Newman: denial of Providence

Saturday, August 11, 2012
    Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253
    Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890
Meditation:
    In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
    —2 Timothy 2:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Men do not like to hear of the interposition of Providence in the affairs of the world; and they invidiously ascribe ability and skill to His agents, to escape the thought of an Infinite Wisdom and an Almighty power. They will be unjust to their brethren, lest they must be just to Him.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Sermons, Bearing on Subjects of the Day, London: J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1844, p. 347 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we are Your instruments. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Owen: the goodness of God

Friday, August 10, 2012
    Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258
Meditation:
    Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
    —1 John 3:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is no property of God more celebrated in the Scripture than this of his goodness, and his giving out of the fruits of it to all his creatures. And he is so only good, that there is nothing so in any sense but by a participation of it, and a likeness unto him therein. They, therefore, who are like unto God, and they only, are useful in this world.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), V.1 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 583 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long to see You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Pinnock: creationism a prerequisite

Thursday, August 9, 2012
    Feast of Mary Sumner, Founder of the Mothers’ Union, 1921
Meditation:
    That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
    —Romans 10:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christians have often been their own worst enemy in the way that they have invented problems for themselves that need not have arisen, not only causing themselves a good deal of anxiety but also deterring otherwise interested parties from looking into the truth further... Even today Christians are doing battle with the scientific establishment on behalf of what they call creationism as if the Christian faith depended on it. Surely it does not. The Bible does not date the creation of the human race, nor does it describe the methods employed in its formation. Whether it took millions of years or only a [few] is not part of Christian essentials. It only makes it harder for a person to consider the gospel seriously when such a concept is made a prerequisite to faith.
    ... Clark H. Pinnock (b. 1937), Reason Enough, Exeter: Paternoster, 1980, p. 109 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, correct my understanding. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Herbert: Prayer, the Church's banquet

Wednesday, August 8, 2012
    Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221
Meditation:
    On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine--the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
    —Isaiah 25:6-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
Prayer, the Church’s banquet, Angel’s age,
    God’s breath in man returning to his birth,
    The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth;

Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tower,
    Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
    The six days world-transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
    Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well dressed,
    The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

    Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,
    The land of spices, something understood.
    ... George Herbert (1593-1633), The Poetical Works of George Herbert, New York: D. Appleton, 1857, p. 61 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have made Yourself known to us.

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

John of Damascus: Let us rise in early morning

Tuesday, August 7, 2012
    Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866
Meditation:
    We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
    —Romans 8:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
Let us rise in early morning,
    And, instead of ointments, bring
Hymns of praises to our Master,
    And His Resurrection sing:
We shall see the Sun of Justice
    Risen with healing on His wing.

Thy unbounded loving-kindness,
    They that groaned in Hades’ chain,
Prisoners, from afar beholding,
    Hasten to the light again;
And to that eternal Pascha
    Wove the dance and raised the strain.

Go ye forth, His Saints, to meet Him!
    Go with lamps in every hand!
From the sepulchre He riseth:
    Ready for the Bridegroom stand:
And the Pascha of salvation
    Hail, with His triumphant band.
    ... John of Damascus (c.676-749) & John Mason Neale (1818-1866), Hymns of the Eastern Church, London: J. T. Hayes, 1870, p. 100 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people join the celebration of Your victory.

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Barth: self-justification

Monday, August 6, 2012
Meditation:
    As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
    —Romans 3:10-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The man who really prays never attempts to justify himself. In true prayer, he knows that he cannot do so.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Church Dogmatics, v. II, part 2 [1957], Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004, p. 752 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have fallen from Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Tauler: mercy

Sunday, August 5, 2012
    Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642
Meditation:
    Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
    —Matthew 5:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Mercy is the attribute that God shows forth in all His works: therefore a merciful man is a truly godlike man. For mercy is brought forth by love and kindness. Therefore the true Friends of God are much more merciful, and more ready to believe in the sinful and suffering, than those who are not loving. Mercy is born of that love which we ought to exercise towards each other.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The Inner Way, Sermon XXV (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, increase our love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt