Thomas: God likes you

Saturday, May 3, 2014
Meditation:
    Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
    —John 14:23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God reveals Himself as a God who isn’t mad at us. He likes us. Do you know that in experience, that God likes you? He likes you and wants to be with you and hang around with you—wants to go to coffee with you, wants to be involved in your housework, or your job, or whatever it is. And if you knew this, if you do know Him, you know that you would like that.
    ... Eugene M. Thomas, in a talk delivered May 15, 1983, on the subject “Not Being Worldly” (see the book)
    See also John 14:23; Josh. 1:5; Ps. 16:7; 46:7,11; Isa. 41:10; Matt. 1:23; 18:20; 28:19-20; Mark 16:20; John 3:16; 14:16-18; Acts 18:9-10; Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; 2 Tim. 4:17; 2 Pet. 3:9; 1 John 4:9-10,19; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cling to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trueblood: believe in

Friday, May 2, 2014
    Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
    —John 14:1 (KJV)
Quotation:
    A Christian is a person who, though he knows that he is both ignorant and imperfect, believes that he has a clue to reality. He is not willing to settle for the notion that finite things and finite persons constitute the whole of reality, because he can see they all point beyond themselves. In short, he believes in God. There is a radical difference between “believe in” and “believe that.” The person who believes in involves his whole self in an attitude of trust.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Future of the Christian, Harper & Row, 1971, p. 79 (see the book)
    See also John 14:1; Ps. 139:6; Eccl. 11:5; Isa. 12:2; Mark 9:24; John 6:29,40; 12:44; Rom. 8:24-26; 1 Cor. 3:19; 1 Pet. 1:21; 1 John 5:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I do not understand Your ways, but help me to trust You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Monro: experience agrees with the Bible

Thursday, May 1, 2014
    Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Meditation:
    ... he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
    —Matthew 4:4 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Our Christian experience must agree with the Bible. We will be taught by the Bible and fed by the Bible. But we do not believe in Christ because He is in the Bible: we believe in the Bible because Christ is in us.
    ... Claxton Monro (1914-1991)
    See also Matt. 4:4; Deut 8:3; Luke 4:4; 17:20-21; 24:45; John 5:39; 6:32-35; 14:20; 15:4-5; 17:26; Rom. 8:10; Eph. 2:22; Col. 1:27; 3:11; 1 John 4:4; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I rely on Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: no temple

Wednesday, April 30, 2014
    Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
Meditation:
    And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
    —Revelation 21:22 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We ought not to forget that the whole Church, quite as much as any part of it, exists for the sole reason of finally becoming superfluous. Of heaven St. John the Divine said, “I saw no temple therein.”
    ... Howard A. Johnson (1915-1974), “The Vocation of the Anglican Communion (Theme Address),” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 227 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 21:22; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chr. 2:6; 6:18; Ps. 51:17; Isa. 57:15; 66:1; John 4:23-24; 14:23; 1 Cor. 3:18; 6:19; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-5; 1 John 3:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we will worship You in Your presence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Martin: the unity that is true

Tuesday, April 29, 2014
    Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
Meditation:
    But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
    —Romans 3:21-22a (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Churches belong together in the Church. What that may mean for our ecclesiastical groupings we do not know. We have not discovered the kind of outward manifestation which God wills that we shall give to that inner unity. But we must seek it.
    ... Hugh Martin (1890-1964)
    See also Rom. 3:21-22; Ps. 133:1; Matt. 23:8; John 17:20-21; Acts 4:32; Rom. 8:1-2,13-14; 12:16; Gal. 3:7-9; Phil. 2:1-2; 3:8-9; 1 John 1:3,7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead Your people into visible unity. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Clark: God's Name in the world

Monday, April 28, 2014
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
Meditation:
    ...Hallowed be thy name.
    —Matthew 6:9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We must be ready, indeed eager, to see God’s Name being hallowed outside the Church as well as inside. It may be that today the philosopher is honouring the Name of God when he insists that we should know what we mean when we utter our religious language and that we should be ready to have that meaning tested. It may be that other philosophers hallow the Name when they refuse to allow us to withdraw it to some supernatural realm, but insist on wrestling with the unknown God in the agony and joy of existence, crying with Jacob, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy Name.” And is not the scientist honouring the Name when he patiently and obediently follows where the evidence leads? Or the social scientist when he asks us to understand what is before we begin pronouncing what ought to be? God does not spend all His time in Church.
    ... Howard Hewlett Clark (1903-1983), “Sermon at the Opening Service,” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 11 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:9; Gen. 32:24-29; Ps. 111:9; Mal. 1:11; Luke 1:48; 11:10; Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Tim. 6:15-16; Rev. 4:11; 5:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I hallow Your name in all my actions. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rossetti: Tune me, O Lord, into one harmony

Sunday, April 27, 2014
    Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
Meditation:
It is good to praise the LORD
    and make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
    and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
    and the melody of the harp.
    —Psalm 92:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
Tune me, O Lord, into one harmony
    With thee, one full responsive vibrant chord;
Unto thy praise all love and melody,
    Tune me, O Lord.
    ... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Christina Rossetti: the complete poems, London: Penguin Classics, 2001, p. 463 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 92:1-3; 33:1-3; 68:4; 81:1-3; 98:4-6; 104:33; 144:9-10; 150:3-5; Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:16; Rev. 14:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my heart rings with the sound of Your praises. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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