Liturgy

We were to live by love and charity not by force and not covet our neighbors property through men who called themselves Benefactors like most of the Modern Christians do with their modern Corban. The early Church "fathers" as some call them had a daily ministration provided by Pure Religion so that Christians did not have to go to the "Fathers" of the earth whose welfare was a snare. See The_Liturgy_of_the_Church.

Liturgy of the lost

What is liturgy and what was the liturgy of Christ?

Marcel Metzger writes about the "History of the Liturgy", pointing to the differences between the Last Supper celebrated by Jesus and a pontifical High Mass at St. Peter's in Rome! But does the pomp of priest and bishop have any thing to do with liturgy?

Liturgy is defined today as “a prescribed form or set of forms for public religious worship.”

The words leitourgi and leitourgos are from the Greek words λαός / Laos, "the people" and the root ἔργο / ergon meaning "work". Together their meaning can be “public service” and “public servant” respectively. In ancient Greece this leitourgi or public service was financed by the wealthier citizens or even residents of the different city-states.

At first this giving was almost a competition to obtain the prestige as the most generous since generosity was a virtue. Between the 6th and 4th century BC it became more an obligation. The most generous or most competent would often be put in charge of those funds which could be used for public feasts, public works, athletic competitions, or even military expenses from walls to ships.

The "liturgical class" could include anyone with a patrimony of 10 talents or as little as three but everyone could contribute to gain a measure of prestige at most every level of society. Over the centuries the generosity of this giving would rise and fall and with it jealousy and envy. The term Euergetism gradually replaced the liturgical term more as a vocabulary change rather than a practice.

Private euergetism(εὐεργετέω "do good deeds" derived from the ancient Greek euergetes, benefactor) was common among the Roman Libera res publica but decreased as a voluntary act under the the Caesars.

Julius Caesar overshadowed that giving with vast sums that came from first selling the wives and children of dead Gauls into slavery for a profit. This amoral practice was overlooked by the "masses who became more and more dependent upon the welfare of the State run temples.

Julius Caesar with the reorganization of the military made the militia superfluous and the free bread and circuses of Rome further degenerated the social bonds of the Republic. Many of the wealthy objections to the war crimes of Julius Caesar became silent for the euergetism( εὐεργετέω) had become almost a tax which the slaves sold supplemented.

The liturgy of love

Some Romans who could still remembered the Libera res publica dreamed of a return to the way of liberty that seemed to come with the promise of the gospel of Christ.

Early Christians shared their wealth according to the perfect law of liberty in a sort of viable republic through a system of fervent charity. The Greek precept of euergetism(εὐεργετέω) was common taught by Christ and his followers.

Liturgy of Christ was not about singing and vestments and the smoke and mirrors of modern Christendom. It was about the public servants of the kingdom of God operating a daily ministration of Pure Religion under the perfect law of liberty That provided a source of daily bread at the tables of Christ. The alternative “public servant” provided the dainties of a leitourgi or liturgy through a form of public welfare at the tables of rulers that historically was a snare.

The people in the early days of the Libera res publica understood this distinction. Moses also taught it to Israel and John the Baptist, Christ, and His Apostles taught it to the early Church. Throughout the ages this fundamental Christian conflict with the tables of the world men make for themselves has been blurred and forgotten.

The true worship of God was the caring for one another in love, faith, hope, and charity by service to the people, for the people and of the people.

The real rituals and ceremonies of the Church were established by Christ.

The daily ministration through the practice of Pure Religion to care for the needy of society was clearly one of the basic rituals and ceremonies of the Early Church who would not eat at the tables of rulers.

The Church established by Christ followed the rituals and ceremonies of Christ to fulfill His purposes and the righteousness of God.

The covetous practices of force and fear that makes men merchandise are the antithesis of the rituals and ceremonies laid out in the Sound Doctrines of Christ and His Holy Church.

The liturgy of blood

Constantine's church would unmoor the metaphor of those sayings and be ever performing their rituals and ceremonies but never come to a knowledge of truth.

The blind shall lead the blind and they both fall into a pit of bondage. The modern Church no longer teaches that the covetous practices of legal charity through the state is what made the word of God to none effect.

As an example there was a vast difference between the early baptisms by immersion described in the Acts of the Apostles and the baptisms or Christening of newborns in parishes today.

Metzger also points this out but misses the distinction between the baptism of the Pharisees and Herod that Baptism of John the Baptist.

