Neill: forgiveness

Saturday, April 2, 2011
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.”
    —Luke 6:27-28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Forgiveness] recognises the wrongdoer as a person. He has done wrong, and about this there is no pretence. But that is not the whole truth about him. He is still of infinite value as a person, since every person is unique and irreplaceable by any other. Since he has so greatly injured himself by doing wrong, he is in special need of help, and help that can be rendered only by the one to whom he has done the wrong.
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), A Genuinely Human Existence: Towards a Christian Psychology, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1959, p. 210 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me grace to help those who have injured me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Maurice: the eternity of baptism

Friday, April 1, 2011
    Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
Meditation:
    ... this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
    —1 Peter 3:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    They, looking at Baptism as an act done in an instant, and accomplishing its purpose in an instance, and not rather as the witness of an eternal truth, the sacrament of constant union, the assurance of a continual living presence, are driven to this conclusion: that the moment after it has been performed is a period of ideal purity and excellence, from which the future life even of a saint is a deflection, and which those who have wandered far into sin cannot hope to recover. These must be content, by much prayer and fasting, to seek for God’s mercy, which may, perhaps, though there is no certain promise to uphold the flattering expectation, once again redeem them out of sin and hell... Where is the minister of Christ in London, Birmingham, or Manchester, whom such a doctrine, heartily and inwardly entertained, would not drive to madness? He is sent to preach the Gospel. What Gospel? Of all the thousands whom he addresses, he cannot venture to believe that there are two who, in Dr. Pusey’s sense, retain their baptismal purity. All he can do, therefore, is to tell wretched creatures, who spend eighteen hours out of the twenty-four in close factories and bitter toil, corrupting and being corrupted, that if they spend the remaining six in prayer—he need not add fasting—they may possibly be saved. How can we insult God and torment man with such mockery?
    ... Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872), The Kingdom of Christ: or Hints on the principles..., letters, by a clergyman of the Church of England, 1837, p. 96 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have purchased Your people from slavery. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: grateful for teaching

Thursday, March 31, 2011
    Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
Meditation:
    For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
    —1 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our critical day is not the very day of our death, but the whole course of our life; I thank him, that prays for me when my bell tolls; but I thank him much more, that catechizes me, or preaches to me, or instructs me how to live.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. VI, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon CLVIII, p. 291 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send me instruction for living to Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bounds: to be a Christian

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Meditation:
    [Jesus] withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
    —Luke 22:41-42 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer has everything to do with moulding the soul into the image of God, and has everything to do with enhancing and enlarging the measure of Divine grace. It has everything to do with enriching, broadening and maturing the soul’s experience of God. That man cannot possibly be called a Christian, who does not pray.
    ... E. M. Bounds (1835-1913), The Necessity of Prayer [1907], Lulu, 2007, p. 26 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, incline my heart more towards prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Flavel: the evil of sin

Tuesday, March 29, 2011
    Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974
Meditation:
    No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
    —1 John 3:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    O the depth of the evil of sin! If ever you will see how great and horrid an evil sin is, measure it in your thoughts, either by the infinite holiness and excellency of God, who is wrong’d by it; or by the infinite sufferings of Christ, who died to satisfy for it; and then you will have deeper apprehensions of the evil of sin.
    ... John Flavel (1628-1691), The Whole Works of the Reverend Mr. John Flavel, v. I, Paisley: A. Weir and A. McLean, 1770, p. 199 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I fear to know the extent of my sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacInnes: identifying with the needy

Monday, March 28, 2011
Meditation:
So justice is driven back,
    and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
    honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
    and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased
    that there was no justice.
    —Isaiah 59:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christians seeking social justice have a special responsibility. Much more is required than the bringing of aid to people who are homeless and in need, and contributing to their support.
    There are real dangers to be faced. It must never be allowed to appear that charity is dispensed to the unfortunate by superior beings... Much greater care must be taken to identify the giver with those whom he comes to serve.
    ... A. C. MacInnes (1901-1977), “Social Justice,” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 70 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown Your people the justice You desire from us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Taylor: divine love

Sunday, March 27, 2011
Meditation:
    [Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
    —1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Love is [careful] of little things, of circumstances and measures, and of little accidents; not allowing to itself any infirmity which it strives not to master, aiming at what it cannot yet reach, desiring to be of an angelic purity, and of a perfect innocence and a seraphical fervour, and fears every image of offense; is as much afflicted at an idle word as some at an act of adultery, and will not allow to itself so much anger as will disturb a child, nor endure the impurity of a dream. And this is the curiosity and niceness of divine love: this is the fear of God, and is the daughter and production of love.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, p. 158 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let me see wrong done to others before seeking the right for myself. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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