Saturday, September 16, 2017

Pusey: In Thy hand

Saturday, September 16, 2017
    Feast of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, 258
    Commemoration of Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts, c. 430
    Commemoration of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, tractarian, 1882
Meditation:
My times are in your hands;
    deliver me from my enemies and
    from those who pursue me.
Let your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your unfailing love.
    —Psalm 31:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “Into God’s hands,” let us now, for the coming year, and for all the years of time, and for eternity, “commend our spirits.” Whether for the Church or for ourselves, let us not take ourselves into our own hands, or choose our own lot. “My times are in Thy hands.” He loveth the Church, which He died to purchase, His Own Body, and all the members of His Own Body, better than we can; He loveth us better and more wisely than we ourselves; He who made us, loveth us better than we who unmade ourselves; He who died for us, better than we who destroy ourselves; He who would sanctify us for a Holy Temple unto Himself, better than we who have defiled what He has hallowed. Fear we not anything which threateneth; shrink we not back from anything which falleth on us. Rather let us, though with trembling, hold up our hearts to Him, to make them His Own, in what way He willeth.
    ... Edward B. Pusey (1800-1882), Sermons during the season from Advent to Whitsuntide, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1848, p. 104 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 31:15-16,5; Luke 23:46; Rom. 8:38-39; 2 Tim. 1:12; Tit. 3:4-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my heart is in Your hands.
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Friday, September 15, 2017

Gossip: you can pray

Friday, September 15, 2017
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
    —John 16:23-24 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Well, to begin with, you can pray. Pray!, you say scornfully, pray! I knew it would all fizzle out, and come to nothing. I could pray!
    Yes, you could pray, and, whatever you may think about it, using it as a poor makeshift of a thing much lower than a second-best, not really a best at all, on which men fall back only when they can do nothing effectively, and are too fidgety to be able to do nothing at all, Christ holds that prayer is a tremendous power which achieves what, without it, was a sheer impossibility. And this amazing thing you can set into operation. And the fact that you are not so using it, and simply don’t believe in it and its efficiency and efficacy as our fathers did, and that so many nowadays agree with you, is certainly a major reason why the churches are so cold, and the promises seem so tardy of fulfilment.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), Experience Worketh Hope, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1945, p. 58 (see the book)
    See also John 16:23-24; 1 Sam. 1:15; 1 Tim. 2:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, quicken my prayer!
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Thursday, September 14, 2017

Knight: the struggle within

Thursday, September 14, 2017
    Feast of the Holy Cross
Meditation:
    So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.
    —Acts 24:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Before I can have any joy in being alone with God I must have learned not to fear being alone with myself...
    Shrinking from any deep self-scrutiny is by no means an uncommon thing, and often goes far to explain the feverish restlessness with which a world-loving heart plunges into perpetual rounds of gaieties and dissipations. They serve as an escape from troublesome questions about the soul, and help to get rid of the clamours of conscience.
    ... G. H. Knight (1835-1917), In the Secret of His Presence, Rock Island, Ill.: Augustana Book Concern, 1934, p. 59 (see the book)
    See also Acts 24:16; 1 Cor. 4:4; 2 Cor. 4:2; 1 Tim. 1:5; 3:9; Tit. 1:15; Heb. 9:14; 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, set my conscience burning about my offenses towards You.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

St. John Chrysostom: church attendance

Wednesday, September 13, 2017
    Feast of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407
Meditation:
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
    be acceptable in thy sight,
    O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
    —Psalm 19:14 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We assemble not in the church to pass away the time, but to gain some great benefit for our souls. If therefore we depart without profit, our zeal in frequenting the church will prove our condemnation. That so great a judgment come not upon you, when ye go hence, ponder the things ye have heard, and exercise yourselves in confirming our instruction,—friend with friend,—fathers with their children,—masters with their slaves,—so that when ye return hither, and hear from us the same counsels, ye may not be ashamed, but rejoice and be glad in the conviction, that ye have put into practice the greater part of our exhortation. Not only must we meditate upon these things here,—for this short exhortation sufficeth not to eradicate the evil,—but at home let the husband be reminded of them by the wife, and the wife by the husband, and let an emulation obtain in families to the fulfilment of the divine law.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), quoted in The Life of St. Chrysostom, Johann August W. Neander, London: Seeley & Burnside, 1838, p. 135 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:14; Matt. 10:32-33; 1 Cor. 14:34-35; Eph. 5:22-31
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep sin from overwhelming the goodness taught to me from Your Word.
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Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Glanvill: the love of a sect

Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Meditation:
    But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
    —2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The union of a sect within it self is a pitiful charity; it’s no concord of Christians, but a conspiracy against Christ; and they that love one another for their opinionative concurrence, love for their own sakes, not their Lord’s.
    ... Joseph Glanvill (1636-1680), Scepsis Scientifica, London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1885, p. 199 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 2:1-2; Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 1:10-13; 3:3; 11:18-22; Col. 2:8; 1 John 2:19; Jude 1:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, heal Your people of their divisions.
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Monday, September 11, 2017

Stevenson: prayer for a family

Monday, September 11, 2017
Meditation:
    Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
    —Hebrews 13:5-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle [Samoa] ... Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another.
    ... Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), from “Prayers Written for Family Use at Vailima”, in The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, v. IV, London: T. & A. Constable for Longmans Green & Co., 1896, p. 381 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 13:5-8; Ps. 9:13; 118:6; Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4; Rom. 8:31; 12:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I rest in You.
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Sunday, September 10, 2017

Bonhoeffer: learning through obedience

Sunday, September 10, 2017
Meditation:
    Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered
    —Hebrews 5:8 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Every moment and every situation challenges us to action and to obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbour or not. We must get into action and obey—we must behave like a neighbour to him. But perhaps this shocks you. Perhaps you still think you ought to think out beforehand and know what you ought to do. To that, there is only one answer. You can only know and think about it by actually doing it. It is no use asking questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to learn the truth.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 77 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 5:8; John 14:21; Ps. 62:12; 111:10; 143:10; Matt. 7:24; John 13:17; 14:15; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:17-18; Jas. 1:22-25; 2 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to follow You.
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