Swete: the age to come

Saturday, April 8, 2017
    Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877
Meditation:
    And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
    —Ephesians 2:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For the saints in the world to come there can be no change in the object of their faith and hope and love. They have Christ, they have God, and they are satisfied. There can be no monotony in the contemplation and worship of the Infinite. Their great possession is unchangeable, but also inexhaustible; no change is possible where all is love and truth. The centre of the heavenly life is fixed and immovable, but the circumference may ever be advancing towards the centre, the saints may ever be drawing nearer and nearer to a goal which they can never reach. There may be progress in knowledge, progress in enjoyment, progress in service—a progress which at every point will open up new wonders, new opportunities, new outlooks into a greater future, and as that future unfolds itself, new and unexpected scopes for the energies of redeemed men, new ways of fellowship with God in Christ, new companionships with the good and great of past generations, and with angelic beings who have watched and guarded us in life, and rejoiced over our repentance, and are ready to welcome us into the eternal mansions, and will share our worship and our work, our service and our joy, in the ages to come.
    ... Henry Barclay Swete (1835-1917), The Life of the World to Come, London: Society for the Promoting of Christian Knowleldge, 1918, p. 106-107 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 2:6-7; Rom. 6:4-5; 2 Cor. 4:17; Eph. 1:18-21; Col. 3:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    I praise you, Lord, for the promised glory that is to come. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cumming: we are all missionaries

Friday, April 7, 2017
Meditation:
    “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.”
    —Mark 9:39-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every man is a missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not. He may be a blot radiating his dark influence outward to the very circumference of society, or he may be a blessing spreading benediction over the length and breadth of the world. But a blank he cannot be: there are no moral blanks; there are no neutral characters.
    ... John Cumming (1807-1881), [Often ascribed to Thomas Chalmers] Voices of the Dead, Boston: John P. Jewett & Co., 1854, p. 8-9 (see the book)
    See also Mark 9:39-40; Pr. 4:18; Isa. 60:1-3; Matt. 5:16; Rom. 13:11-14; Phil. 2:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me a blessing in Christ to all those around me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Durer: prayer to the Shepherd

Thursday, April 6, 2017
    Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti, artist, spiritual writer, 1564
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
    —John 10:14-16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    O God in heaven, have mercy on us! Lord Jesus Christ, intercede for your people, deliver us at the opportune time, preserve in us the true genuine Christian faith, collect your scattered sheep with your voice, your divine Word as Holy Writ calls it. Help us to recognize your voice, help us not to be allured by the madness of the world, so that we may never fall away from you, O Lord Jesus Christ.
    ... Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), from his journal [1521], quoted in The Triumph of the Cross: the Passion of Christ in theology and the arts, Richard Viladesau, Oxford University Press US, 2008, p. 285 (see the book)
    See also John 10:14-16; Matt. 17:5; John 10:27; Acts 22:14; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I hear your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Baillie: seeking God for what?

Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Meditation:
    Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
    —Deuteronomy 4:23-24 (ESV)
Quotation:
    To the spiritual perplexity which exercised so many of the rarest souls of the nineteenth century, God appeared as a Being whom men desired to find but could not. But such a formula, though it truly represented one side of their situation, can never represent the whole of any human situation. For God is also a Being whom it ill suits any of us to find but from whom we cannot escape. Part of the reason why men cannot find God is that there is that in Him which they do not desire to find, so that the God whom they are seeking and cannot find is not the God who truly is. Perhaps we could not fail to find God, if it were really God whom we were seeking. And indeed the deepest reality of the situation is that contained in the discovery, which alone is likely at last to resolve our perplexity, that when we were so distressfully seeking that which was not really God, the true God had already found us, though at first we did not know that it was He by whom we had been found. There is a saying, “Be careful what you seek; you might find it.” And some who have sought God only as a complacent ally of their own ambitions have found Him a consuming fire.
    ... John Baillie (1886-1960), Invitation to Pilgrimage, Oxford University Press, 1942, and New York: Scribner, 1942, p. 23-24 (see the book)
    See also Deut. 4:23-24; Matt. 7:7; Luke 11:9; John 3:18-19; Heb. 12:27-29
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, banish all idols from my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barry: In pastures green?

Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Meditation:
    The LORD is my shepherd,
    I shall not be in want.
    —Psalm 23:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
“In pastures green?” Not always; sometimes He,
Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me
In weary ways, where heavy shadows be.

And “by still waters?” No, not always so;
Oft times the heavy tempests round me blow,
And o’er my soul the waves and billows go.

But when the storm beats loudest, and I cry
Aloud for help, the Master standeth by,
And whispers to my soul, “Lo, it is I.”

So, where He leads me, I can safely go,
And in the blest hereafter I shall know
Why in His wisdom He hath led me so.
    ... Henry H. Barry, included in Leaves of Healing, compiled by Katharine Paine Sutton, American Unitarian Association, 1892, p. 206-207 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 23; Rom. 8:28
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people trust their Shepherd.

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Fenelon: silence

Monday, April 3, 2017
Meditation:
    Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
    —Zechariah 2:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Silence promotes the presence of God, prevents many harsh and proud words, and suppresses many dangers in the way of ridiculing or harshly judging our neighbors... If you are faithful in keeping silence when it is not necessary to speak, God will preserve you from evil when it is right for you to talk.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Selections from Fénelon, ed. Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston: Roberts Bros., 1879, p. 10-11 (see the book)
    See also Zech. 2:13; Ps. 46:10; Hab. 2:20; Zeph. 1:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the gift of silence, that I may listen for Your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Laubach: like Jesus

Sunday, April 2, 2017
Meditation:
    Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
    —1 John 2:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Beside Jesus, the whole lot of us are so contemptible... But God is like Jesus, and like Jesus, He will not give up until we, too, are like Jesus.
    ... Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970), Letters by a Modern Mystic: excerpts, Student Volunteer Movement, 1937, p. 35-36 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 2:6; Ps. 85:13; John 13:15; Rom. 6:4-5; 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 11:1; 1 Pet. 2:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Christlikeness overtake all my flaws. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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