before church had a name or a place ... We are knit together by shared belief and faith, by shared principle, and by the bond of a common hope. We gather together, lifting up our prayers to God, as in our agreement we might engage with Him, and God delights in this strong interchange. We pray, too, for the rulers, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final conclusion. We gather to read His words . . . and with those, we strengthen our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more steadfast; and under His instruction we build lives worth living.
There is no buying and selling of any sort in the things of God. Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase-money like some religion that has a price for recognition or favor returned. On the day, if one likes, each puts in a small donation; but only by choice, and only as each is able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are . . . not spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck ... But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us ...
They say of believers, "See how they love one another," while they themselves are driven by hatred. "See how they are ready even to die for one another," they say, while they themselves would sooner kill.
~ from Tertullian, Justin Martyr, and others speaking of Christians in the first and second centuries. The church was not yet defined or organized, but Christians were emerging across the empire.
They were strangers and sojourners, we're told, passing their days graciously and unselfishly here on earth but as citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time, they far surpass the laws by their lives. The real thing, just fascinating.
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Do Christians and the church today impress the world similarly?