Newbigin: a radically different vision

Saturday, June 25, 2011
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.”
    —Luke 21:16-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A preaching of the gospel that calls men and women to accept Jesus as Savior but does not make it clear that discipleship means commitment to a vision of society radically different from that which controls our public life today must be condemned as false.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), Foolishness to the Greeks: the Gospel and Western culture, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1986, p. 132 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church seeks refuge in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: a danger to the Church

Friday, June 24, 2011
    Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets”
    —Luke 6:26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is one of the greatest dangers of the Church in a democratic country—and one of the greatest temptations for churches which for their support are dependent on the good will of their congregations—to present the gospel message in a way agreeable and inoffensive to those who are to hear it.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 113 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to see the truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Smart: the flowers

Thursday, June 23, 2011
    Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.”
    —Matthew 6:28-29 (NIV)
Quotation:
For the flowers are great blessings.
For the Lord made a Nosegay in the meadow with his disciples and preached upon the lily...
For the flowers have great virtues for all senses.
For the flower glorifies God and the root parries the adversary.
For the flowers have their angels even the words of God’s creation...
For there is a language of flowers.
For there is a sound reasoning upon all flowers.
For elegant phrases are nothing but flowers.
For flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ.
    ... Christopher Smart (1722-1771), Jubilate Agno [1759], R. Hart-Davis, 1954, p. 105 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your creation praises You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tauler: a judging spirit

Wednesday, June 22, 2011
    Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
    —Luke 6:37-38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He who desires to become a spiritual man must not be ever taking note of others, and above all of their sins, lest he fall into wrath and bitterness, and a judging spirit towards his neighbors.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), “Sermon for St. Peter’s Day,” in The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler of Strasbourg, Charles Kingsley, pref. & Susanna Winkworth, tr., New York: Wiley & Halsted, 1858, p. 462 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have looked past my sin; teach me to do the same to others. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hodge: original sin

Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Meditation:
    I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
    —Romans 7:18-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are a fallen race. Our nature has become corrupted by our apostasy from God, and therefore every imagination (i. e., every exercise) of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil continually... This is the Scriptural and the only rational solution of the undeniable fact of the deep, universal, and early manifested sinfulness of men in all ages, of every class, and in every part of the world.
    ... Charles Hodge (1797-1878), Systematic Theology, Londom, Edinurgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1872, p. 238 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church begs You to use Your church for righteousness, for all we produce is sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ellul: what God sends

Monday, June 20, 2011
Meditation:
    This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
    —1 John 4:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To do his work God does not send a book of metaphysics or a sacred book of Gnostic revelations or a complete epistemological system or a perfected wisdom. He sends a man.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Subversion of Christianity, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1986, p. 24 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are truth in human form. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Sundar Singh: salt

Sunday, June 19, 2011
    Trinity Sunday
    Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?”
    —Luke 14:34 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which he imparts to us.
    ... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), Reality and Religion: meditations on God, man, and nature, London: Macmillan, 1924, p. 24-25 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, sustain my “saltiness” with Your presence within. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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