Lewis: men like gods

Saturday, December 26, 2015
    Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr
Meditation:
    “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
    When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
    —Genesis 3:4-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 49 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 3:4-7; Ps. 12:3-4; Acts 12:21-23; 2 Cor. 4:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, life without You is unthinkable. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Huss: Rejoice this day

Friday, December 25, 2015
    CHRISTMAS DAY
Meditation:
    But after [Joseph] had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
    —Matthew 1:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Rejoice; for, this day is born for us a Mediator, that man may be reconciled with God, and that this peace may be spread over the earth. Rejoice; for, to us is born a Physician, to make sinners pure from sin, to deliver them from the power of Satan, to redeem them from eternal damnation, to impart to all a heavenly joy, that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice; for, to us is born a King, to fill us with joy; a High Priest, to pour on believers the Divine blessing; a Father, to adopt us as his children for all eternity. To us is born a well-beloved Brother, a Master in every kind of knowledge, a veritable Chief, a Judge of most perfect equity, that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice, sinners, for He who is born is the Son of God, the High Priest who absolves all that repent, in order that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.
    ... John Huss (1369-1415), Letters of John Huss, written during his exile and imprisonment, Edinburgh: W. Whyte, 1846, p. 52 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 1:20-21; Ps. 130:8; Isa. 9:6-7; Eze. 36:25-29; Luke 2:14; John 1:29; Acts 4:12; 5:31; 1 John 3:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let peace and good-will come to our hearts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb

Thursday, December 24, 2015
    Christmas Eve
Meditation:
    When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
    —Matthew 2:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,
Now leaves his well beloved imprisonment,
There he hath made himself to his intent
Weak enough, now into our world to come;
But Oh, for thee, for him, hath the inn no room?
Yet lay him in this stall, and from the Orient,
Stars, and wise men will travel to prevent
The effects of Herod’s jealous general doom;
Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eyes, how he
Which fills all place, yet none holds him, doth lie?
Was not his pity towards thee wondrous high,
That would have need to be pitied by thee?
Kiss him, and with him into Egypt go,
With his kind mother, who partakes thy woe.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. VI, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Holy Sonnets, III, p. 444 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 2:13-15; Luke 2:5-7; 2 Cor. 13:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I go beside You wherever You go. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Milton: Yea, Truth and Justice then

Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Meditation:
Love and faithfulness meet together;
    righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
    and righteousness looks down from heaven.
    —Psalm 85:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
Yea, Truth and Justice then
Will down return to men,
    Orb’d in a Rain-bow, and like glories wearing;
Mercy will sit between,
Throned in celestial sheen,
    With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;
And Heav’n, as at some festival,
Will open wide the Gates of her high Palace Hall.
    ... John Milton (1608-1674), [1629] from On the morning of Chist’s Nativity, The Complete Poems of John Milton, New York: P. F. Collier, 1909, p. 12 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 85:10-11; 33:5; 40:11; 89:14; Pr. 8:20; Zech. 7:9; 2 John 1:3; Rev. 15:2-3; 19:11; 21:2,25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have opened Heaven to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chesterton: The world grows terrible and white

Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
    —John 17:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
The world grows terrible and white,
    And blinding white the breaking day;
We walk bewildered in the light,
For something is too large for sight,
    And something much too plain to say.

The Child that was ere worlds begun
    (...We need but walk a little way,
We need but see a latch undone...)
The Child that played with moon and sun
    Is playing with a little hay.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, v. X, Ignatius Press, 1994, p. 187 (see the book)
    See also John 17:5; Isa. 66:4; Mic. 5:2; John 1:1-3; 8:58; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Col. 1:15-18; Heb. 13:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Advent is too great to comprehend.

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Luccock: wrapped up in a Person

Monday, December 21, 2015
Meditation:
    This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
    —1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A scientist said, making a plea for exchange scholarships between nations, “The very best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person.” That was what happened at Christmas. The idea of divine love was wrapped up in a Person.
    ... Halford E. Luccock (1885-1960), “Whoops! It’s Christmas”, in Halford Luccock Treasury, New York: Abingdon, 1963, p. 380 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:9-10; Luke 4:18; John 5:22-23; 6:29; 8:29-42
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your arms embrace me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: the message of Advent

Sunday, December 20, 2015
    Advent IV
Meditation:
    So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
    —Galatians 4:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    While we continue to pray and work for the spread of the kingdom in this transitory world, we know that its center of gravity is not here at all. When God decides that the human experiment has gone on long enough, yes, even in the midst of what appears to us confusion and incompleteness, Christ will come again. This is what the New Testament teaches. This is the message of Advent. It is for us to be alert, vigilant and industrious, so that his coming will not be a terror but an overwhelming joy.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Good News: Thoughts on God and Man, New York: Macmillan, 1963, p. 160 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 4:3-5; Gen. 49:10; Dan. 2:44; Matt. 24:42; Mark 13:33; Luke 12:35-36; 21:36; Eph. 1:9-10; 1 Thess. 5:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, awaken my expectation of Your return. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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