John says he only baptized with water but it is the baptism with fire and the Holy Spirit that is emphasized.

Failing to understand the context of these rituals and ceremonies may make them hollow rather than holy, mindless rather than meaningful.

There was a vast difference between the Corban of the Pharisees and the Corban of Christ, between the "legal charity" of Rome and the fervent charity of Christ's called out, His ekklesia, e.g. His Holy Church.

Even Christening had a purpose that is unseen by modern Christians whose conscience has been seared.

Disciplined liturgy

The Christian community was well-disciplined and organized from the bottom up with a system of charity rather than forced offerings or taxes.

While the Roman system of political control and its usurious economy was breaking down, those who followed Christ were excluded from the dainties of those civic tables. In about AD 150, Justin Martyr, hoping to clear the misconceptions and prejudices surrounding Christianity, wrote the Emperor Antoninus Pius in defense of the Christian faith and allegiance to Christ:

“And the wealthy among us help the needy ... 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.” Justin Martyr to Emperor Antoninus Pius (Ch. 65-67) explaining the Daily ministration of the Church which exemplifies the Christian conflict with Rome.

Justin would not trade his faith in Christ for the benefits of Rome because he knew that what they offered for his welfare was truly a snare of recompense. Christians “had fallen into such a folly that they would not obey the institutes of antiquity.”

These were the official temples of Rome which had been established by the government for the welfare of the people.

As with ministers like Stephen, we also see the Didache stating:

“Therefore, elect for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men who are meek and not lovers of money, true and approved, for they also perform for you the ministry of the prophets and teachers.” 15:1

The nature of these appointments would remain the same for centuries. In the 10th century, drastic reforms were enforced to “unify the liturgy” of the Church. This authoritarian call for unity under a centralized Church had been creeping into some Church thinking from the beginning, and now it became a rebellion against the gospels.

Liturgy is defined as “a prescribed form or set of forms for public religious worship.”

It is from the Greek word leitourgi and 'leitourgos , meaning “public service” and “public servant” respectively. Liturgy was not about singing and vestments and the smoke and mirrors of modern Christendom. It was about the public servants of the Kingdom of God operating under the perfect law of liberty in true worship of God by service to the people. Liturgy was the common procedure of God’s kingdom in congregations composed of, by, and for the people.

Forms of this same word defined as public service appear numerous times in the New Testament. Zacharias in Luke 1:23 finishes his "days of his ministration" at the temple. Temples in every nation provided actual service of caring for the needs of society and were government buildings providing public service.

Paul talks about the saints, who were the called out being assisted by the offerings of the people using the term leitourgia in 2 Corinthians 9:12

Because the early Church and the early Christians were following the way of Christ they provided their public service through the "sacrifice and service" of their faith through charity. The public servants of Jesus the Christ did real work and struggle to provide real public service to the people. While this often brought the Church into conflict with Rome and its public service through their temples dependent upon forced offerings and taxation it was a more excellent way. The pure religion of the early Church was often sprinkled with the blood of the ministers and the people through persecution just as Jesus sacrificed himself for us.

The Greek verb leitourgeo meaning to "to serve the state at one’s own cost" also appears in Acts speaking of their daily duty to minister because religion was a duty to God and our fellowman in hope of the Holy Spirit entering into us and writing upon our hearts and minds.

Christ taught and even commanded a different way of public service through charity and faith instead of fealty and force to the little flock he appointed the kingdom to so that we might repent and seek His kingdom of God.

The free systems of tens, hundreds, and thousands, bound together only by brotherhood and love, had been the predominant form of successful voluntary government throughout man’s history. Similar cell patterns were evident in the persecuted Church immediately following Christ. This was the prophecy and plan of God for his called out Church and throughout Europe during the first Millennium until the rise of kings crowned by an apostate church which murdered millions of true Christians.

The crucial ingredient to their success was the implementation of the Ten codes of God’s law summarized in the virtuous application of Christ’s two commandments. Love God and His ways with all that you think and do, and actively love your neighbor's rights to his property and family, his life and liberty as much, if not more, than you love your own. The Church that comes together according to these ancient patterns and righteousness can overcome all tyrants, despots, and enemies of freedom and liberty under God. They may be sustained by their love in famine and blight. They may exit bondage and prosper in the wilderness. They can weather the greatest storms and cataclysms of history, both past or future. They can and will inherit the earth with the humility of their love in daily sacrifice, which is the communion of Christ. [see Chapter 4 of Thy Kingdom Comes.]

