Eliot: Christianity and...

Saturday, February 5, 2011
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Japan, 1597
Meditation:
    When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
    Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!”
    —Acts 8:18-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true, but because it might prove useful... To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion; and we may reflect that a good deal of the attention of totalitarian states has been devoted with a steadiness of purpose not always found in democracies, to providing their national life with a foundation of morality—the wrong kind, perhaps, but a good deal more of it. It is not enthusiasm, but dogma, that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society.
    ... T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), The Idea of a Christian Society, London: Faber, 1939, reprint, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1960, p. 46-47 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may we never see Christianity as the way to get something else. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: inoculated against the Gospel

Friday, February 4, 2011
    Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189
Meditation:
    “All these [commandments] I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
    Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
    When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
    —Matthew 19:20-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We have all been inoculated with Christianity, and are never likely to take it seriously now! You put some of the virus of some dreadful illness into a man’s arm, and there is a little itchiness, some scratchiness, a slight discomfort, disagreeable, no doubt, but not the fever of the real disease, the turning and the tossing, and the ebbing strength. And we have all been inoculated with Christianity, more or less. We are on Christ’s side, we wish him well, we hope that He will win, and we are even prepared to do something for Him, provided, of course, that He is reasonable, and does not make too much of an upset among our cozy comforts and our customary ways. But there is not the passion of zeal, and the burning enthusiasm, and the eagerness of self-sacrifice, of the real faith that changes character and wins the world.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), From the Edge of the Crowd, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1924, p. 17 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, by Your word, ignite our spirits when they are cold.. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Boice: the bone of contention

Thursday, February 3, 2011
    Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865
Meditation:
    [Peter:] “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
    —Acts 4:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The world’s theology is easy to define. It is the view that human beings are basically good, that no one is really lost, that belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation. Such capitulation is common in some church circles. When I was speaking at [certain conferences], a section of my paper had to do with human lostness. I discussed it as a motivation for mission: we take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others because they are lost without it. In every consultation, that point in my paper aroused anger on the part of those listening. Some were infuriated. Nearly all were dissatisfied. Each time, as I moved into that section of the paper, people began to shift, cough, move. When I finished, it was the part of the paper they brought up for objection.
    ... James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), Foundation of the Christian Faith, InterVarsity Press, 1986, p. 674 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, there is no gospel except Yours. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Crashaw: LORD, when the sense of Thy sweet grace

Wednesday, February 2, 2011
    THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
Meditation:
    I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
    —Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
Lord, when the sense of Thy sweet grace
Sends up my soul to seek Thy face,
Thy blessed eyes breed such desire,
I die in love’s delicious fire.
    O Love! I am thy sacrifice,
Be still triumphant, blessed eyes;
Still shine on me, fair suns! that I
Still may behold though still I die.

    Though still I die, I live again,
Still longing so to be still slain;
So gainful is such loss of breath,
I die even in desire of death.
Still live in me this loving strife
Of living death and dying life:
For while Thou sweetly slayest me,
Dead to myself, I live in Thee.
    ... Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, London: J. R. Smith, 1858, p. 204 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long to be perfected for You.

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Short: disillusionment in prayer

Tuesday, February 1, 2011
    Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525
Meditation:
    And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
    —Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The childish idea that prayer is a handle by which we can take hold of God and obtain whatever we desire, leads to easy disillusionment with both what we had thought to be God and what we had thought to be prayer.
    ... Robert L. Short (1932-2009), The Parables of Peanuts [1968], New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 305 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Fill me with Your will, Lord, so that I may please You in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Foster: matter matters

Monday, January 31, 2011
    Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888
Meditation:
    You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
    —Nehemiah 9:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God loves matter. In his original creative acts God affirmed matter again and again, declaring it good at every point along the way. We, therefore, should take the material world quite seriously; it is the “icon” of God, the epiphany of his glory. We must not dismiss material things as inconsequential—or worse yet, as genuinely evil. The stuff of the material world—what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called “holy matter”—has been created by God and again he declared it good, very good (Gen. 1:25,31). The material world is intended to enhance human life.
    ... Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water, Harper San Francisco, 1998, p. 260 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your goodness is echoed in everything Your hand has touched. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newbigin: obstacles to unity

Sunday, January 30, 2011
    Commemoration of Lesslie Newbigin, Bishop, Missionary, Teacher, 1998
Meditation:
    Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
    —Colossians 3:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We feel that other churches must accept, as the pre-conditions of fellowship, such changes as will bring them into conformity with ourselves in matters which we regard as essential, and that a failure to insist on this will involve compromise in regard to what is essential to the Church’s being. But for precisely the same reason, we cannot admit a demand from others for any changes in ourselves which would seem to imply a denial that we already possess the esse of the Church.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God, London, SCM Press, 1953, New York: Friendship Press, 1954, p. 150-151 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, release Your Spirit to unite Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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