Miller: reasons for religious freedom

Saturday, September 4, 2010
    Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex, 650
Meditation:
    Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
    —2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The student of [Roger] Williams’ own writings will, I trust, perceive that, great as has been his symbolic role, he himself was thinking on a deeper plane than that which simply recognizes religious liberty as a way for men to live peaceably together. He was not a rationalist and a utilitarian who gave up the effort to maintain an orthodoxy because he had no real concern about religious truth, but was the most passionately religious of men. Hence he is an analyst, an explorer into the dark places, of the very nature of freedom. His decision to leave denominations free to worship as they chose came as a consequence of his insight that freedom is a condition of the spirit.
    ... Perry Miller, Roger Williams, Atheneum, 1970, p. 255 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the true source of freedom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Mascall: nothing has changed

Friday, September 3, 2010
    Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604
Meditation:
    See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
    —Colossians 2:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It has been a frequent trait in Christian theologians down the ages to commit themselves whole-heartedly to the fashionable philosophies of their day, while passing severe judgments on their predecessors for adopting precisely the same attitude.
    ... E. L. Mascall (1905-1993), The Secularization of Christianity, London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1966, p. 103 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, block the fashions of culture with the teaching and prompting of Your Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ellul: no recipe

Thursday, September 2, 2010
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Papua New Guinea, 1942
Meditation:
    And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
    —Ephesians 4:30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian ethic ... is not a recipe for righteousness; it is not a synthesis of Christian faith and the world’s values; it is not a way of enabling Christians to live without the Holy Spirit. It is the very opposite of all this.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Presence of the Kingdom, tr. Olive Wyon, Philadelphia: Wesminster Press, 1951, p. 23 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people depend on Your continual grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: wisdom and anger

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
    Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710
Meditation:
    A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.
    —Proverbs 29:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When anger enters the mind, wisdom departs.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Hortulus Rosarum, quoted in The Story of the “Imitatio Christi”, Leonard Abercrombie Wheatley, London: Elliot Stock, 1891, IV.ii, p. 212 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the wisdom to govern my tongue. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Weil: the appeal to the right people

Tuesday, August 31, 2010
    Feast of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651
    Commemoration of Cuthburga, Founding Abbess of Wimborne, c.725
    Commemoration of John Bunyan, Spiritual Writer, 1688
Meditation:
    For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.
    —1 Corinthians 7:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The wives of the fishermen were going in procession to make a tour of the ships, carrying candles and singing what must certainly be very ancient hymns of a heart-rending sadness. Nothing can give any idea of it. I have never heard anything so poignant, unless it were the song of the boatmen on the Volga. There the conviction was suddenly borne in upon me that Christianity is pre-eminently the religion of slaves, that slaves cannot help belonging to it, and I among others.
    ... Simone Weil (1909-1943), Waiting on God [1951], Emma Craufurd, Putnam, 1951, p. 20 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your voice has called us out of our slavery. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: waiting

Monday, August 30, 2010
Meditation:
    For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
    —Romans 8:24-25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Day of Jesus Christ is the Day of all days; the brilliant and visible light of this one point is the hidden invisible light of all points; to perceive the righteousness of God once and for all here is the hope of righteousness (Gal. 5:5) everywhere and at all times. By the knowledge of Jesus Christ all human waiting is guaranteed, authorized and established; for He makes it known that it is not men who wait, but God—in His faithfulness.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), The Epistle to the Romans, translated from the 6th edition by Edwyn C. Hoskyns, London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1933, 6th ed., Oxford University Press US, 1968, p. 96 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people await Your coming. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Coleridge: Christian liberty

Sunday, August 29, 2010
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
    —Matthew 12:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Luther, in speaking of the good by itself and the good for its expediency alone, instances the observance of the Christian day of rest,—a day of repose from manual labour, and of activity in spiritual labour,—a day of joy and cooperation in the work of Christ’s creation. “Keep it holy,”—says he,—“for its use’ sake—both to body and soul! But if anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day’s sake,—if anywhere anyone sets up its observance upon a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it—to do anything that shall reprove this encroachment on the Christian spirit and liberty.”
    ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Table Talk, 2nd ed., London: John Murray, 1836, May 19, 1834, p. 298 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may my rest serve You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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