Ambrose: true repentance

Wednesday, December 7, 2011
    Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397
Meditation:
    What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
    —Romans 6:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    True repentance is to cease from sin.
    ... St. Ambrose of Milan (Aurelius Ambrosius) (339-397), attributed
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the heart to flee from sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Law: true devotion

Tuesday, December 6, 2011
    Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326
Meditation:
    Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”
    Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
    —Luke 9:61-62 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If therefore we desire to live unto God, it is necessary to bring our whole life under this law, to make His glory the sole rule and measure of our acting in every employment of life. For there is no other true devotion, but this of living devoted to God in the common business of our lives.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 59 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your will is my sole law. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Newbigin: the story for us

Monday, December 5, 2011
Meditation:
    And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
    —Hebrews 3:18-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    History is to be understood as the patient wrestling of God with a stupid, deluded, and rebellious people—stupid and rebellious precisely because they insist on seeing themselves as the center of the story.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), Truth and Authority in Modernity, Gracewing Publishing, 1996, p. 38-39 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to cast away my unbelief. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Bonhoeffer: Advent

Sunday, December 4, 2011
    Advent II
    Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community, 1637
Meditation:
    “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
    —Luke 2:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Advent is a time of waiting. Our whole life, however, is Advent—that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels: “On earth peace to those on whom God’s favor rests.” Learn to wait, because he has promised to come. “I stand at the door...” We however call to him: “Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!”
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), A Testament to Freedom: the essential writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Geffrey B. Kelly, F. Burton Nelson, eds., HarperCollins, 1995, p. 186 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant Your people patience to await Your return. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Engstrom: the Word in our lives

Saturday, December 3, 2011
    Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552
Meditation:
    “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever,” says the LORD.
    —Isaiah 59:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The injection of the Word into our lives provides individual or corporate direction in all we do and say.
    ... Ted W. Engstrom (1916-2006), former president, World Vision US, in a private communication from World Vision
Quiet time reflection:
    Your word, Lord, has given me life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Underhill: view from the summit

Friday, December 2, 2011
Meditation:
Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
    —Psalm 90:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This, of course, is what religion is about: this adherence to God, this confident dependence on that which is unchanging. This is the more abundant life, which in its own particular language and own particular way, it calls us to live. Because it is our part in the one life in the whole universe of spirits, our share in the great drive towards Reality, the tendency of all life to seek God, Who made it for Himself, and now incites and guides it, we are already adapted to it, just as a fish is adapted to live in the sea. This view of our situation fills us with a certain awed and humble gladness. It delivers us from all niggling fuss about ourselves, prevents us from feeling self-important about our own little spiritual adventures; and yet makes them worth while as part of one great spiritual adventure.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Spiritual Life, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1937, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1985, p. 22-23 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace has made us part of Your eternal plan. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Hromadka: Christian civiization?

Thursday, December 1, 2011
    Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916
Meditation:
    [Paul:] “In the past, [God] let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
    —Acts 14:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We cannot pass our responsibility on to politicians, diplomats, economists, technicians, scientists, and secular ideologists. We ourselves are obliged to think about the problems of the form of responsible society and of our own contribution to its creation. Let us avoid the impression that this responsible society will be identical with Christian society. There has been, is, and will be no Christian society, just as there is no Christian state, Christian economy, or Christian civilization. The new earth and the new heaven which we expect in faith will not be the work of human hands, but a creation of God’s mercy and justice. And these are essentially eschatological concepts. Christian civilization is an illusion, and every attempt to fight in its name against so-called un-Christian efforts—social and political ideas—is a self-deception and a grave danger to the church itself.
    ... J. L. Hromadka (1889-1969), The Church and Theology in Today’s Troubled Times, Prague: Ecumenical Council of Churches in Czechoslovakia, 1956, p. 80-81 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead Your church to speak truth to society. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt