Law of God

The idea of Christian civilization apart from the abiding validity of the Law of God is a myth. For the Law of God has abiding validity in all ages and cultures as the only ministerial standard by which Christ's governance through His Church in all areas of thought and life gives rise to Christian civilization. To reject the abiding validity of the God’s Law is to reject the Kingdom of God and embrace the Kingdom of Man as the only viable form of society for history. This is the subcultural and countercultural view. In contrast, the kingdomcultural view regards the Kingdom of Man as something, not to be retreated from or revolted against, but as something to be replaced altogether. Thus a superior standard “from above” is needed for determining the knowledge of good and evil in order to replace the inferior standard “of this world” in common to all variations of the Kingdom of Man. That standard is the Law of God. It’s the standard of the Kingdom of God in both the Old and New Covenant eras. Thus Christ, in preaching the good news of the gospel of the Kingdom, forbids us to even begin to think that He has come to abolish the Law in this New Covenant era. He came to put the Kingdom of Man and its perversions of the Law on ice, not the Kingdom of God and the right and proper use of the Law.

Also see “The Abiding Validity of the Law of God,” Apostolic Rule of Faith, and Theonomy.

Lectionary

The Lectionary is the set of Scripture readings followed in the Daily Office and in Sunday Eucharistic worship that tell the Epic Story in rhythm with the Church Year. Basileia utilizes that form of the Lectionary prepared by the Consultation On The Common Texts. Downloadable files for Years A, B, C based on the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings are available here. A resource to track where we are at in the calendar is available here , at a site dedicated only to highlighting lectionary resources for the Sundays.

Also see Church Year, Daily Office, Epic Story, and Eucharistic Worship.

Listen

Listen is an element of the third of the five primary disciplines of our Basileian way of life – journey, assemble, listen, govern and serve. Also, in parallel fashion, it is an element in the third movement of the Liturgy by which worshipers listen to the Word, interpreting the meaning according to the Apostolic Rule of Faith whereby the Word as our standard of authority is applied to all areas of thought and life.

Also see Primary Disciplines, and Standard of Authority.

Liturgical and Sacramental

The Liturgical and Sacramental stream of the Church emphasizes God’s revelation of the Word in creation (via symbol and sacrament). When this is done by highlighting the function of symbol while maintaining the equal ultimacy of the revelation of the Word via Scripture and the Spirit, this builds up the Church as a communion. But when symbol is made the only authority or a more ultimate authority than the revelation of the Word through Scripture and the Spirit, and is autonomously used therefore to interpret all things according to a Two-Source View of authority, as with “Solo” Scriptura and Qualified Infallibility, this tears down the Church through the dynamic of denominationalism.

See Charismatic and Orthodox, Emphasize, Liturgical and Sacramental, Sola Scriptura, “Solo” Scriptura, and Qualified Infallibility.

Liturgy

The Liturgy is the specific pattern of worship Basileia has received from the Church that expresses the whole of Basileia’s charism, albeit in a liturgical and sacramental way. The Liturgy is the liturgical and sacramental form of the meaning of the Constitution of Basileia in its entirety. Thus Basileia’s Catechism and Canons are not separate from the Liturgy, but are themselves fully liturgical and sacramental just as Basileia’s Liturgy is fully instructional and operational. We therefore recognize that the principle of lex orandi est lex credendi et agendi (“the rule of prayer is the rule of belief and of action”) is not more equally ultimate to the rules of belief and of action that also shape our Liturgy.

Also see Canons, and Catechism.

Logo

The Logo of Basileia represents the City of God in a manner that subtly invokes the image of the Jerusalem cross through the use of four gateways that lead from and to the north, south, east and west. The Church is a gateway city that functions as a vertical gate that connect heaven and earth. She also has horizontal gates that lead to journeys in every conceivable direction, north and south, east and west, for expanding the Kingdom and for bringing into the Kingdom all things from the furthest reaches of existence. Basileians are watchmen or gatekeepers of these gates, fulfilling the calling in Christ that Adam originally failed to keep, namely, to steward Eden as a thin place where God walks with man, where no evil is allowed to operate. We initially enact what our Logo represents in the Liturgy, particularly in the first two movements of the Liturgy where we process to the City of God and there, assemble with all other worshipers as living stones.

Also see Ecclesial City, and Thin Place.