Buechner: the existence of God

Saturday, December 17, 2011
    Commemoration of Eglantine Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of ‘Save the Children’, 1928
Meditation:
    —God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
    —1 Timothy 6:15b-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is as impossible for us to demonstrate the existence of God as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.
    ... Frederick Buechner (b. 1926), Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, revised, HarperCollins, 1993, p. 36 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Father, we know You through Your Son. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Packer: Father, the Christian name for God

Friday, December 16, 2011
Meditation:
    Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
    —Galatians 4:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctly Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. ‘Father’ is the Christian name for God.
    ... James I. Packer (b. 1926), Knowing God, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973, p. 182 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Father, You have made me Your child. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Judson: unconditional forgiveness

Thursday, December 15, 2011
Meditation:
    But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
    —Matthew 1:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Divine forgiveness is absolutely unconditional. We are not forgiven because we are not very bad. We are not forgiven because we are trying to be good. We are not forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. We are not forgiven because we have suffered; as the iniquity of Jerusalem was pardoned because she had received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. In the Old Testament forgiveness is always conditioned upon the repentance and suffering of the sinner; in the New Testament repentance grows out of forgiveness. We are forgiven because we are sinners. Forgiveness is the form God’s love takes when it rests upon sin.
    ... Edward Judson (1844-1914), The Outlook, v. XCVII, Lyman Abbott, ed., Outlook Co., 1911, p. 748 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I believe Your offer of forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John of the Cross: blocking the road to perfection

Wednesday, December 14, 2011
    Feast of John of the Cross, Mystic, Poet, Teacher, 1591
Meditation:
    Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
    —Romans 6:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    However high be your endeavours, unless you renounce and subjugate your own will—unless you forget yourself and all that pertains to yourself—not one step will you advance on the road to perfection.
    ... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), quoted in The Light of Christ, Evelyn Underhill, New York: Longmans, Green, 1949, p. 100 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, use me to carry out Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: mind fixed on God

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
    Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
    Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
Meditation:
    Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
    —Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    O Lord, grant unto me that am now about to return to the common comforts and business of the world, such moderation in all enjoyments, such diligence in honest labour, and such purity of mind, that, amidst the changes, miseries, or pleasures of life, I may keep my mind fixed upon Thee, and improve every day in grace, till I shall be received into thy kingdom of eternal happiness.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Verner, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, p. 29 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may my eyes constantly gaze upon You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pascal: because He loved it

Monday, December 12, 2011
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
    —Matthew 5:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I love poverty because He loved it. I love riches because they afford me the means of helping the very poor. I keep faith with everybody; I do not render evil to those who wrong me, but I wish them a situation like mine, in which I receive neither good nor evil from men. I try to be just, true, sincere, and faithful to all men; I have a tender heart for those to whom God has more closely united me; and whether I am alone, or seen by people, I do all my actions in the sight of God, who must judge them, and to whom I have consecrated them all.
    These are my sentiments; and every day of my life, I bless my Redeemer, who has implanted them in me, and who, out of a man full of weakness, of miseries, of lust, of pride, and of ambition, has made a man free from all these evils by the power of His grace, to which all the glory of it is due, as of myself I have only misery and error.
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #550, p. 178 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown me my error; now help rid me of it. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: O Jesus Christ, babe, man, eternal son

Sunday, December 11, 2011
    Advent III
Meditation:
    But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
    —Titus 3:4-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
O Jesus Christ, babe, man, eternal son,
    Take pity! we are poor where thou art rich:
Our hearts are small; and yet there is not one
    In all thy father’s noisy nursery which,
    Merry, or mourning in its narrow niche,
        Needs not thy father’s heart, this very now,
        With all his being’s being, even as thou!
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), The Poetical Works of George Macdonald, v. 2, London: Chatto & Windus, 1893, p. 336 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, enlarge my heart to receive You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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