CQOD: 10/22/06 -- Manley: the path to unity

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 22, 2006Meditation:
    When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
    -- Matthew 9:36-38 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    The task to which we are called is not the sacrifice of any principle in which we firmly believe. It is rather to return to Christ not a figure of the imagination, but the Christ of the Scriptures and to listen to His voice in obedience, to discover afresh what is the Truth. All unpretentious Bible study, every effort to disseminate a true scriptural theology, and every earnest prayer is part of the task of promoting that unity which is truly Christian. We must not envisage Christian Unity as consisting of far-off and doubtful schemes, but as something very nigh which affects us all. If we are really to seek for Christian Unity, we must be prepared to pay the cost. For it must be based upon love, and love is always costly. It will never be attained until there is “far more humility, far more thought, far more self-sacrifice, and far more prayer, than there is at present.” (Streeter) If we are right in the conclusion that such disunion as has been sinful in the history of the Church has been due to pride, self-assertion, and contempt for God’s Word and commandment, then it follows that the way to the unity which God wills through humility, love of the brethren, and obedience to the Divine Revelation. When Christians pray to be shown where they have been wrong, proud, complaisant, or censorious, and to be put right; when they meet for common counsel and study of the Word, in the spirit of obedience and prepared to subject their individual opinions to the guidance of the Spirit; where the strong are willing to foster and strengthen the weak; and where all are seeking the common good rather than their own sectional interests: then the pathway to unity will become plain, and God will grant His blessing.
    ... G. T. Manley, Christian Unity [1945]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show us our common calling.

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CQOD: 10/21/06 -- Allen: indifference to social evils?

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 21, 2006Meditation:
    For [Abraham] was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
    -- Hebrews 11:10 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    We must not admit for one moment the truth of a statement often made, that the man who devotes himself to the establishment of the church, declining to be involved in all sorts of activities for the improvement of social conditions, is indifferent to, or heedless of, the sufferings and injustices under which men suffer. He is nothing of the kind: he is simply a man who is sure of his foundation, and is convinced that the only way to any true advancement is spiritual, and is Christ; and therefore he persists, in spite of all appearances, in clinging to Christ as the only foundation, and in building all his hopes for the future on the acceptance of Christ. He is not content with attacks upon symptoms of evil; they seem to him superficial: he goes to the roots. He cannot be content with teaching men Christian principles of conduct, “Christian ideals of social life”—still less with the establishment of colleges and clubs. Nothing but Christ Himself, faith in Christ, the obedience of Christ, seems to him equal to the need, and nothing else is his work but the establishment of that foundation. In doing this he is not showing indifference to social evils, he is not standing aloof from beneficent movements; he is actively engaged in laying the axe to the roots of the trees which bear the evil. That is not indifference.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Mission Activities [1927]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me how I can bring Christ to those people that so desperately need Him, escpecially _____ and _____.

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CQOD: 10/20/06 -- Kraemer: the Church belongs to Christ

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 20, 2006Meditation:
    ... for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.
    -- Acts 20:27-31 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    By God’s grace we live in a time of rediscovery of the Church and of the wholeness of the Church. We see more clearly than often has been the case that ecclesiology and christology are one. The ekklesia, the community of believers, has as its first and foremost qualification that it is that community which, as community, belongs to Christ and is in Christ, and as such is the sphere of God’s salvation, redemption, and reconciliation, and of Christ’s rulership. This is the archetypal reality of the Church. To see and seize this essential point is a great blessing. This blessing, however, could as well become a curse, if it remained a theme of theological meditation and self-contemplation. This new knowledge is not real knowledge if it is not accompanied by a horror about the alienation of the empirical Church from its own fundamental reality and by a deep longing for a tangible manifestation of the Church’s true nature. This horror and this longing are the deeper motives which are operating in many of the events and passionate discussions around the place and responsibility of the laity as an organic part of the Church.
    ... Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965), A Theology of the Laity [1958]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, quicken Your church.

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CQOD: 10/19/06 -- Newbigin: knowing the Spirit

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 19, 2006

Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812

Meditation:
    And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.
    -- Acts 19:1-7 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    The apostle asked the converts of Apollos one question: “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” and got a plain answer. His modern successors are more inclined to ask either “Did you believe exactly what we teach?” or “Were the hands that were laid on you our hands?” and—if the answer is satisfactory—to assure the converts that they have received the Holy Spirit even if they don’t know it.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God [1953]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, turn our eyes from the forms to the reality of Your Presence.

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CQOD: 10/18/06 -- Buchanan: the one New-Testament church

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 18, 2006

Feast of Luke the Evangelist

Meditation:
    Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
    And I will show you a still more excellent way.
    -- 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    The doctrine of the “body” in First Corinthians... is a picture of the local church, (which) is distinguished by a great variety of gifts, outlooks, and cultures. The various members belong organically to each other in Christ, and are to exhibit that harmony practically in their common life. The recognition of how they differ from each other, and are yet one, is to enrich their worship, inspire their ministry, and quicken their love. To divide the local church is... to witness to a divided Christ, or to a discipleship to lesser masters than Christ, such as Paul or Apollos. Both implications are equally unthinkable. There is no New Testament pattern of serving the one Christ, except in one local body, formed by the incorporation given in the one baptism, and the continued life sustained by breaking and sharing the one bread.
    ... C. O. Buchanan (b.1934), “The Unity of the Church”

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant us unity.

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CQOD: 10/17/06 -- Rhymes: service and the church

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 17, 2006

Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107

Meditation:
    For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
    -- 2 Corinthians 4:5 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    The laity... living in the world as an integral part of it, is the primary body through which the reality of the phrase “the Church is service” has to be manifested in all spheres of secular life: the Church has to show in her own life and attitude towards others the evidences of the redemptive order which is in Christ an operative fact: Christ the Lord is also Christ the servant: the Church which is the lord of all life is also the servant of all life, and the lordship is shown only through the service. The world wants to see redemption: it is not interested in being talked to about it. A church which is not outward looking... has ceased to be a church as the Body of Christ and has instead become a club for the benefit of its members.
    ... Douglas Rhymes (1914-1996)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a willing spirit, and show me how I must serve.

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CQOD: 10/16/06 -- White: by small steps

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 16, 2006Meditation:
    And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ... Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.
    When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, "Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."
    -- 2 Kings 22:8,10-13 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Our faith and our friendships are not shattered by one big act, but by many small neglects.
    ... J. Gustav White

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, correct my negligence.

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CQOD: 10/15/06 -- Barclay: Grant that today...

Christian Quotation of the Day

October 15, 2006

Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582

Meditation:
    But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
    -- 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    O God, grant that today I may not disappoint any friend; I may not grieve any loved one; I may not fail anyone to whom I have a duty; I may not shame myself. Grant that today I may do my work with honesty and fidelity; I may take my pleasure in happiness and purity. Grant that today I may lead no one astray; I may not make goodness and faith harder for anyone. Help me today to be a help and example to all; to bring strength and encouragement wherever I am: Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978)

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