Newman: our poor efforts

Saturday, August 11, 2018
    Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253
    Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890
Meditation:
    “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
    ”‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
    “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
    “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
    “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”
    —Matthew 21:28-31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is our great relief that God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss, that he looks at the motives, and accepts and blesses in spite of incidental errors.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Letters and Correspondence of John Henry Newman, v. I, London: Longmans, Green, 1903, p. 205 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 21:28-31; Ps. 34:18; 51:17; Isa. 57:15-18; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 6:5; 18:3;
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You use even my failures for Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Sproul: Sola Scriptura

Friday, August 10, 2018
    Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258
Meditation:
    I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
    —Galatians 1:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For (Martin) Luther, the sola of Sola Scriptura was inseparably related to the Scriptures’ unique inerrancy. It was because popes could and did err and because councils could and did err that Luther came to realize the supremacy of Scripture. Luther did not despise church authority, nor did he repudiate church councils as having no value. His praise of the Council of Nicea is noteworthy. Luther and the Reformers did not mean by Sola Scriptura that the Bible is the only authority in the church. Rather, they meant that the Bible is the only infallible authority in the church.
    ... R. C. Sproul (1939-2017), “Sola Scriptura: Crucial To Evangelicalism”, in Foundation of Biblical Authority, ed. James Montgomery Boice, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978, p. 104 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 1:11-12; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; 15:1-8; Gal. 1:1; 2 Tim. 3:16-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your word reign supreme in Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: thy communion cup

Thursday, August 9, 2018
    Feast of Mary Sumner, Founder of the Mothers’ Union, 1921
Meditation:
    After taking the cup, [Jesus] gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
    —Luke 22:17-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
From thine, as then, the healing virtue goes
Into our hearts—that is the Father’s plan.
From heart to heart it sinks, it steals, it flows,
From these that know thee still infecting those.
Here is my heart—from thine, Lord, fill it up,
That I may offer it as the holy cup
Of thy communion to my every man.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), Diary of an Old Soul, London: by the author, 1880, p. 113 (see the book)
    See also Luke 22:17-18; Ps. 116:13; John 4:13-14; 6:32-35; 7:37-39; 15:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, pour out our lives for Your Kingdom’s sake. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jones: made new

Wednesday, August 8, 2018
    Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221
Meditation:
    The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
    —Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To pass from estrangement from God to be a son of God is the basic fact of conversion. That altered relationship with God gives you an altered relationship with yourself—with your brother man, with nature, with the universe... You are no longer working against the grain of the universe—you’re working with it...
    You have been forgiven by God and now you can forgive yourself. All self hate, self-despising, self-rejection, drop away, and you accept yourself in God, respect yourself, and love yourself...
    You cease to move into yourself, away from others. You give up your attitude of antagonism... You begin to move toward others in love. God moved toward you in gracious outgoing love, and you move toward others in that same outgoing love.
    ... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), Conversion, New York: Abingdon Press, 1959, p. 131-132 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 9:2; Matt. 11:29-30; Luke 1:76-79; 2:30-32; John 8:12; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Thank you, Lord, for a new heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hoskyns: learning in the church

Tuesday, August 7, 2018
    Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866
Meditation:
    You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
    —Romans 14:10-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Church is the place where we learn not how self-sufficient we are, but where we learn what sin really is. The Church is the place where the Pharisee learns to say with the Publican: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
    ... Sir Edwyn C. Hoskyns (1884-1937), We are the Pharisees, London: SPCK, 1960, p. 19 (see the book)
    See also Job 9:20; Ps. 106:6; Matt. 21:31-32; Luke 18:9-14; Rom. 14:10-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let me never consider my sin “better” than someone else’s. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Manley: to be more like Christ

Monday, August 6, 2018
Meditation:
    For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
    —Romans 8:29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This is our great need, to be more like Christ, that His likeness may be seen in our lives; and this is just what is promised to us as we yield ourselves in full surrender to the working of His Spirit. Then, as we draw nearer to Christ, we shall be drawn nearer to His people; and in our search for unity with the members we shall be drawn closer to the Head.
    ... G. T. Manley, Christian Unity, London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1945, p. 88 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:29; John 17:22-23; Rom. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:47-49; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:22-24; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long to be more like you. Implant in me the love You have for your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rhymes: the world in the church

Sunday, August 5, 2018
    Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642
Meditation:
    And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
    —Matthew 13:57-58 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we consider the lives of Christians in their churches, we so often find that they make good sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, employers, and employees—they have many individual virtues; but they have no way of life other than that which has been imposed upon them by their environment. It is their sociological conditions, their social class, their neighbourhood, their national characteristics, rather than their Christian faith which determine their outlook and values: they are an overwhelming demonstration that it is the economic conditions and background of one’s life which determine what one is and what one will think. This is an intolerable condition, and so long as it persists we shall not be able to make any impact on the world, because it will be abundantly clear that it is the world which is making its impact upon us.
    ... Douglas Rhymes (1914-1996), “The Place of the Laity in the Parish”, in Layman’s Church, ed. John A. T. Robinson, London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:22,57-58; Col. 1:21-23; 1 John 5:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone are the answer to the menace of culture. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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