Newbolt: on holy orders

Saturday, November 19, 2011
    Feast of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680
    Commemoration of Elizabeth, Princess of Hungary, Philanthropist, 1231
    Commemoration of Mechtild, Bèguine of Magdeburg, Mystic, Prophet, 1280
Meditation:
    Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
    —1 Peter 5:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Holy Orders is not a profession which we enter expecting an advance, or some sort of recognition as a right after so many years of work. But it is rather the giving up of self into the hands of God, without stint and without reserve, and letting Him set the work. It is the recognition of the fact that God has many kinds of work to be done, and that the best paid are not always the most honourable... To enter or exercise the ministry with a view to preferment is like marrying for money and not for love.
    ... W. C. E. Newbolt (1844-1930), Speculum Sacerdotum, London: Longmans, Green, 1894, p. 112-113,144 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You lead me to my tasks. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Struther: Lord of all hopefulness

Friday, November 18, 2011
Meditation:
In vain you rise early
    and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
    for he grants sleep to those he loves.
    —Psalm 127:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
Whose trust, ever childlike, no cares could destroy,
Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,
Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,
Be there at our labours, and give us, we pray,
Your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,
Your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace,
Be there at our homing, and give us, we pray,
Your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
Whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,
Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,
Your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.
    ... Jan Struther (1901-1953), first published in Songs of Praise, enl. ed., Ralph Vaughan Williams, et al., ed., Oxford University Press, 1931, n. 564, p. 164 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord Who grants rest, Your love sends me gracious sleep.

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Barth: the One who is real

Thursday, November 17, 2011
    Feast of Hugh, Carthusian Monk, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200
Meditation:
    By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
    —1 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “Resurrection” is the word that, of all words in the Bible, wants to tell us in the strongest and most unambiguous way: God is not a thought, God is not a word, God is not a feeling. God is the Great One, the True One, the Real and Living One, who waits to meet us precisely at that point where our thoughts about him end.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), from “He Himself” in Come Holy Spirit: Sermons, New York: Round Table Press, 1933, reprint, Mowbrays, 1978, p. 162 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the one true God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: entry into the community

Wednesday, November 16, 2011
    Feast of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, Philanthropist, Reformer of the Church, 1093
    Commemoration of Edmund Rich of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1240
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:
    [Continued from yesterday] It was inconceivable that a Christian taught by St. Paul could think of himself as obtaining a personal salvation by himself. He became one of the brethren. He shared in the common sacraments. The Church was not an invisible body formed of unknown ‘believers’. Men were admitted by their baptism into a very visible society, liable to be attacked by very visible foes. The Apostle who preached to them was a member of it, and he preached as a member of it, and as a member of it he invited them to enter it, to share its privileges and its burdens, its glory and its shame. Entrance into it was guarded by a very definite and unmistakable sacrament.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours?, London: World Dominion Press, 1927, reprinted, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, p. 76 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead us into true community with one another. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: Paul not individualistic

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Meditation:
    Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
    —Galatians 1:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is one ... aspect of St. Paul’s preaching which is often taken for granted, but is certainly not true—that the Gospel of St. Paul was purely individualistic. To the heathen crowd St. Paul addressed himself as to a mass of souls from amongst which he was to gather the elect children of God. But he did not approach them as an isolated prophet: he came as an Apostle of the Church of God, and he did not simply seek to gather out individual souls from amongst the heathen; he gathered them into the society of which he was a member. He did not teach them that they would find salvation by themselves alone, but that they would find it in the perfecting of the Body of Christ. Souls were not invited to enter into an isolated solitary religious life of communion with Christ: they were invited to enter the society in which the Spirit manifested Himself and in which they would share in the communication of His life. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours?, London: World Dominion Press, 1927, reprinted, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, p. 76 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me know my bonds to the brethren. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Vaughan: communion

Monday, November 14, 2011
    Commemoration of Samuel Seabury, First Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796
Meditation:
    Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
    —John 6:35 (NIV)
Quotation:
        O drink and bread,
        Which strikes death dead,
The food of man’s immortal being!
        Under veils here
        Thou art my cheer,
Present and sure without my seeing.
    ... Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), The Poetical Works of Henry Vaughan, Boston: Osgood, 1871, p. 262 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Thank You, Lord, for the gift of Your body and blood. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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More: His law is right

Sunday, November 13, 2011
    Feast of Charles Simeon, Pastor, Teacher, 1836
Meditation:
The fear of the LORD is clean,
    enduring for ever:
the judgments of the LORD are true
    and righteous altogether.
    —Psalm 19:9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We are born knowing nothing and with much striving we learn but a little; yet all the while we are bound by laws that hearken to no plea of ignorance, and measure out their rewards and punishments with calm indifference. In such a state, humility is the virtue of men, and their only defense; to walk humbly with God, never doubting, whatever befall, that His will is good, and that His law is right.
    ... Paul Elmer More (1864-1937), Pages from an Oxford Diary, Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1972, c1937, excerpt included in The Questing Spirit, Halford E. Luccock & Frances Brentano, New York: Coward-McCann, 1947, p. 602 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown us truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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