“And in that day seven women [churches] shall take hold of one man [Christ], saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.” Isaiah 4:1

Disconnectedness to do your own thing goes contrary to the communion of Christ. The seven women have a liturgy in selfishness. The women admit reproach, but they do not seek the righteous way of repentance. Their aim is to do the same as they did in their former life-situation. It appears they would compel that one man to serve them and to hide their sin.

God’s ministers and all those people who seek His kingdom, who minister one to another, do not exercise authority nor compel the service and labor of their neighbor; they act in accordance with the manner and means of the liturgy of Jesus Christ, and they must not forsake the coming together for the assistance of the congregations of the People and the Church. They are to worship and pay homage to the God of us all, and to our King, Jesus the Messiah, through an active network of faith, hope, and charity, which is love.

Eucharist is the Greek word for being thankful for the opportunity of giving, which is the Communion of Christ in us.

Our bread is shared; it is cast upon the waters. Justin explained this food to 'help the needy' is called the 'eucharist'. Thankful givers supplied the food when they assembled together on Sunday. This was the welfare assistance in God's kingdom, and thankful needy ones receive it. The needy ones did not pray to Rome for assistance. They sought the communion of Christ, which was nutrients flowing to the portion of the body of Christ that had need.

This interacting and nurturing by the eucharist, which for the sake of liberty was of and for and by the people, was the liturgy, and this is the worship of God.

Certain men crept in unawares

Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When the people depended upon the offerings of charity of the Church rather than the compelled contributions of Egypt, Rome, Judea or Babylon, etc, they found they must change. They have a new master they pray to. That master operates a system based on love, not force. John the Baptist and Jesus offered a different way than the world at that time. It is a different way than the world at this time. It is The Way of Christ.

Over the ages, the actual corporeal and incorporeal service of the church to the people became little more than superstitious religious ceremonies designed to give the people a feeling of being justified in the delusion that they were worshiping God. In truth they were actually sacrificing upon the altars of the Nicolaitans. This is the error of Balaam and the antithesis of Christ.

In the early centuries, the people were dependent upon the network of the Church to sustain them in the hard times of Roman and Judaic collapse. Today, many Churches preach tithing, but they send the people to benefactors who exercise authority one over the other, contrary to the precepts of Christ.

His Holy Church has no authority to dictate a ‘unified liturgy’. That is to say, we cannot compel the manner of public service, like other governments do, nor can we exercise authority over the choice and liberty of each other.

The church does have an obligation to care for the needs of the flock of Christ, the people hearing His voice, and the ones seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It has a mission to serve the people so that they need not pray to the benefactors of the world. What we write is about that network used by Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ to edify the Kingdom of God which is within our reach.

Every man and woman must strive to follow the precepts of Christ in protecting one another as God’s altars of living earth. The ministers of the Church---who set aside some of their personal liberty to serve God by serving His people---are the living stones of His altar, performing an important function of representation. His Church must preach the kingdom of love and liberty. It is to facilitate the communion of the people in faith, hope, and charity, so that they learn and live the gospel of the kingdom as free souls under God. We must all unlearn the ways and the practices of the world that are contrary to the ways of Christ and His Holy first century Church. Worldly ways have crept into our thinking over the last two millennia.

We must examine the meaning of phrases like worship services, kingdom of God, first century Church, congregations of the people, and pure religion. We must look at the particular directives of Christ and show true faith in the whole gospel of the Kingdom.

We are told that we should not be like The governments of the world who call themselves benefactors and public servants but who rule over the manner and means of the sacrifices of the people by ruling over the people and the people ruling over their neighbor, exercising authority in the provision of their own welfare. Such welfare has always been a snare and a stumbling block for the people, from David to Paul and even down unto this very day. Through covetousness, such systems make the people little more than human resources, slaves to serve the will of despots and tyrants.

The leaders of the Church are the antithesis of such institutions of men which exercise authority one over the other. They show their faith in Christ by their provision of good service.

The people who seek the righteousness of Christ and His kingdom care for the welfare of each other through the bonds of love, in a network of charity ministered to by those living stones of God’s altar of their choosing. Through a process of forgiveness and a communion of thanksgiving, the Holy Spirit shall write the liturgy of God on the minds and hearts of the whole body of Christ, providing salvation in this world and the next.

See The_Liturgy_of_the_Church

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