has done some pretty amazing things since its beginning in that upper room on the first Pentecost. It has also done some atrocious things as well. There are also a lot of ways that our modern Episcopal church looks like the early church (e.g. the prominence of the eucharist, the way that we read scripture during our services, the high view of baptism), but there are also some important ways that we have veered from how the first Christians lived and did ministry. For this reason, in the fall, as part of our adult education and formation we will be doing a bible study of the book of Acts. The hope is that through the reading and study of this important book of the New Testament, we can rediscover and reimagine how we might shape St Paul’s into a community of faith, love, sacrifice, and service that resembles the Christianity as described by Luke. Times, dates, and readings to come, but I am excited to go on this journey through history and God’s Word with you all after the summer.