Niebuhr: the sociology of denominations

Saturday, September 10, 2016
Meditation:
    I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
    —1 Timothy 5:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The denominations, churches, sects, are sociological groups whose principle of differentiation is to be sought in their conformity to the order of social classes and castes. It would not be true to affirm that the denominations are not religious groups with religious purposes; but it is true that they represent the accommodation of religion to the caste system. They are emblems, therefore, of the victory of the world over the church, of the secularization of Christianity, of the church’s sanction of that divisiveness which the church’s gospel condemns.
    ... H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962), The Social Sources of Denominationalism, Hamden, Conn.: Holt, 1929, reprint, Meridian Books, 1960, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 5:21; Matt. 23:8; John 17:20-21; 1 Cor. 1:11-13; Eph. 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, only You can unite Your people. We pray for the healing of divisions. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: why Christianity seems to fail

Friday, September 9, 2016
Meditation:
I will not set before my eyes
    anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
    it shall not cling to me.
    —Psalm 101:3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Is it unfair to suggest that, in some of us at least, [Christianity] hasn’t fully worked so far, simply because, at the pinch, at the decisive moment, we don’t want it to work or ourselves to be lifted up above the failings and disloyalties we find so alluring, but rather to be enabled to continue them without the ugly consequences of so doing, to have the inexorable laws of life bent aside in our favour, so that we can squeeze through and escape, without reaping what we have sown; because, as we misunderstand it, the whole point of the good news our Lord brings is the, to us, gladsome announcement that God is happily much more morally indifferent than our consciences had thought, and is not going to make a fuss about our sins and such-like trivial peccadilloes, but will surely let us off; because, in fact, we have not grasped that the core and essence of the Gospel... is its tremendous and glorious revelation of how deadly is God’s hatred of sin, so that He cannot stand having it in the same universe as Himself, and will go any length, and will pay any price, and will make any sacrifice, to master and abolish it—is set upon so doing in our hearts, thank God, as elsewhere.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), Experience Worketh Hope, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1945, p. 69 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 101:3; Pr. 8:13; Amos 5:15; Rom. 12:9; Heb. 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I know no sin pleases You. In Your grace, grant me a repentant heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kierkegaard: love without works

Thursday, September 8, 2016
    Commemoration of Søren Kierkegaard, Teacher and Philosopher, 1855
Meditation:
    Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
    —Luke 10:30-37 (ESV)
Quotation:
    To the Christian, love is the works of love. To say that love is a feeling or anything of the kind is really an un-Christian conception of love. That is the aesthetic definition and therefore fits the erotic and everything of that nature. But to the Christian, love is the works of love. Christ’s love was not an inner feeling, a full heart and what-not: it was the work of love which was his life.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals, ed. Alexander Dru, Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 317 (see the book)
    See also Luke 10:30-37; Matt. 20:26-28; John 3:16; 10:14-15; 15:13; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are teaching me love through humble service. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: a desirable fear

Wednesday, September 7, 2016
    Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957
Meditation:
By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
    and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.
    —Proverbs 16:6 (ESV)
Quotation:
    That fear which keeps from sin and excites the soul to cleave more firmly to God, be the object of it what it will, is no servile fear, but a holy fear and due reverence unto God and His word.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), IV.5 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 461 (see the book)
    See also Prov. 16:6; Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4-5; 2 Cor. 5:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen my belief in You, so that I may fear You only. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Dale: why Christ came

Tuesday, September 6, 2016
    Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851
    Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965
Meditation:
    For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
    —John 3:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ came, not so much to preach the Gospel, as that there might be a Gospel to preach.
    ... Robert W. Dale (1829-1895), parapharsed from The Atonement, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1875, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also John 3:17; 1:17; 14:6; Rom. 3:21-22; 5:20-21; 2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 9:22; Rev. 5:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your presence within is the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tauler: the price of true peace

Monday, September 5, 2016
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
    —Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If we ever are to attain to true Divine Peace, and be completely united to God, all that is not absolutely necessary, either bodily or spiritually, must be cast off; everything that could interpose itself to an unlawful extent between us and Him, and lead us astray: for He alone will be Lord in our hearts, and none other; for Divine Love can admit of no rival.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The Inner Way, Sermon XV (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:24; Ps. 119:113; 1 Sam. 7:3; Luke 16:13; Rom. 6:17-18; Gal. 1:10; Jas. 1:6-8; 4:4; 1 John 2:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    I confess, Lord, that I am double-minded. Raise in me that complete allegiance that serves the Kingdom alone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: Scripture and Spirit

Sunday, September 4, 2016
    Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex, 650
Meditation:
    But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
    —1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word, so also the Word will not find any acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken by the mouth of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts, to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed what has been divinely commanded.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, I.vii.4, p. 79 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:9-11; John 5:39-40; 8:13-19; 15:26; Rom. 8:16; Heb. 10:15-17; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit that I may be persuaded of the truth of Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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