Hanson: ministry

Saturday, January 26, 2019
    Feast of Timothy and Titus, Companions of Paul
    Commemoration of Dorothy Kerin, Founder of the Burrswood Healing Community, 1963
Meditation:
    God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
    —Philippians 1:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The... task of the ministry is, not to undertake some specialist activity from which the rest of the faithful are excluded, but to pioneer in doing that which the whole church must do. And the ministry itself is no originator, but receives its task from Christ. The ordained ministers only exercise the ministry which Christ himself has first exercised, and which he continues to exercise through them, and through their activity in the whole church also.
    ... Anthony T. Hanson (1916-1991), The Pioneer Church, SCM, 1961, p. 72 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:8; 1 Cor. 4:16-17; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:6; Heb. 13:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen Your ministers. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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von Zinzendorf: the method of proclamation

Friday, January 25, 2019
    Feast of the Conversion of Paul
Meditation:
    Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
    —Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our method in proclaiming salvation is this: to point out to every heart the loving Lamb, who died for us and, although He was the Son of God, offered Himself for our sins... by the preaching of His blood, and of His love unto death, even the death of the cross; never, either in the discourse or in the argument, to digress even for a quarter of an hour from the loving Lamb; to name no virtue, except in Him and from Him and on His account; to preach no commandment except faith in Him; no other justification but that He atoned for us; no other sanctification but the privilege to sin no more; no other happiness but to be near Him, to think of Him and do His pleasure; no other self denial but to be deprived of Him and His blessings; no other calamity but to displease Him; no other life but in Him.
    ... Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760), in a letter, 1742, recorded in The Early History of the Church of the United Brethren (Unitas Fratrum) Commonly Called Moravians in North America, A. D. 1734-1748, Levin Theodore Reichel, Nazareth, PA: The Moravian Historical Society, 1888, p. 116-117 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 2:5-11; Mark 7:35; Rom. 3:25-26; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 9:20-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I may present You to all I encounter. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Sales: trials

Thursday, January 24, 2019
    Feast of François de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Teacher, 1622
Meditation:
    My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
    —James 1:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Be patient, not only with respect to the main trials which beset you, but also under the accidental and accessory annoyances which arise out of them. We often find people who imagine themselves ready to accept a trial in itself who are impatient of its consequences.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, III.iii, p. 137-138 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:19-20; Matt. 5:22; Eph. 4:26; Col. 1:10-12; 3:15; Jas. 5:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant me patience, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: our need of discontent

Wednesday, January 23, 2019
    Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893
Meditation:
    When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
    —Acts 21:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Sad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life that he is living, with the thoughts that he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do because he is a child of God.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Addresses, Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895, p. 67 (see the book)
    See also Acts 21:12-13; Ps. 42:1-2; Matt. 16:23-25; Luke 10:38-42; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You constantly lead Your children towards their destiny with You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Buechner: persistence in prayer

Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Meditation:
    Then [Jesus] said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
    “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”
    —Luke 11:5-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    According to Jesus, by far the most important thing about praying is to keep at it... Be importunate, Jesus says—not, one assumes, because you have to beat a path to God’s door before he’ll open it, but because until you beat the path maybe there’s no way of getting to your door.
    ... Frederick Buechner (b. 1926), Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, Harper & Row, 1973, revised, HarperCollins, 1993, p. 70 (see the book)
    See also Luke 11:5-8; Gen. 32:26; Matt. 15:22-28; Luke 18:1-8; Rom. 15:30; Col. 4:12; 1 Thess. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me faithful in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: keeping the watch

Monday, January 21, 2019
    Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
    —John 9:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I shall think it mercy to my soul, if my faith shall out-watch all this winter-night, and not nod or slumber till my Lord’s summer-day dawn upon me.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Jan. 6, 1637. p. 155 (see the book)
    See also John 9:4; Ps. 30:5; 63:6; 119:148; Matt. 26:40-41; Mark 14:37-38; Luke 22:45-46
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me hold on to you during the darkness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rolle: prayer to the Holy Spirit

Sunday, January 20, 2019
    Commemoration of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Writer, Hermit, Mystic, 1349
Meditation:
    Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
    —2 Timothy 4:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    O Holy Spirit, Who breathe where you will, come into me and snatch me up to yourself. Fortify the nature you have created, with gifts so flowing with honey that, from intense joy in your sweetness, it may despise and reject all which is in this world, that it may accept spiritual gifts, and through melodious jubilation, it may entirely melt in holy love, reaching out for uncircumscribed Light.
    ... Richard Rolle (1290?-1349), Concerning the Love of God [1434], tr. Richard Misyn, ch. 11 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 4:8; John 3:8; 8:12; Acts 2:2-4; 1 Cor. 12:11; 2 Cor. 5:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Blessed are You Who grants gifts of understanding. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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