Williams: 7 inter-relational indicators

Saturday, November 6, 2010
    Feast of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1944
Meditation:
    If one [of the body] part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
    —1 Corinthians 12:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Seven marks of spiritual health [in] our righteousness toward others: (1) Christians work to glorify God in doing good. (2) God’s children cannot but naturally love one another. (3) A compassionate heart, even toward enemies, is a Christian heart. (4) Impartial reproving, a character of God’s people. (5) Admirable resisting of temptation. (6) A Christian bearing of reproof an argument of much of Christ Jesus. (7) God’s people willing to lose all for God’s glory.
    ... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), Experiments of Spiritual Life and Health [1652], Westminster Press, 1951, p. 81-89 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your church come to mirror Your grace, CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: few bearers of His cross

Friday, November 5, 2010
Meditation:
    Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
    But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
    —Matthew 8:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus hath many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross. He hath many seekers of comfort, but few of tribulation. He findeth many companions of His table, but few of His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, few are willing to undergo anything for His sake. Many follow Jesus that they may eat of His loaves, but few that they may drink of the cup of His passion. Many are astonished at His miracles, few follow after the shame of His Cross. Many love Jesus so long as no adversities happen to them. Many praise Him and bless Him, so long as they receive any comforts from Him. But if Jesus hide Himself and withdraw a little while, they fall either into complaining or into too great dejection of mind.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, II.xi, p. 103 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to recognize trials, so that I might never despair. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bridge: evangelism is an attitude

Thursday, November 4, 2010
Meditation:
    [Jesus to the twelve:] “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
    —Matthew 10:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Evangelism is not an activity at all. It is rather an attitude of mind behind all Christian activity. Evangelism is not a list of certain things done, but the spirit in which they are done. That is precisely why it cannot be organized. It is perhaps best described as an attitude of mind towards God and the world—an attitude which the Church must recover if she is to be true to her Lord, and to seize hold of the present opportunity.
    ... C. Gordon Bridge, Evangelism: Some principles and experiments, London: SPCK, 1937, p. 8 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, move Your people to evangelize depending on You alone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacInnes: identification with those served

Wednesday, November 3, 2010
    Feast of Richard Hooker, Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher, 1600
    Commemoration of Martin of Porres, Dominican Friar, 1639
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
    “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
    “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
    —Luke 18:10-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Social workers and missionaries have always been exposed to the temptation to thank God that they are not as other men, and in some ways to despise and pity those to whom they minister. In the case of those serving the refugee, ... identification with those whom they serve may and does involve them in political as well as economic problems for which there is no easy solution. Not only is there a real need for sympathy and patience in understanding the mentality of the refugee, but there must also be readiness to recognize that the injustices done are in no small degree the result of the policies of the so-called Christian nations which today are trying to stand out for social and political justice.
    ... A. C. MacInnes (Angus Campbell) (1901-1977), “Social Justice,” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 70-71 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, guide me into humility, that I may serve. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lincoln: the maker governs

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
    Feast of All Souls
Meditation:
Therefore, you kings, be wise;
    be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear
    and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
    and you be destroyed in your way,
    for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
    —Psalm 2:10-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Though with our limited understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe, that he who made the world still governs it.
    ... Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), letter to Eliza Gurney, 1862, in Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural, Ronald C. White, Simon and Schuster, 2006, p. 142 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your sovereignty is universal and absolute. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: all in one choir

Monday, November 1, 2010
    Feast of All Saints
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
    —John 5:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He was but a heathen that said, If God love a man, He takes him young out of this world; and they were but heathens, that observed that custom, to put on mourning when their sons were born, and to feast and triumph when they died. But thus much may we learn from these heathens, that if the dead, and we, be not upon one floor, nor under one story, yet we are under one roof. We think not a friend lost, because he has gone into another room, nor because he has gone into another land: and into another world, no man has gone; for that Heaven, which God created, and this world, is all one world... I spend none of my faith, I exercise none of my hope, in this, that I shall have my dead raised to life again.
    This is the faith that sustains me, when I lose by the death of others, or when I suffer by living in misery myself: that the dead and we are now all in one Church, and at the resurrection, shall be all in one choir.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. I, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon XX, p. 401 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church is indivisible and eternal. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Westcott: by faith

Sunday, October 31, 2010
Meditation:
    [Jesus] replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
    —Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Faith is indeed the energy of our whole nature directed to the highest form of being. Faith gives stability to our view of the universe... By faith we are convinced that our impressions of things without are not dreams or delusions, but for us true representations of our environment. By faith we are convinced that the signs of permanence, order, progress, which we observe in nature are true. By faith we are convinced that fellowship is possible with our fellow-men and with God.
    ... Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), The Historic Faith, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1883, p. 176 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we know You only through Your gift of faith. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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