Littell: the Servant People

Saturday, April 30, 2011
    Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”
    —Luke 22:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Church, rightly conceived, is the whole covenant people called to serve in the world. The clergy are also part of the laity, and their true function is to help equip the laity to be the Servant People. If they turn aside to rule and to secure their own status, they have betrayed the calling of the special ministry.
    ... Franklin H. Littell (1917-2009)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a servant’s heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hodge: the predicted atonement

Friday, April 29, 2011
    Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
Meditation:
    [Paul:] “Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.”
    —Acts 13:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    That the death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice was predicted by the law and the prophets is the constant doctrine of the New Testament.
    ... Charles Hodge (1797-1878), An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians [1857], New York: Robert Carter & Bros., 1860, p. 313 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have fulfilled the promises You made of old. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Zinzendorf: Jesus, the endless praise to Thee

Thursday, April 28, 2011
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
Meditation:
    For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
    —1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
Jesu, be endless praise to Thee,
Whose boundless mercy hath for me—
For me a full atonement made,
An everlasting ransom paid.

O let the dead now hear Thy voice;
Now bid Thy banished ones rejoice;
Their beauty this, their glorious dress,
Jesu, Thy blood and righteousness.
    ... Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) & John Wesley (1703-1791), The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, v. I, Charles Wesley, London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868, p. 349 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we who were dead have heard Your call.

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Rossetti: a better resurrection

Wednesday, April 27, 2011
    Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
Meditation:
    Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
    —Psalm 143:11 (KJV)
Quotation:
A Better Resurrection

I have no wit, no words, no tears;
    My heart within me like a stone
Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;
    Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief
    No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
        O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,
    My harvest dwindled to a husk;
Truly my life is void and brief
    And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
    No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall—the sap of spring;
        O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl,
    A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
    Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perished thing,
    Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
        O Jesus, drink of me.
    ... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Christina Rossetti: the complete poems, London: Penguin Classics, 2001, p. 62 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You take broken lives and remake them.

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Swinburne: knowing God means knowing about him also

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Meditation:
    Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.
    —1 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Preachers never tire of telling us that knowing about God is one thing and knowing God is another; but although these are distinct, it would be very odd if you could know God at all well without knowing quite a lot about him. After all, we know an ordinary friend better when we know something about that person’s history and character.
    ... Richard G. Swinburne (b. 1934), Philosophers Who Believe, Kelly James Clark, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1993, p. 200 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Yourself to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brainerd: the way of salvation

Monday, April 25, 2011
    Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Meditation:
    What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
    —Romans 9:30-33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The way of salvation opened to me with such infinite wisdom, suitableness, and excellency, that I wondered I should ever think of any other way of salvation; was amazed that I had not dropped my own contrivances, and complied with this lovely, blessed, and excellent way before. If I could have been saved by my own duties, or any other way that I had formerly contrived, my whole soul would now have refused it. I wondered that all the world did not see and comply with this way of salvation, entirely by the righteousness of Christ.
    ... David Brainerd (1718-1747), Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd, New Haven: S. Converse, 1822, p. 47 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your way is true. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Crashaw: Here, where our Lord once laid his Head

Sunday, April 24, 2011
    Easter
    Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Meditation:
    When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
    But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
    “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
    —Mark 16:1-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
Upon the Sepulchre of our Lord.

Here, where our Lord once laid his Head,
Now the grave lies buriéd.
    ... Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), from “Divine Epigrams”, The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, London: J. R. Smith, 1858, p. 16 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, the grave holds no power over Your people.

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