Reeves: understanding unity

Saturday, July 9, 2011
Meditation:
    For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
    —1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Whatever may be our differences of colour, culture, and class, the unity that is ours in Christ is given visible expression at every Synod. Here we all gather around the one Altar, here we all share in shaping the policy of the Church in this diocese; here we all take part in making provision for carrying on the work of the Church during the coming year. At this time, year by year, we are specially conscious of our unity in Christ, and are made aware afresh that we are members of this new race of human beings which is made up of all those of every ethnic group who have been added to Christ. We are members of that Kingdom in which all human antagonisms are transcended. Yet we shall not interpret aright this unity which is ours in Christ Jesus unless we continually remind ourselves that it has its origin in His death and resurrection. The Church springs out of the deeds of Jesus done in the flesh, and we can only fulfil our destiny in the Church as we learn that we are utterly dependent upon the whole Body of Christ.
    ... Ambrose Reeves (1899-1980), Bishop of Johannesburg [1956], in Church and Race in South Africa, David M. Paton, London: SCM Press, 1958, p. 30-31 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, drive all obstacles to unity away from within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: abasement

Friday, July 8, 2011
Meditation:
    I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
    —Philippians 4:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Not to all men, not to any man always does God give complete abundance. To all men sometimes, to some men in long stretches of their lives, come the abasement times,—times of poverty, times of ignorance, times of friendlessness, times of distrust and doubt; but God does not mean that these times should be like great barren stretches and blanks in our lives only to be travelled over for the sake of what lies beyond. To him who, like Paul, knows how to be abased, they have their own rich value. They do for him their own good work. To have our desire set on nothing absolutely except character, to be glad that God should lead us into any land where there is character to win,—this is the only real explanation of life. He that has it may be more than reconciled to living. He may do more than triumph over his abasements. He may make close friendships with them, so that he shall part from them with sorrow when he is called to go to the right h! and of God where there is no more abasement, nothing but fulness forevermore.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Light of the World, and Other Sermons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1904, p. 175 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I be content with whatever provision You have made. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Watts: Why should the children of a king

Thursday, July 7, 2011
Meditation:
    The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
    —Romans 8:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
The Witnessing and Sealing Spirit

Why should the children of a king
    Go mourning all their days?
Great Comforter, descend and bring
    Some tokens of thy grace.

Dost thou not dwell in all the saints,
    And seal the heirs of heav’n?
When wilt thou banish my complaints,
    And show my sins forgiven?

Assure my conscience of her part
    In the Redeemer’s blood;
And bear thy witness with my heart,
    That I am born of God.

Thou are the earnest of his love,
    The pledge of joys to come;
And thy soft wings, celestial Dove,
    Will safe convey me home.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Hymns and Spiritual Songs [1707], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, Book I, Hymn 144, p. 366 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, by Your Spirit we have assurance.

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Saphir: grace in the "Old" Testament

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
    Feast of Thomas More, Scholar & Martyr, &
    John Fisher, Bishop & Martyr, 1535
Meditation:
    Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
    —Genesis 15:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What is meant by calling the writings of Moses and the Prophets [the] “Old Testament”? Do they not set forth the covenant of grace? The doctrine of justification by faith: does not Paul in his Epistle to the Romans prove it from Genesis (case of Abraham) and from the Psalms (case of David, Ps. 32)? Where is the doctrine of substitution and the vicarious sufferings of the messiah set forth more clearly than in Leviticus and in the 53rd of Isaiah? The term “Old Testament” leads people to fancy it is an antiquated book; whereas, in many respects, it is newer than the New Testament, referring more fully to the age of glory and blessedness on the earth which is still before us.
    ... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel, London: Morgan and Scott, 1911, p. 140 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your entire word unfolds Your grace towards Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Behrends: Jesus, both God and man

Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Meditation:
    Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
    —2 John 7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus Christ is God in the form of man; God in every fiber of his being, man in every fiber of his being; as completely God as if he were not man, and as completely man as if he were not God. We cannot divide him. He is always divine, and he is always human. The truly human experiences were also divine experiences. The truly human acts were also divine acts. The personality was human from center to circumference, and it was divine from center to circumference. The one soul was human to the core, and it was divine to the core. It follows from this, that whatever is affirmed of Jesus Christ, is as true of his deity as it is of his humanity.
    ... A. J. F. Behrends, part VII. “Why Did Christ Die?”, from “Short Studies Upon Great Themes”, printed in Christian work: illustrated family newspaper, v.64, p. 173 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I do confess Jesus, fully God and fully man. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Henry: not religionists, but Christians

Monday, July 4, 2011
Meditation:
    Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
    —1 Peter 2:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation [the United States] was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    ... Patrick Henry (1736-1799), attributed, Give Me Liberty: the Uncompromising Statesmanship of Patrick Henry, David J. Vaughan, Cumberland House Publishing, 1996, p. 253 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead us to pray as You desire for our nation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Reid: remove the barriers

Sunday, July 3, 2011
    Feast of Thomas the Apostle
Meditation:
    For [Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
    —1 Corinthians 15:25-26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Lord, remove every barrier the enemy has put in place, so that the only barrier which remains is the cross itself.
    ... Jon Reid
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my way ends at the foot of Your cross. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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