The Original Church
Spirituality/Belief
The Original Church, with Dr. James L. Papandrea, is an ecumenical Christian community exploring our common roots in the early Church for the purposes of spiritual growth and practicing the Christian faith. No politics, debates, or proselytizing, just "faith seeking understanding" from the perspective of the early (and medieval) Church and the Church fathers. Jim Papandrea is an author and Professor of Church History and Historical Theology.
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The Cafe - An Ancient Laundromat

In tomorrow's session of The Journey, we will hear Jesus' comments about patching an old garment, and whether or not the patch is "unfulled." That's a reference to the fuller or the laundry - the point being that "unfulled" cloth is cloth that has never been washed, dyed, or processed in any way. Most translations will render this as "unshrunk" which is kind of the point. The "unfulled" cloth is too new to be sewn onto an old garment, and if you did that, when you washed the garment, the new patch will shrink and pull the stitching, and create a worse tear.

Well, we will unpack the meaning of all this tomorrow, but for now, here are some photos of the ancient fullonica - the laundromat in the ruins of the city of Ostia Antica, outside of Rome. Notice the vats, which would be filled with water and a bleaching agent (i.e., human pee) and then slaves would walk around on the clothes, creating leg power agitators, not unlike the way they would crush grapes for wine. One hopes that the same slaves didn't do both jobs. Anyway, enjoy these pics of an ancient laundry, and I will see you tomorrow on The Journey!

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Sneak Peek into my NEW OFFICE!

I'm back, up and running, and ready to go - I should have a new JOURNEY episode within the next week or so - and because you are my loyal peeps, here is an exclusive, just-for-you, behind the scenes SNEAK PEEK into my new office:

00:02:17
In case you missed it, here's my Gospel Reflection

This was for March 24th, recorded for the Ascension App

00:02:57
The Journey is BACK!

Thanks for your patience - here is our next installment of The Journey - it's session # 96, but I'm also calling it PART 1 of a "miniseries" on John chapter 6.

Whoever watches it first, please let me know if it looks good or if there are any problems with it - I get through the first two sections of the text on the feeding of the 5,000.

Enjoy!

00:36:42
Here's another song... Come Let Us Climb the Lord's Mountain

I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:

In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

I hope you like the song!

Here's another song... Come Let Us Climb the Lord's Mountain
THE JOURNEY 101

This is Part 6 of our mini-series on John Chapter 6

Here's the latest from The Way of the Fathers

The second episode on St. Hildegard of Bingen

Here is Episode 100 !! of The Journey

Something to celebrate! 100 Episodes! Here it is, Episode 100 (which is part 5 of the series on John, Chapter 6) - post comments and questions!

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