Trueblood: to the perplexed

Saturday, February 2, 2019
    THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
Meditation:
    Then [Jesus] said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
    —Matthew 9:37-38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Company of Jesus is not people streaming to a shrine; and it is not people making up an audience for a speaker; it is laborers engaged in the harvesting task of reaching their perplexed and seeking brethren with something so vital that, if it is received, it will change their lives.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Company of the Committed, Harper, 1961, p. 45 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:37-38; Ps. 68:11; Matt. 28:19; Luke 10:1-2; 24:46-47; John 4:35-36; Acts 8:4; 1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1-2; 2 Thess. 3:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, am I recognizing those in need whom You are sending to me? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wright: the purpose of the covenant

Friday, February 1, 2019
    Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
    —Matthew 5:17,18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The purpose of the covenant, in the Hebrew Bible and some subsequent writings, was never simply that the creator wanted to have Israel as a special people, irrespective of the fate of the rest of the world. The purpose of the covenant was that, through this means, the creator would address and save his entire world. The call of Abraham was designed to undo the sin of Adam.
    ... N. T. Wright (b. 1948), What Saint Paul Really Said, Grand Rapids Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:17-18; Isa. 9:2; 42:6-7; 60:1-3; Luke 2:28-32; John 3:16; Acts 13:47-48; 28:28; Rom. 15:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Through Your grace, I have been admitted into Your covenant. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kelso: Abraham and Moses

Thursday, January 31, 2019
    Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888
Meditation:
    Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
    —Genesis 17:3-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Abrahamic Covenant is not only totally different from the Mosaic Covenant, but there is no “throw-back” of any feature of the Mosaic period in Genesis. Abraham and Moses not only lived in two uniquely different worlds, but no Old Testament editor tried in any way to soften the glaring contrasts between the two spiritual giants. Abraham had no Tabernacle, with its minute ritual and special clergy. Abraham was given nothing like the detailed code of life demanded by the Sinai Covenant. Abraham was not even furnished with the basic Ten Commandments. And yet, when we turn to the New Testament, it is Abraham who holds the place of honor, and not Moses! Abraham is mentioned over seventy times in the New Testament, and half of these are in the Gospels.
    ... James Kelso (1892-1978), “Abraham as Archaeology Knows Him” [1950], in Bible and Spade, reprinted in Perspective, v. XIII, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 1972, p. 16 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 17:3-8; Lev. 12:3; John 7:21-24; 8:56-58; Acts 3:13; Rom. 4:12-13,16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have kept Your covenant in Jesus. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newbigin: where mission impetus fails

Wednesday, January 30, 2019
    Commemoration of Lesslie Newbigin, Bishop, Missionary, Teacher, 1998
Meditation:
    All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
    —Hebrews 11:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The conception of the Church which we tend to reproduce as the fruit of our missionary work is so much a replica of our own, so much that of a fundamentally settled body existing for the sake of its own members rather than that of a body of strangers and pilgrims, the sign and instrument of a supernatural and universal salvation to be revealed, that our missionary advance tends to follow the lines of cultural and political expansion, and to falter when that advance stops.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God, London, SCM Press, 1953, New York: Friendship Press, 1954, p. 166 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 11:13-14; Acts 20:21; 1 Cor. 1:23; 1 Pet. 1:17; 2:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may we never reject truth for culture. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newton: feeble spark

Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Meditation:
Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of his house for love,
    it would be utterly scorned.
    —Song of Solomon 8:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The love I bear Christ is but a faint and feeble spark, but it is an emanation from Himself: He kindled it and He keeps it alive; and because it is His work, I trust many waters shall not quench it.
    ... John Newton (1725-1807), in a letter, 1776, The Works of the Rev. John Newton, v. I, New York: Williams and Whiting, 1810, p. 606 (see the book)
    See also Song of Solomon 8:7; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; 8:9; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:16-19; 5:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your hand has raised me from death. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Aquinas: reason vs. revelation

Monday, January 28, 2019
    Feast of Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Teacher of the Faith, 1274
Meditation:
    When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
    —Luke 3:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The end of all my labors has come. All that I have written appears to me as much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.
    ... Thomas Aquinas (1225?-1274), Butler’s Lives of the Saints [1756], Alban Butler & Michael J. Walsh, Burns & Oates, 1956, reprint, HarperCollins, 1991, p. 29 (see the book)
    See also Luke 3:21-22; Isa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18; 17:5; Luke 9:34-35; John 8:29; 1 Pet. 2:4-5; 2 Pet. 1:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have permitted us to know You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Abbe de Tourville: hard to please?

Sunday, January 27, 2019
Meditation:
    The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
    —John 10:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I implore you in God’s name, not to think of Him as hard to please, but rather as generous beyond all that you can ask or think.
    ... Abbé de Tourville (1842-1903), Letters of Direction, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, p. 59 (see the book)
    See also John 10:10; Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; 2 Cor. 1:4-6; 4:15; Col. 1:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have granted me my heart’s deepest desire. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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