Lewis: ferocious charity

Saturday, May 30, 2015
    Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
    Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
    Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
Meditation:
    Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
    —Mark 10:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We all need at times, some of us at most times, that Charity from others which, being Love Himself in them, loves the unlovable. But this, though a sort of love we need, is not the sort we want. We want to be loved for our cleverness, beauty, generosity, fairness, usefulness. The first hint that anyone is offering us the highest love of all is a terrible shock. This is so well recognized that spiteful people will pretend to be loving us with Charity precisely because they know that it will wound us. To say to one who expects a renewal of Affection, Friendship, or Eros, “I forgive you as a Christian” is merely a way of continuing the quarrel. Those who say it are of course lying. But the thing would not be falsely said in order to wound unless, if it were true, it would be wounding.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Four Loves, London: Geoffrey Bles, 1960, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1960, p. 131-132 (see the book)
    See also Mark 10:21; Ps. 10:2-3; Pr. 14:9; Mic. 7:8-9; Matt. 26:49-50; Mark 14:45; 1 Cor. 13:4-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your love is sometimes like a rebuke. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Capon: to raise the dead

Friday, May 29, 2015
Meditation:
    By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
    —1 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus came to raise the dead. Not to repair the repairable, correct the correctable, or improve the improvable. Just to raise the dead, and nobody but the dead. Nothing is all he needs for anything.
    ... Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), The Foolishness of Preaching, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 6:14; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2; Luke 14:14; John 5:21,25,28-29; 6:40,54; Rom. 6:4; 8:11; Eph. 5:13-14; 1 Thess. 4:14-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I was dead, and through Your grace and power now I live. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rolle: the Infinite

Thursday, May 28, 2015
    Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089
Meditation:
No one is like you, O LORD;
    you are great,
    and your name is mighty in power.
    —Jeremiah 10:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God truly is of infinite greatness, better than we can think; of unreckoned sweetness; inconceivable of all natures wrought; and can never be comprehended by us as He is in Himself in eternity.
    ... Richard Rolle (1290?-1349), from The Mending of Life, in Fire of Love [1343], tr. Richard Misyn, VI. (see the book)
    See also Jer. 10:6; Deut. 32:3; Job 37:5; Ps. 145:3; 150:2; Eccl. 3:11; Isa. 40:28; Rom. 11:33; Eph. 1:18-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my spirit is in awe of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: wisdom apart from Christ?

Wednesday, May 27, 2015
    Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564
Meditation:
    My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
    —Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Any due progress in the knowledge of Christ brings with it all that can be learned from the Gospel. On the other hand, to search for wisdom apart from Christ means not simply foolhardiness but utter insanity.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), [1539] The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995, p. 15 (see the book)
    See also Col. 2:2-3; Rom. 1:1-4; 11:33; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 2:6-8; Eph. 1:7-8; 3:10-11; Col. 1:9; 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I meditate on Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: a feast, not a fast

Tuesday, May 26, 2015
    Feast of Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, 605
    Commemoration of Arthur John Gossip, spiritual writer, 1954
Meditation:
    On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
    —John 7:37 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is not for nothing that the central rite of Christ’s religion is not a fast but a feast, as if to say that the one indispensable requirement for obtaining a portion in Him is an appetite, some hunger, is to be without what we must have and He can give.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also John 7:37; Ps. 42:1-2; Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 11:23-27; Eph. 1:4-6; Rev. 19:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thirst for You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wesley: O for a heart to praise my God

Monday, May 25, 2015
    Feast of the Venerable Bede, Priest, Monk of Jarrow, Historian, 735
    Commemoration of Aldhelm, Abbot of Mamsbury, Bishop of Sherborne, 709
Meditation:
    [The Lord:] “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
    —Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
O for a heart to praise my God,
    A heart from sin set free,
A heart that always feels Thy blood
    So freely shed for me.

A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
    My great Redeemer’s throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
    Where Jesus reigns alone.

A humble, lowly, contrite, heart,
    Believing, true and clean,
Which neither life nor death can part
    From Christ who dwells within.

A heart in every thought renewed
    And full of love divine,
Perfect and right and pure and good,
    A copy, Lord, of Thine.
    ... Charles Wesley (1707-1788), A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the people called Methodists, John Wesley, London: Wesleyan Conference Office, 1876, p. 322 (see the book)
    See also Eze. 36:25-27; John 14:16-17; Rom. 8:3-4,29; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 4:16-17; Gal. 2:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart like Yours.

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John: the essential ingredient

Sunday, May 24, 2015
    Pentecost
    Feast of John and Charles Wesley, Priests, Poets, Teachers, 1791 & 1788
Meditation:
    Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.
    —Acts 9:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Are we [missionaries] not dependent upon [the Holy Ghost] for every spiritual qualification necessary for our work, and for every real success in it? Do we want native pastors, teachers, evangelists, or deacons? It is the Holy Ghost who calls the right men to office, and fits them for the successful discharge of their duties. Do we long to see this people turn from their dumb idols and sins to the living God? It is the Holy Ghost alone that can convince them of sin, reveal Christ to their inmost consciousness, regenerate their souls, and lead them to faith and repentance. Do we wish to build up a holy spiritual Church in this land? Do we wish to see the Churches become self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating? The Holy Ghost is the source of all power and efficiency, whether in the members individually, or in the Church collectively.
    ... Griffith John (1831-1912), Records of the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China, Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1878, p. 39 (see the book)
    See also Acts 9:31; 6:2-3; 14:23; Rom. 8:13-14,28; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 12:2-3; 2 Cor. 5:20; 2 Tim. 1:14; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit alone is the source of the church’s strength. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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