Henry: celebrating the resurrection

Monday, June 8, 2009
    Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711

Meditation:
    And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
    —Luke 24:33,34 (KJV)

Quotation:
    [My father’s] common salutation of his family or friends, on the Lord’s day in the morning, was that of the primitive Christians:—The Lord is risen; He is risen indeed; making it his chief business on that day to celebrate the memory of Christ’s resurrection.
    ... Matthew Henry (1662-1714), The life of the Rev. Philip Henry, A.M. [1697], W. Ball, 1839, p. 50 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people await Your return.

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Chadwick: miracles and laws

Sunday, June 7, 2009
    Trinity Sunday

Meditation:
    Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
    Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.”
    —John 10:22-26 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Some will not believe in miracles because the laws of nature work uniformly. But their uniformity is undisturbed by human operations; the will of man wields, without cancelling, these mighty forces which surround us: and why may not the will of God do the same?
    ... G. A. Chadwick (1840-1923), The Gospel According to St. Mark, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891, p. 316 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we lack knowledge of You. Show us Your ways.

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Love straight through

Saturday, June 6, 2009
    Commemoration of Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945

Meditation:
    And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
    —Matthew 26:50 (KJV)

Quotation:
    He said to Judas, when he betrayed Him: “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” Just as if He had said: “Thou hatest me, and art mine enemy, yet I love thee, and am thy friend.” ... As though God in human nature were saying: “I am pure, simple Goodness, and therefore I cannot will or desire or rejoice in, or do or give anything but goodness. If I am to reward thee for thy evil and wickedness, I must do it with goodness, for I am and have nothing else.”
    ... Theologia Germanica [1518], Anonymous, ascribed to Johannes de Francfordia, (1380?-1440) & tr. Susanna Winkworth (1820-1884), published anonymously by Martin Luther, ch. XXXIII (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have embraced me when I have betrayed You.

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Brunner: evading God's Word

Friday, June 5, 2009
    Feast of Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, Archbishop of Mainz, Apostle of Germany, Martyr, 754
 
Meditation:
    Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
    —Romans 8:33 (NIV)

Quotation:
    The Pauline teaching is the means through which God Himself wants to teach us; Paul’s epistle to the Romans is a letter from God to us, mankind to-day. It remains the great problem of interpretation, hitherto never entirely solved, how to unite these two things: the keen attention to what Paul wanted to say to that Community then, and the search for what God wants to say to us through Paul to-day. In the end, the question is whether the reader will really allow God to speak to him, or whether he evades God by hiding behind “Paul,” behind “the past.”
        ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Letter to the Romans, Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1959, p. 12 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You speak to us through Your word.

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Chesterton: escape from an old dilemma

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Meditation:
    “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
    —Romans 3:18 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved. Some followers of the Rev. R. J. Campbell, in their almost too fastidious spirituality, admit divine sinlessness, which they cannot see even in their dreams. But they essentially deny human sin, which they can see in the street. The strongest saints and the strongest sceptics alike took positive evil as the starting-point of their argument. If it be true (as it certainly is) that a man can feel exquisite happiness in skinning a cat, then the religious philosopher can only draw one of two deductions. He must either deny the existence of God, as all atheists do; or he must deny the present union between God and Man, as all Christians do. The new theologians seem to think it a highly rationalistic solution to deny the cat.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy, London, New York: John Lane Company, 1909, p. 24 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You must lead us out of our blindness.

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Sadgrove & Wright: making sense

June 3, 2009
    Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, Teacher, 1910
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Uganda, 1886 & 1978

Meditation:
    Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
    —Psalm 16:9,10 (NIV)

Quotation:
    The very uniqueness of the Resurrection as a historical event always causes problems when we try to describe it, just as it did for the original writers. Nevertheless, the background to the New Testament is one of expectation of resurrection, and only the historical rising again of Jesus makes sense of the narrative in this context.
    ... Michael Sadgrove (1950- ) & Tom Wright (1948- ), "Jesus Christ the Only Saviour" in Obeying Christ in a Changing World, J. R. W. Stott, ed., Vol. 1: The Lord Christ. London: Collins, 1977, p. 73 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in You is our hope of resurrection.

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Owen: tolerance or indifference?

June 2, 2009

Meditation:
    In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
    -- 2 Thessalonians 3 (NIV)

Quotation:
    If errors must be tolerated, say some, then men may do what they please, without control. No means, it seems, must be used to reclaim them. But is gospel conviction no means? Hath the sword of discipline no edge? Is there no means of instruction in the New Testament established, but a prison and a halter?
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), Of Toleration [1649] (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach us to live by Your Gospel.

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Taylor: evening prayer

June 1, 2009
    Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165
    Commemoration of Angela de'Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540

Meditation:
    The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
    —Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Visit, I beseech thee, O Lord, this habitation with thy mercy, and me with thy grace and salvation. Let thy holy angels pitch their tents round about and dwell here, that no illusion of the night may abuse me, the spirits of darkness may not come near to hurt me, no evil or sad accident oppress me; and let the eternal Spirit of the Father dwell in my soul and body, filling every corner of my heart with light and grace. Let no deed of darkness overtake me; and let thy blessing, most blessed God, be upon me for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650] (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are filling my life with light.

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