Friday, October 06, 2006

CQOD: 10/07/06 -- Fénelon: taking courage

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 7, 2006
Meditation:
    Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
    -- James 4:9-10 (ESV)

Quotation:
    Never let us be discouraged with ourselves; it is not when we are conscious of our faults that we are the most wicked: on the contrary, we are less so. We see by a brighter light. And let us remember, for our consolation, that we never perceive our sins till He begin to cure them.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me to know my sin.


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CQOD: 10/06/06 -- Reid: the language of the Gospel

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 6, 2006
Feast of William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr, 1536
Meditation:
    Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, "What does this babbler wish to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities"--because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean." Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
    So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you."
    -- Acts 17:16-23 (ESV)

Quotation:
    If those who say that we must preach the same message as Paul and the other apostles mean that we should also exhibit the same adaptability and sensitivity to the background culture, then they are right... If, however, they mean that we should expect results merely by repeating the actual phrases found in the New Testament, then they are mistaken. They are making, in fact, one of the basic mistakes in verbal communication, which is to confuse words with what they describe. The gospel is something God has done, not a series of phrases describing it. Saying this does not undermine the Christian’s belief in the inspiration of the Bible, for the important thing about the Bible is what it talks about, rather than the way it does the talking. If we considered that there was the same degree of essential inspiration in the way it does the talking, then we would have to insist that every Christian learn Hebrew and Greek. The mere fact that we in the Western world read translations of the scriptures is a clear admission that times and cultures have changed.
    ... Gavin Reid, The Gagging of God [1969]

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You speak to all people in their own language. Show me what I must do to carry the Gospel to those You have chosen.


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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 10/05/06 -- Lytle: the qualified gardener

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 5, 2006
Meditation:
    And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up."
    -- Matthew 15:10-13 (ESV)

Quotation:
    Unless we know the difference between flowers and weeds, we are not fit to take care of a garden. It is not enough to have truth planted in our minds. We must learn and labor to keep the ground clear of thorns and briars, follies and perversities, which have a wicked propensity to choke the word of life.
    ... Clyde Francis Lytle

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to know the good plants in my heart.


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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

CQOD: 10/04/06 -- St. Francis on temptation

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 4, 2006
Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226
Meditation:
    Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
    -- James 1:2-4 (ESV)

Quotation:
    Be not afraid that thou art tempted, for the more thou art assailed by temptations, the greater friend and servant of God do I hold thee, and the greater love do I bear thee. Verily, I say to thee, let no man deem himself the perfect friend of God until he have passed through many temptations and tribulations... I am ready to endure patiently all things that my Lord would do with me.
    ... Ugolino of Montegiorgio, The Little Flowers of St. Francis

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I do not greet trials with joy. May You straighten my heart out so that this Scripture becomes true in me as well.


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Monday, October 02, 2006

CQOD: 10/03/06 -- Trueblood: new temple, old idol

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 3, 2006
Commemoration of William Morris, Artist, Writer, 1896
Commemoration of George Kennedy Bell, Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist, Peacemaker, 1958
Meditation:
    The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
    -- Acts 17:24-25 (ESV)

Quotation:
    In some communities there remains, as a vestige of a false conception of the church building, a resistance to the sale and purchase of books on a table... anywhere on the premises. When this position is expressed, it must be attacked directly and unapologetically, because it represents a genuine evil, ... the idolatry of bricks and mortar, a heresy specifically undermined by the Apostle Paul in Athens when he said, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man” (Acts 17:24). The notion that it is perfectly all right to sell a New Testament in the department store on Monday, but that it is wrong to sell it in the meetinghouse on Sunday, represents a confusion so great that it is truly appalling. As Christians, we believe in the Real Presence, but it is a severe denial of the divine power to claim that this Presence is limited geographically. If, in a building dedicated to worship, a seeker buys a book on Sunday morning and his life is deepened in consequence, the only important thing to say is that the Gospel has thereby been preached, and this is one of the major tasks of the Church.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Incendiary Fellowship [1967]

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit to remind me of Your Presence in all things.


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Sunday, October 01, 2006

CQOD: 10/02/06 -- Phillips: reading as an adult

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 2, 2006
Meditation:
    For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
    -- Colossians 2:1-3 (ESV)

Quotation:
    The testimony of the New Testament cannot be lightly disregarded, nor can the claims of Christ be airily dismissed. Many otherwise intelligent people have never read with adult attention either the four Gospels or the Letters of the New Testament. When they so do, to my certain knowledge they not infrequently become converted. Indeed, I know of no adult who has seriously studied the New Testament and rejected the stories of Christ as mythical or the evidence of changed lives in the Letters as mere fabrication.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), God with Us [1957]

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I praise You for rescuing me from a life of skepticism and doubt.


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CQOD: 10/01/06 -- Houston: setting our compass

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 1, 2006
Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533
Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897
Meditation:
    For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
    -- 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5a (ESV)

Quotation:
    We need to set our compass with three markers: (1) the Word of God; (2) a true analysis of the facts of our experience; and (3) the sensing of the mind of the Spirit by... this council.
    ... Tom Houston, former president, World Vision International

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit so that I may know Your will and ways.


See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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