Driver: deeper basis for unity

Saturday, March 3, 2018
Meditation:
    Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
    —Acts 8:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian cell in a factory or a professional circle, funding its own activities, deciding its own pattern of work, studying the Bible and perhaps celebrating the Lord’s supper as an entity on its own, comes very much closer to Independency as Robert Browne saw it than the unholy isolationism of a prosperous suburban church, with 200 members who scarcely know each other by sight. If a sizable proportion of the Free Church ministry were enabled to become itinerant once again—not necessarily itinerant in the geographical sense, but itinerant in the complex mazes of contemporary society, fathers in God to Christian organisms evolved by the lay men and women who spend their lives in these mazes—new heart would be put into both ministry and laity, and incidentally, new impetus given to the search for Christian unity.
    ... Christopher Driver (1932-1997), A Future for the Free Churches?, London: SCM Press, 1962, p. 118 (see the book)
    See also Acts 8:4; Matt. 5:13; 10:23; 18:20; Acts 11:19; 14:5-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, the people You have saved are salted throughout the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: missionary colonialism

Friday, March 2, 2018
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Meditation:
    Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?
    —2 Corinthians 12:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our fear of congregationalism is, I shrink from saying it, only another name for our fear of independence. We think it quite impossible that a native [Anglican] Church should be able to exist without the paternal care of an English overseer. If it were financially independent, it might be tempted to dispense with his services, and then, we are persuaded, it would at once fall into every error of doctrine and practice.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours?, London: World Dominion Press, 1927, reprinted, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, p. 60 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 11:8-14; 12:14-18; Phil. 4:14-16; Col. 1:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your spirit alone animates Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Sanday & Headlam: the Spirit groaning within us

Thursday, March 1, 2018
    Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
Meditation:
    In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
    —Romans 8:26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As we groan, so also does the Holy Spirit groan with us, putting a meaning into our aspirations which they would not have of themselves.
    ... William Sanday (1843-1920) & Arthur C. Headlam (1862-1947), A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1896, 10th ed., New York: Scribners, 1905, p. 213 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:26; Ps. 6:9; 42:1-2; 69:3; 102:19-20; Luke 22:44; 2 Cor. 5:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Spirit of God, grant holiness to my prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bounds: devotion and prayer

Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Meditation:
    There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
    —Luke 2:36-38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer is the creator as well as the channel of devotion. The spirit of devotion is the spirit of prayer. Prayer and devotion are united as soul and body are united, as life and the heart are united. There is no real prayer without devotion, no devotion without prayer.
    ... E. M. Bounds (1835-1913), Preacher and Prayer, Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South, Dallas, Tex., 1907, p. 61 (see the book)
    See also Luke 2:36-38; Neh. 1:11; Jer. 33:3; Dan. 6:10; 9:3; 1 Tim. 5:5; Jas. 5:16-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, drive empty devotion away and fill my heart with desire for prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Herbert: blood and wine

Tuesday, February 27, 2018
    Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633
Meditation:
    Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.
    —Mark 14:23-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
Love is that liquour sweet and most divine,
Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine.
    ... George Herbert (1593-1633), from The Agony in The Poetical Works of George Herbert, New York: D. Appleton, 1857, p. 43 (see the book)
    See also Mark 14:23-24; Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20; John 6:53-56; 1 Cor. 10:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I drink Your love like wine. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Moffatt: the least satisfied reader

Monday, February 26, 2018
Meditation:
    If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
    —1 Peter 4:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This is great literature and great religious literature, this collection of ancient writings we call the Bible, and any translator has a deep sense of responsibility as he undertakes to transmit it to modern readers. He desires his transcript to be faithful to the meaning of the original, so far as he can reach that meaning, and also to do some justice to its literary qualities. But he is well aware that his aim often exceeds his grasp. Translation may be a fascinating task, yet no discipline is more humbling. You may be translating oracles, but soon you learn the risk and folly of posing as an oracle yourself. If your readers are dissatisfied at any point, they may be sure that the translator is still more dissatisfied, if not there, then elsewhere—all the more so, because, in the nature of the case, he has always to appear dogmatic in print.
    ... James Moffatt (1870-1944), A New Translation of the Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1935, New York: Harper, 1935, Introduction, p. v (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 4:11; Luke 24:45; Rom. 3:2; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12; Jas. 1:19; 3:1-2; 2 Pet. 1:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the understanding of Your Scriptures. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: the fear of death

Sunday, February 25, 2018
Meditation:
    He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
    —Revelation 2:11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    He who loveth God with all his heart feareth not death, nor punishment, nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect love giveth sure access to God. But he who still delighteth in sin, no marvel if he is afraid of death and judgment.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xxiv., p. 75 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 2:11; Matt. 10:28; Rom. 8:1-2,5-6; Heb. 2:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Wash me, Lord, and release me from fear of death. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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