Sunday Worship

“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.”
Justin Martyr

I must admit that for me one of the attractions of Christianity is its ancientness. When I go to church, I am participating in a rite that has been continuous for close to 2000 years. It gives me goose bumps that I am participating in something bigger than myself, and that I am passing this Faith on to my kids so that they can in turn pass this on to their kids. This passage describes the typical worship service of the early church. It was written around 150 AD by a man who was eventually beheaded by the Roman Empire for being a Christian. A number of notable things here:

A. They actually met together for fellowship.
B. They met on Sundays.
C. They read the Scriptures.
D. They listened to a sermon.
E. They prayed.
F. They administered the Eucharistic celebration (communion).
G. They took up an offering to help orphans and widows and the needy.

Is this how your church service looks? If not why not?

Here is another quote taken from the same document concerning the Eucharist.

“And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.”

I’m not really sure what this all means, but it certainly sounds like they believed that the Eucharist was something more than a mere remembrance.