Neill: self-forgetfulness

Saturday, February 25, 2012
Meditation:
    Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
    —Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Forgiveness can spring only from a self-forgetfulness that is more concerned about another’s well being than about its own, and that longs for the renewal of fellowship even when fellowship has been flouted and destroyed by the willful aggression of another.
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), A Genuinely Human Existence: Towards a Christian Psychology, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1959, p. 211 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, restore my relationship with _____ and _____ through forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Flavel: Christ the source of delight

Friday, February 24, 2012
Meditation:
His mouth is sweetness itself;
    he is altogether lovely.
This is my lover, this my friend,
    O daughters of Jerusalem.
    —Song of Solomon 5:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ [is] the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the congregation or meeting-place of all the waters in the world: so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet.
    ... John Flavel (1628-1691), Serm. XII from The Method of Grace, in The Whole Works of the Reverend Mr. John Flavel, v. II, London: J. Mathews, 1799, p. 215 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cast myself on Your limitless grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: a late love

Thursday, February 23, 2012
    Feast of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c.155
Meditation:
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
    blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
    —Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Thou didst call, and cry aloud, and break through my deafness. Thou didst blaze forth, and shine, and scatter my blindness. Thou wert fragrant, and I drew in my breath, and pant for Thee. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for Thy peace.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions [397], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886, X.xxvii, p. 263-264 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have conquered me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: the need to pray

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
    Ash Wednesday
Meditation:
Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks :
    so longeth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God :
    when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
    —Psalm 42:1-2 (Book of Common Prayer, 1662)
Quotation:
    It is not possible to say, “I shall pray” or “I shall not pray,” as if it were an act according to our own good pleasure. To be a Christian and to pray are one and the same thing; it is a matter that cannot be left to our caprice. It is a need, a kind of breathing necessary to life.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Prayer, Westminster John Knox Press, 2002, p. 15 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me this day the humility to pray. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carrel: prayer a source of strength

Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Meditation:
    And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
    —Matthew 6:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Too many people regard prayer as a formalized routine of words, a refuge for weaklings, or a childish petition for material things. We sadly undervalue prayer when we conceive it in these terms, just as we should underestimate rain by describing it as something that fills the birdbath in our garden. Properly understood, prayer is a mature activity indispensable to the fullest development of personality—the ultimate integration of man’s highest faculties. Only in prayer do we achieve that complete and harmonious assembly of body, mind and spirit which gives the frail human reed its unshakable strength.
    ... Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), “Prayer is Power”, from The Reader’s Digest, March, 1941, included in The Questing Spirit, Halford E. Luccock & Frances Brentano, New York: Coward-McCann, 1947, p. 645 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are my strength. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carrel: a habit of prayer

Monday, February 20, 2012
    Commemoration of Cecile Isherwood, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Grahamstown, South Africa, 1906
Meditation:
    In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
    —Job 1:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If you make a habit of sincere prayer, your life will be very noticeably and profoundly altered. Prayer stamps with its indelible mark our actions and demeanor. A tranquillity of bearing, a facial and bodily repose, are observed in those whose inner lives are thus enriched. Within the depths of consciousness a flame kindles. And man sees himself. He discovers his selfishness, his silly pride, his fears, his greeds, his blunders. He develops a sense of moral obligation, intellectual humility. Thus begins a journey of the soul toward the realm of grace. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), “Prayer is Power”, from The Reader’s Digest, March, 1941, included in The Questing Spirit, Halford E. Luccock & Frances Brentano, New York: Coward-McCann, 1947, p. 645 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, visit my soul, that I might have tranquility. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: salvation in the story of Jesus

Sunday, February 19, 2012
Meditation:
    But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
    —1 Corinthians 15:12-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The fact that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I will die. And the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, shall be raised on the day of judgment. Our salvation is “from outside ourselves”. I find salvation not in my life story, but only in the story of Jesus Christ.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 62 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, because of Your faithfulness, I have hope. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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