Sayers: Jesus, God and man

Saturday, April 3, 2010
    Holy Saturday
Meditation:
    For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
    —1 Corinthians 15:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If [Jesus] were God and nothing else, his immortality means nothing to us; if he were a man and no more, His death is no more important than yours or mine. But if He really was both God and man, then when the man Jesus died, God died too, and when the God Jesus rose from the dead, then man rose too, because they were one and the same person.
    ... Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957), Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World, Eerdmans, 1969, p. 16 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord Jesus, You are God to men and Man to God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Graham: message delivered

Friday, April 2, 2010
    Good Friday
Meditation:
    But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
    —Titus 3:4-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, “I love you.”
    ... Billy Graham (b. 1918), The Quotable Billy Graham, Droke House, 1966, p. 82 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Love Incarnate has appeared. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thérèse of Lisieux: the life of love

Thursday, April 1, 2010
    Maundy Thursday
    Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
Meditation:
    Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
    —John 14:23 (NIV)
Quotation:
The eve His life of love drew near its end,
    Thus Jesus spoke: “Whoever loveth Me,
And keeps My word as Mine own faithful friend,
    My Father, then, and I his guests will be;
Within his heart will make Our dwelling above.
    Our palace home, true type of heaven above.
There, filled with peace, We will that he shall rest,
        With us, in love.”
    ... Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), Poems of St. Teresa, Carmelite of Lisieux, Boston, Angel Guardian Press, 1907, “To Live of Love”, n. 1 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I receive You in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: a frivolous view of sin

Wednesday, March 31, 2010
    Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
    “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
    “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
    —Matthew 22:11-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Consider the insupportable penances that were laid upon sinners, by those penitential canons, that went through the church in those primitive times; when for many sins which we pass through now, without so much as taking knowledge that they are sins, men were not admitted to the Communion all their lives—no, nor easily upon their death-beds. Consider how dangerously an abuse of that great doctrine of Predestination may bring thee to thinke, that God is bound to thee, and thou not bound to him; that thou mayest renounce him, and he must embrace thee, and so make thee too familiar with God, and too homely with religion, upon presumption of a decree.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. III, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon LXVIII, p. 216 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never presume upon Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: petition for grace

Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Meditation:
    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
    —Galatians 3:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Almighty and most merciful Father, I am now about to commemorate once more, in Thy presence, the redemption of the world by our Lord and Savior Thy Son Jesus Christ. Grant, O most merciful God, that the benefit of His sufferings may be extended to me. Grant me faith, grant me repentance. Illuminate me with Thy Holy Spirit. Enable me to form good purposes, and to bring these purposes to good effect. Let me so dispose my time, that I may discharge the duties to which Thou shalt vouchsafe to call me, and let that degree of health, to which Thy mercy has restored me, be employed to Thy Glory. O God, invigorate my understanding, compose my perturbations, recall my wanderings, and calm my thoughts, that having lived while Thou shalt grant me life, to do good and to praise Thee, I may when Thy call shall summon me to another state, receive mercy from Thee, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Verner, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, Easter Day, 1771, p. 84-85 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, prepare us to receive Your grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cholmondeley: thirty pieces

Monday, March 29, 2010
    Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974
Meditation:
    Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
    —Matthew 26:14-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
Still as of old
Men by themselves are priced—
For thirty pieces Judas sold
Himself, not Christ.
    ... Hester H. Cholmondeley (19th century), included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 302 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, extinguish that spirit within me that will sell You out for peer approval. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Watts: Hosanna to Christ

Sunday, March 28, 2010
    Palm Sunday
Meditation:
    The crowds that went ahead of [Jesus] and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
    —Matthew 21:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
Hosanna to the royal Son
    Of David’s ancient line!
His natures two, his person one,
    Mysterious and divine.

The root of David here, we find,
    And Offspring are the same;
Eternity and time are join’d
    In our Immanuel’s name.

Bless’d he that comes to wretched men
    With peaceful news from heaven!
Hosannas of the highest strain
    To Christ the Lord be giv’n!

Let mortals ne’er refuse to take
    Th’ hosanna on their tongues,
Lest rocks and stones should rise, and break
    Their silence into songs.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Hymns and Spiritual Songs [1707], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, book I, hymn 16, p. 301 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have annouced Your peace!

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