Carmichael: forgive but not forget

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
    Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957
Meditation:
    Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
    —1 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If I say, “Yes, I forgive, but I cannot forget,” as though God, who twice a day washes all the sands on all the shores of all the world, could not wash such memories from my mind, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
    ... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), If [1938], London: SPCK, 1961, p. 40 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Purify and complete my forgiveness, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rhymes: the world in the church

Monday, September 6, 2010
    Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851
    Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965
Meditation:
    And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
    —Matthew 13:57-58 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we consider the lives of Christians in their churches, we so often find that they make good sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, employers, and employees—they have many individual virtues; but they have no way of life other than that which has been imposed upon them by their environment. It is their sociological conditions, their social class, their neighbourhood, their national characteristics, rather than their Christian faith which determine their outlook and values: they are an overwhelming demonstration that it is the economic conditions and background of one’s life which determine what one is and what one will think. This is an intolerable condition, and so long as it persists we shall not be able to make any impact on the world, because it will be abundantly clear that it is the world which is making its impact upon us.
    ... Douglas Rhymes (1914-1996), “The Place of the Laity in the Parish”, in Layman’s Church, ed. John A. T. Robinson, London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, p. 30 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone are the answer to the menace of culture. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John of the Cross: suffering

Sunday, September 5, 2010
Meditation:
    I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
    —Philippians 3:10-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    O you souls who wish to go on with so much safety and consolation, if you knew how pleasing to God is suffering, and how much it helps in acquiring other good things, you would never seek consolation in anything; but you would rather look upon it as a great happiness to bear the Cross of the Lord.
    ... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross, v. III, Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1935, p. 154 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have sanctified my suffering. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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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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