intro to church

Insights from Matthew 6.25-34

(oral sharing)

Matthew 6.33“Seek ye first

The Kingdom of GodAnd His RighteousnessAnd all these things

Shall be added unto to youA-lle-lu… Alleluia

(repeat)

Without GOD our WEEK would be…

SINday, MOURNday, TEARSday, WASTEday, THIRSTday, FIGHTday and SHATTERday.

Seven days without God makes one WEAK!

“CHURCH” is…(summary)

O Building/Physical StructureO Place of Worship and PrayerO Hierarchy O Community of Believers

Results from Church Survey

OWhat is the most common notion of the church according to:OFirst Year students -----OSecond Year students -----OThird Year students -----OFourth and Fifth Year Students ------O Tallying all the scores, what is the most

common notion of the church?O Any unique responses about the

church?

O The church defines today as…

“ the community of baptized men and women who, united in Christ,

and guided by the Holy Spirit, press onward towards the

Kingdom of God and are bearers of a message of salvation intended for all men (and

women).”

GAUDIUM ET SPES (GS) 1

ORIGIN OF THE WORD “CHURCH”

IN THE BIBLE

Theology of the Wordby Fr. James Meehan, SJ

OWith the coming of the HS amidst the sound “as a violent wind blowing” and the appearance of “tongues like fire which distributed themselves and settled on each one of them”(Acts 2:2-3) there began for all men to see, the life of the Christian community which has continued down to our own day and will remain until the Lord returns.

O The early chapters of Acts of the Apostles depict for us the first day of this community: a period characterized by a profound unity among all believers and an exultant joy in their possession of the Holy Spirit and in the visible but real presence among them of the risen Jesus.

OThe When the divinely inspired writers of the NT wished to give a name to the community born of Christ and the Spirit, they frequently employed the Greek word ekklesia often translated into English as“church”.

O[Ekklesia] was not a word coined by the sacred writers themselves, for it already existed in the secular Greek of their day.

OThe Englishword“assembly” perhaps best conveys the idea of what ekklesia meant in ordinary usage: an assembly of men, and in particular, an assembly of citizens “called together to deliberate upon affairs of state.

Greek “Assembly” of Citizens

OIf the word had a technical ring to it, it was in this civic sense. It had no special religious connotation.

OAlthough the word had no special religious meaning in ordinary Greek, it very definitely did in the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT known as Septuagint, a version of the Sacred Scriptures substantially completed a century or so before the Christian Era.

OThe word Ekklesia was chosen to render a Hebrew word rich in theological context.

OThe word was qahal “assembly”.

O Qahal “assembly”or Qehal Yahweh, “the assembly of the Lord,” designated the Hebrew people of the old at those moments in their history when they were most especially “called together”.

Two Characteristics of Qehal Yahweh

1. The people did not constitute themselves the “assembly of the Lord. Rather, it was God who took the initiative; It was He who freely summoned them to Himself.

2. The purpose of their being“called together” by the Lord was that they might become a sacred and holy people, a community consecrated to the worship of God.

The Chosen People of Yahweh

O[The Lord said to Moses] “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me kingdom of priests, a holy nation. That is what you must tell the Israelites” (Exodus 19:3-6).

OThe author of the book of Deuteronomy … picture Moses as recalling to the Israelites, who are about to enter the Promised land, all that God had said and done when “the Lord spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly”(Deut. 9:10)

OThe Hebrew word qahal, then, is rich in meaning. Literally it signifies an assembly, a convocation, But the reality it refers to is much more than a mere grouping of men. It is essentially a divinely created assembly.

OYahweh, the lord, and He alone gathered His people to Himself and made them His own. He and He alone made them hole … and consecrated them to His worship.

ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH

Old Testament – “ QAHAL ”

New Testament – “ EKKLESIA ”

BIBLICAL MEANING OF THE CHURCH

O Old Testament (QAHAL)--used to designate

the Hebrews who were CALLED TOGETHER by Yahweh, the Lord

--Known as the ASSEMBLY OF THE LORD

O New Testament (EKKLESIA)--The gathering

together of early Christians for prayer and for the breaking of the bread

--A COMMUNITY called together by Christ

Modern Understading of the CHURCH today…

OThe church today is the NEW PEOPLE OF GOD which exists in each local community and made real in Eucharist assembly

(Catechism of the Catholic Church or CCC 752).

Modern Understading of the CHURCH today…

OGaudium et Spes #1 of Vatican II document defines the church as “ a community of baptized men and women who, united in Christ, and guided by the Holy Spirit, press onward towards the Kingdom of God and are bearers of a message of salvation intrended for all men”

Understanding A New Term

What do we mean when we say:

I am a CHRISTIAN.

Answer:

O I am a CHRISTIAN because I am a

follower and believer of Jesus the Christ.

How about …

O As a Christian,

I am a CATHOLIC.

Answer:

O CATHOLIC means universal or all embracing as defined by St. Ignatius of Antioch in 100 AD.

OAs member of the Catholic church, we embrace and accept all types of persons.

In addition, but what do we mean by:O I am a

ROMAN CATHOLIC.

Answer:

O I am a ROMAN CATHOLIC because I submit myself to the authority of the Pope in Rome.

CHRISTIAN means …OA follower of Jesus Christ

CATHOLIC means…• Given by St. Ignatius of

Antioch in 100 AD which means UNIVERSAL, ALL EMBRACING, OPEN FOR ALL.

• we are in union with the bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter = the Pope.

ROMAN CATHOLIC means…