Ambrose: what each deserves

Saturday, December 7, 2013
    Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
    —Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Moreover, you are not to ask what each man’s deserts are. Mercy is not ordinarily held to consist in pronouncing judgment on another man’s deserts, but in relieving his necessities; in giving aid to the poor, not in inquiring how good they are.
    ... St. Ambrose of Milan (Aurelius Ambrosius) (339-397), De Nabuthe Jezraelite [ca.395], in Journal of the History of Ideas, v. III, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1942, VIII.40, p. 462 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:1-2; Ps. 41:1; 113:7-8; Zeph. 3:12; Matt. 11:4-6; Luke 4:18-19; 6:20; Rom. 2:1; 2 Cor. 8:9; Gal. 2:10; Jas. 1:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to resist judging. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yancey: absolute grace

Friday, December 6, 2013
    Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326
Meditation:
    This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
    —Romans 3:22-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God does not love us because of who we are and what we have done, but because of who God is. Grace flows to all who accept it. Jesus forgave an adulteress, a thief on the cross, a disciple who had denied ever knowing him. Grace is absolute, all-encompassing. It extends even to people who nailed Jesus to the cross: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” were among the last words he spoke on earth.
    ... Philip Yancey (b. 1949), Soul Survivor, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001, p. 145 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 3:22-24; Luke 22:61-62; 23:34,43; John 8:10-11; Rom. 8:1-2; 11:5-6; 1 Cor. 15:10; Eph. 1:7-8; 2:8-9; 4:7; 1 Tim. 1:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, open my hands that I may receive yet more of Your grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Murray: helplessness

Thursday, December 5, 2013
Meditation:
    But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
    —2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Faith always means helplessness. In many cases it means: I can do it with a great deal of trouble, but another can do it better. But in most cases it is utter helplessness; another must do it for me. And that is the secret of the spiritual life.
    ... Andrew Murray (1828-1917), Absolute Surrender, Bible Institute Colportage Association, 1897, p. 103 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 12:7-9; John 5:19; 15:5; Rom. 11:17-21; Eph. 2:8-9; Heb. 6:12; 1 Pet. 1:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I must place my life completely in Your hands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hauerwas: fundamental sin

Wednesday, December 4, 2013
    Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community, 1637
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
    “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
    “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”
    —Luke 17:26-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our sin is so fundamental, that we must be taught to recognize it; we cannot perceive its radical nature so long as we remain formed by it. Sin is not some universal tendency of humankind to be inhumane or immoral, though sin may involve inhumanity and immorality. We are not sinful because we participate in some general human condition, but because we deceive ourselves about the nature of reality and so would crucify the very one who calls us to God’s kingdom.
    ... Stanley Hauerwas (b. 1940), The Peaceable Kingdom, University of Notre Dame Press, 1983, p. 30-31 (see the book)
    See also Luke 17:26-30; Ps. 32:2; 51:2,7; Isa. 28:14-15; Matt. 21:38-39; Mark 7:20-23; 15:12-14; Luke 6:45; 11:35; 12:16-21; 23:20-21; John 8:34; 19:14-15; Acts 2:36; Rom. 6:6-7; Gal. 6:7-8; 2 Tim. 3:12-13; Heb. 12:1; 1 John 1:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, open my eyes to my sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: the inspiration and the barrier

Tuesday, December 3, 2013
    Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552
Meditation:
    They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
    —Acts 2:42 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The traditional worship setting is both the inspiration for faith and fellowship, and the barrier to it. Due only to Word and Sacrament—God’s ideas—is there any faith to be shared or truth to articulate. However, the very setting in which this is received instills the fear of expressing it informally.
    ... Paul G. Johnson (b. 1931), Buried Alive, Richmond: John Knox Press, 1968, p. 43 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:42; Matt. 18:20; Acts 1:13-14; 2:1; 1 Cor. 11:17-22; 14:29-32; Heb. 10:22-25; Jude 1:17-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your people live out their fellowship in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Patmore: Kind souls

Monday, December 2, 2013
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
    —Luke 6:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
Kind souls, you wonder why, love you,
    When you, you wonder why, love none.
We love, Fool, for the good we do,
    Not that which unto us is done.
    ... Coventry Patmore (1823-1896), Florilegium Amantis, London: G. Bell, 1879, p. 233 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:31; Lev. 19:18; Matt. 5:44-46; 7:12; 22:39; Rom. 13:8-9; Gal. 5:14-16; 6:2; Jas. 2:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, give growth to Your people in doing good to others. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Vaughan: Awake, glad heart!

Sunday, December 1, 2013
    Advent I
    Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916
Meditation:
Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;
    shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
    you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
    he displays his glory in Israel.
    —Isaiah 44:23 (NIV)
Quotation:
Awake, glad heart! get up, and sing!
It is the birth-day of thy King.
    Awake! awake!
    The sun doth shake
Light from his locks, and, all the way
Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day.

Awake, awake! heark how th’ wood rings,
Winds whisper, and the busie springs
    A concert make;
    Awake! awake!
Man is their high-priest, and should rise
To offer up the sacrifice.

I would I were some bird, or star,
Flutt’ring in woods, or lifted far
    Above this inne
    And rode of sin!
Then either star or bird should be
Shining or singing still to thee.
    ... Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), The Poetical Works of Henry Vaughan, Boston: Osgood, 1871, p. 119 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 44:23; Ps. 57:8-9; 85:9-12; 96:11-13; 108:2-3; Isa. 9:6; 49:13; Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:31-33; 2:8-14; Rev. 5:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Awaken our hearts this day, Lord.

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