Gossip: Christ's prayer for us

Saturday, May 26, 2018
    Feast of Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, 605
    Commemoration of Arthur John Gossip, Spiritual Writer, 1954
Meditation:
    Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
    —John 17:20-21 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Barrie tells us how, in the little house at Thrums, they used to tiptoe to and fro when his mother was upon her knees, awed by the knowledge that she was praying for them. And here and there in the New Testament, we blunder in on Christ and find Him on His knees; and, once at least, ere we can escape, cannot but overhear Him pleading our names. “Neither pray I for these alone,” that is, for Peter and John and the rest, “but for those who will believe through them”—that is, for you and me. Hush! the Lord Christ is praying for you! And what is it He asks for us? That we be given such a spirit of unity and brotherliness and Christlikeness that people, coming upon us, will look at us, and look again, and then from us to Jesus Christ, seeking the explanation of us there.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), Experience Worketh Hope, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1945, p. 39 (see the book)
    See also John 17:20-21; Ps. 22:30-31; Rom. 15:18-19; 16:25-27; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 4:3-6; Phil. 2:1-5; Col. 3:11-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me how to exhibit Christ in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: the happy necessity

Friday, May 25, 2018
    Feast of the Venerable Bede, Priest, Monk of Jarrow, Historian, 735
    Commemoration of Aldhelm, Abbot of Mamsbury, Bishop of Sherborne, 709
Meditation:
In the path of your judgments,
    O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and remembrance
    are the desire of our soul.
My soul yearns for you in the night;
    my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
    the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
    —Isaiah 26:8-9 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Such is our dependence upon God that we are obliged not only to do everything for His sake, but also to seek from Him the very power. This happy necessity of having recourse to Him in all our wants, instead of being grievous to us, should be our greatest consolation. What a happiness is it, that we are allowed to speak to Him with confidence, to open our hearts and hold familiar conversation with him by prayer! He Himself invites us to it.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Pious Reflections for Every Day in the Month, London: H. D. Symonds, 1800, p. 26 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 26:8-9; Matt. 7:7; Luke 11:9; Acts 17:27; 1 Thess. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Without You, Lord, I can do nothing good. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wesley: to stir up all parties

Thursday, May 24, 2018
    Feast of John and Charles Wesley, Priests, Poets, Teachers, 1791 & 1788
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
    —John 4:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I met the society and explained to them ... the original design of the Methodists, viz., not to be a distinct party, but to stir up all parties, ... to worship God in spirit and in truth; but the Church of England in particular, to which they belonged from the beginning. With this view I have uniformly gone on for fifty years, never varying from the doctrine of the Church at all; nor from her discipline, of choice, but of necessity.
    ... John Wesley (1703-1791), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, v. IV, New York: J. & J. Harper, 1826, entry for Sunday, April 12, 1789, p. 264 (see the book)
    See also John 4:23-24; Isa. 60:1; Matt. 10:34-36; 25:6; John 4:31-34; Eph. 5:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lift my heart to the true worship of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kates: you and heaven

Wednesday, May 23, 2018
    Commemoration of Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century
Meditation:
    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
    —Romans 15:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The purpose of religion, at any rate, the Christian religion, is not to get you into heaven but to get heaven into you.
    ... Frederick Ward Kates (1910-1987), A Moment Between Two Eternities, New York: Harper & Row, 1965, p. 159 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:13; John 14:27; Eph. 5:18-20; 1 Pet. 1:8; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are my hope. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: no place for problems

Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Meditation:
    One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
    —Romans 14:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To perpetuate the clerical role of answer man, the layman when inside the church building must act as if he has only half a brain, while outside in the world he is expected to be an ambassador for Christ, a lay transmitter of faith. Outside, he is to be informed and vocal; inside, he must appear ignorant and mute as a sheep. Christians have within them many questions—questions that are at once elementary and profound, questions that would ripple the water were they raised. However, because a Christian is supposed to have “answers,” life’s important questions are not discussed outside the church building; and, because the pastor is the educated, spiritual authority, they are not discussed inside either.
    ... Paul G. Johnson (b. 1931), Buried Alive, Richmond: John Knox Press, 1968, p. 37-38 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 14:5-6; Mal. 2:7; John 20:21; 21:15; 2 Cor. 5:20; 3:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant us the wisdom to show others You rather than ourselves. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Reapsome: built on missions

Monday, May 21, 2018
    Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330
Meditation:
    Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
    —Acts 13:46-48 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Zinzendorf and the Moravians proved that an entire communion of believers (call it a church or a denomination, if you will) can find reason for being solely on the basis of missions to the lost and unreached multitudes of the world. Their fellowship existed solely to send out laborers into the harvest. Everyone and everything pointed to that missionary purpose. For them, missions was not an adjunct to church life, it was church life.
    ... James Reapsome
    See also Acts 13:46-48; Isa. 2:3-4; Mic. 4:2-3; Zech. 2:11; 8:20-23; Matt. 28:19-20; Luke 2:30-32; Acts 26:22-23; Rom. 15:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart to see in all those I encounter a need for Your Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: the language of evangelism

Sunday, May 20, 2018
    Pentecost
Meditation:
    Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
    —Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Obedience to Christ includes obedience to his commission to go into the world, to preach the good news, and to make disciples. But we cannot do this without taking account of the context in which people live their lives or of the alternatives to the gospel which they find attractive. Some of our evangelism has been very superficial on this account. We need to develop new strategies of evangelistic penetration that will take seriously the cultural bondage in which people are held and the need to soak ourselves in their culture in order to interpret the gospel to them from inside.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), “Obeying Christ in a Changing World”, in The Lord Christ [1980], John Stott, ed., vol. 1 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 14 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 28:18-20; Ps. 22:27-28; 98:2-3; Isa. 49:6; 66:18-19; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8; 13:47; Rom. 10:18-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your will and Your Spirit has sent the Gospel forth in our hands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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