CQOD: 12/30/07 -- Moreland: Kings

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 30, 2007Meditation:
    Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
    -- Jeremiah 23:5 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    Who has not marveled at the might of kings
    When voyaging down the river of dead years?
    What deeds of death to still an hour of fears,
    What waste of wealth to gild a moth’s frail wings!
    A Caesar to the breeze his banner flings,
    An Alexander with his bloody spears,
    A Herod heedless of his people’s tears!
    And Rome in ruin while Nero laughs and sings:
    Ye actors of a drama, cruel and cold,
    Your names are by-words in Love’s temple now,
    Your pomp and glory but a winding-sheet;
    Then Christ came scorning regal power and gold
    To wear warm blood-drops on a willing brow,
    And we, in love, forever kiss His feet.
    ... John Richard Moreland (1880-1947)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, the whole world will acknowledge You as King.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD: 12/29/07 -- Brainerd: how precious is time!

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 29, 2007

Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
    -- John 15:1-3 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose. Oh, that God would make me more fruitful and spiritual.
    ... Journal of David Brainerd (1718-1747)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Fill Your people, Lord, that we may display the fruits of Your Spirit.

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CQOD: 12/28/07 -- Palau: winning people to Christ

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 28, 2007

Feast of the Holy Innocents

Meditation:
    And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
    -- Isaiah 61:6 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    The most thrilling thing you can ever do is win someone to Christ. And it’s contagious. Once you do it, you don’t want to stop.
    ... Luis Palau (b.1934)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Send me, Lord, to do Your will.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/27/07 -- Bronnert: The light shines in the darkness

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 27, 2007

Feast of John, Apostle & Evangelist

Meditation:
    But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
    -- Malachi 4:2 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    The light shines in the darknessCandles are always popular for giving a warm romantic glow and this time of year they are to be seen on many different occasions. Of course a candle is easy to blow out! So much so that its flickering light was chosen by Shakespeare as a picture of the transitory nature of life. Out out brief candle! Darkness is a reminder of evil, for it is in the darkness that people get lost, stumble and fall. It is in the darkness that power is misused, corruption reigns and evil is done. It is easy to imagine that in the end evil will triumph and the light will disappear. Situations change. Familiar landmarks—like this magazine!—disappear. There is the unrelenting pressure of a vanity fair society. The candle burns down and gives a thin wisp of smoke before going out. But there are also the special party candles that keep bursting back into life. They are a much better picture of the light of the gospel! For though they have been numerous attempts down the centuries to extinguish the light, it has kept on bursting back into flame. The light of Christ keeps on shining. New ways of sharing the good news come along. New believers are attracted to his light. Sleepy Christians are re-awakened. Fresh discoveries give even more confidence in the truth of the Bible. The light keeps on shining in the darkness. It is a statement and a promise at the same time. It isn’t that once the light shone, but rather, that in the present it shines, and it will do so in the future as well. For the light comes from the one who is, as well as who was, and is also the one who is to come.
    ... David Bronnert

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my light within is only darkness; I truly see by Your light alone.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD: 12/26/07 -- Brooks: O little town of Bethlehem

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 26, 2007

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr

Meditation:
    When [Herod] had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
    -- Matthew 2:4-6 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    O little town of Bethlehem,
        How still we see thee lie!
    Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
        The silent stars go by:
    Yet in thy dark streets shineth
        The everlasting Light;
    The hopes and fears of all the years
        Are met in thee tonight.

    For Christ is born of Mary;
        And gathered all above,
    While mortals sleep, the angels keep
        Their watch of wondering love.
    O morning stars together
        Proclaim the holy birth;
    And praises sing to God the King,
        And peace to men on earth.

    How silently, how silently,
        The wondrous gift is giv’n!
    So God imparts to human hearts
        The blessings of His Heav’n.
    No ear may hear His coming,
        But in this world of sin,
    Where meek souls will receive Him still,
        The dear Christ enters in.

    O holy Child of Bethlehem,
        Descend to us, we pray,
    Cast out our sins, and enter in,
        Be born in us today.
    We hear the Christmas angels
        The great glad tidings tell;
    O come to us, abide with us,
        Our Lord Emmanuel.
        ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are our Shepherd still.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/25/07 -- Milton: On the Morning of Christ's Nativity

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 25, 2007

CHRISTMAS DAY

Meditation:
    After [the Magi] had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
    -- Matthew 2:9-11 (NIV)

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Quotation:

    ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST’s NATIVITY

    This the month, and this the happy morn,
    Wherein the Son of Heaven’s Eternal King,
    Of wedded maid and virgin mother born,
    Our great redemption from above did bring;
    For so the holy sages once did sing,
        That he our deadly forfeit should release,
    And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

    That glorious form, that light insufferable,
    And that far-beaming blaze majesty,
    Wherewith he wont at Heaven’s high council-table
    To sit the midst of Trinal Unity
    He laid aside, and, here with us to be.
        Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
    And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.

    Say, Heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein
    Afford a present to the Infant God?
    Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,
    To welcome him to this his new abode,
    Now while the heaven, by the Sun’s team untrod,
        Hath took no print of the approaching light,
    And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?

    See how from far upon the eastern road
    The star-led wizards haste with odors sweet!
    Oh, run! present them with thy humble ode,
    And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;
    Have thou the honor first thy Lord to greet,
        And join thy voice unto the Angel Quire,
    From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire.
    ... John Milton (1608-1674) (Composed - 1629)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are worthy of any gift I can give You.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 12/24/07 -- Mary Elizabeth Coleridge: I saw a stable

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve

Meditation:
    Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
    -- Luke 2:34,35 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    I saw a stable, low and very bare,
        A little child in a manger.
    The oxen knew Him, had Him in their care,
        To men He was a stranger,
    The safety of the world was lying there,
        And the world’s danger.
        ... Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907)

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Dear friends of CQOD,
    This is a time when we certainly pay close attention to our physical reality, as we celebrate and eat with family and friends. For us, to be a person is to have a body, to sustain it, to experience pleasure through it, and to have grown within it. At Christmas dinners, I have often recalled in recent years that Jesus, after His resurrection, demonstrated His return to a bodily condition by eating with the disciples.
    It is simple enough: we eat food; we take in nourishment. Sometimes, it is a social occasion, which Jesus often enjoyed. But why would Jesus need to eat after His resurrection? Perhaps He did not need to. But He did so, because He was a living man. In the early years of the church, there were some who claimed that Jesus was purely divine and only appeared to be a man. Luke went out of their way to assure their readers that Jesus was both divine and human, and that He remained so even after resurrection from death: "... he was known of them in breaking of bread." Luke 24:35 (KJV) "They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence." Luke 24:42,43 (NIV)
    The Nativity was the start of that condition. The Son of God, begotten by the Father, submitted to the most human of conditions, being born of woman, being a helpless baby, then a child, then a teenager, and then a young man, learning, growing, and eating. When life was restored to Him after the crucifixion, He was still a man.
    Paul, Peter, and John all emphasize that Jesus came "in the flesh." In that respect, He is like us. While He was in the manger, we could look on Him and love Him, for He was made from dust like us. From the cross, Jesus looked on us and loved us, for we were made for eternal life like His.
    May the Lord of Peace remain with you and your family in the days to come.
    RMA

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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