How It Was In My Time. Part 2 & 3. |
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Georgia, US of A, May 9, 2004. Received by Rebecca. Joseph: "It would be good to write down what I told you before; how people loved the earth, and it provided for them. Write about bread and wine. People grew food, and the ones they could preserve were bread and wine. So bread and wine were always available. There were also oils, olives. The other foods were basically ‘catch as catch can.’ The other foods came and went from the diet." Rebecca: "What about the Eucharist, the sharing of bread and wine?" Joseph: "This was after my time. But I can tell you that the short answer is that some churches now use it, and some don’t, and either way is OK. To understand how it started, you have to understand the Judaic tradition, and what was going on at the time. There were rituals, feasts, and sacrifices offered at the temple. It was centralized and only certain people could go. Only certain people could perform the rites. "Early on, Christians would get together in a circle, just five or six at a time sometimes, and hand around some bread and wine to say they were sharing the body and blood of Christ. This was to affirm their connection, to commune, and to remember Him. In this way they had their own simple ritual that they could do anytime and anywhere, using ordinary food they already had close at hand. So it was decentralized and they did not have to depend on anyone outside themselves. "The other thing about this early Eucharist was that even if it was against the law to be Christian, even if they were trying to be unobtrusive, they could quickly gather anywhere, quietly share bread and wine, and there would be no evidence, no traces of the simple rite. They had simply shared a meal. "It wasn’t that they were being bloodthirsty, or had a morbid fascination with Christ's death. In the context of how they were raised as Jews, it made sense to have a simple feast of remembrance. And then this was easy to share with non-Jews who didn’t know about all the other elaborate rules and rituals. Now that there are churches where people can gather openly, there is not the same need for it. "Even though you have a very busy life, it would do you good to write this message down. It would do you good to receive messages sometimes, because you have a contemplative nature. You have a prayerful nature. Not having time for contemplation and prayer makes you unhappy." [Part3 - undated.] Rebecca (Requesting to know his identity.) Joseph: "I was born of the clan of David, of the village of Bethlehem. In those days, we kept track of our lineage through the patriarchal line. Do you want to know my whole life history? (Laughing). I was conceived and born of a woman, just as you were. I was an infant and then a young child. We lived communally, enjoying the land, as you know from Greece. When I was young I attended religion school and we learned to recite texts. Yes, Jesus was my older brother. He was much older, more like an uncle to me. When I was about three, he was about eighteen. "He was always kind. He was quiet and serious, reverent, and peaceful. He was always inward, as if he was listening inward very intently. Yet he was quick to smile, and he was very handsome. Then came the days when I was older, when he was away traveling around and we heard amazing stories about events that had happened and what he had done. We were not sure what had come over him, what had become of him, and whether it was the same Jesus we knew. Then came the terrifying days in which he was killed. We were afraid. He tried to tell everyone about God, and because he was not from the rich and powerful group at the temple, because he was from a simple village way of life, they killed him. He gave his life to tell people about God. And after he died, then we felt a strong light, the light of blessings, coming down upon us. Only then did we fully realize the power and truth of what he had been teaching and who he was. That was how we experienced it. [At this point my daughter interrupted me. He promised more later.] © 11:11 Progress Group. |