Underhill: here and now

Saturday, June 15, 2019
    Feast of Evelyn Underhill, Mystical Writer, 1941
Meditation:
    Consider [Jesus] who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
    —Hebrews 12:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christianity is a religion which concerns us as we are here and now, creatures of body and soul. We do not “follow the footsteps of his most holy life” by the exercise of a trained religious imagination, but by treading the firm, rough earth, up hill and down dale.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The School of Charity, New York: Longmans, Green, 1934, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1991, p. 52 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 12:3; Matt. 5:23-24; 8:19-22; John 15:18-19; 2 Thess. 3:13; Heb. 3:1; 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cure my impatience with this long, slow work. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Baxter: sects

Friday, June 14, 2019
    Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691
Meditation:
    All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
    —Acts 4:32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I apprehend it is a matter of great necessity to imprint true catholicism on the minds of Christians, it being a most lamentable thing to observe how few Christians in the world there be, that fall not into one sect or other... And if they can but get to be of a sect which they think the holiest (as the Anabaptists and the Separatists), or which is the largest (as the Greeks and the Romans), they think then that they are sufficiently warranted to deny others to be God’s Church, or at least to deny them Christian love and communion.
    ... Richard Baxter (1615-1691), The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, v. I, ed. William Orme, London: J. Duncan, 1830, p. 595-596 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:32; Ps. 133:1; John 17:20-21; 1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:3-6; Phil. 2:2-4; Heb. 13:1; 1 Pet. 3:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, heal our divisions. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Chesterton: escape from an old dilemma

Thursday, June 13, 2019
    Commemoration of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
Meditation:
    “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
    —Romans 3:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved. Some followers of the Rev. R. J. Campbell, in their almost too fastidious spirituality, admit divine sinlessness, which they cannot see even in their dreams. But they essentially deny human sin, which they can see in the street. The strongest saints and the strongest sceptics alike took positive evil as the starting-point of their argument. If it be true (as it certainly is) that a man can feel exquisite happiness in skinning a cat, then the religious philosopher can only draw one of two deductions. He must either deny the existence of God, as all atheists do; or he must deny the present union between God and Man, as all Christians do. The new theologians seem to think it a highly rationalistic solution to deny the cat.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy, London, New York: John Lane Company, 1909, p. 24 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 3:18; Ps. 36:1; Pr. 16:6; Luke 23:39-41
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You must lead us out of our blindness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Sadgrove & Wright: making sense

Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Meditation:
    Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
    —Psalm 16:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The very uniqueness of the Resurrection as a historical event always causes problems when we try to describe it, just as it did for the original writers. Nevertheless, the background to the New Testament is one of expectation of resurrection, and only the historical rising again of Jesus makes sense of the narrative in this context.
    ... Michael Sadgrove (b. 1950) & N. T. Wright (b. 1948), “Jesus Christ the Only Saviour”, 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. 73 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 16:9-10; Acts 2:25-27; 4:33; 17:18; 1 Cor. 15:13-14,21; Phil. 3:10-11; 1 Pet. 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in You is our hope of resurrection. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Lewis: the holy present

Tuesday, June 11, 2019
    Feast of Barnabas the Apostle
Meditation:
    With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
    —Acts 4:33-35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Present is the point at which Time touches Eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which [God] has of reality as a whole; in it alone, freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with Eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present—either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself; or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Screwtape Letters, Macmillan, 1944, p. 76 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:33-35; 5:12-16; Rom. 15:18-19; Heb. 2:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I receive You now. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Allen: how can they not believe it

Monday, June 10, 2019
Meditation:
    The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
    Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
    “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
    —Acts 8:29-31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Of course all advance depends upon money, when we depend upon paid workers for any advance. Teach men as one of their first lessons in the gospel that pastoral work and evangelistic work ought to be paid, and will they not believe it? They would all believe it if the Holy Ghost did not dispute our teaching. It is a powerful proof of the presence and grace of the Holy Ghost that they do not all believe it and act accordingly.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), The Case for Voluntary Clergy, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1930, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 182 (see the book)
    See also Acts 8:29-31; 1 Cor. 9:12-15; Gal. 6:6; 1 Tim. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit causes the spreading of the gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Brunner: as fire

Sunday, June 9, 2019
    Pentecost
    Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597
    Commemoration of Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymnographer, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
    —Acts 2:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Word and the World, London: Student Christian Movement Press, 1931, p. 108 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:3-4; Gen. 18:18; Ps. 66:16; 72:17; 96; Matt. 24:14; Acts 13:48; Rom. 15:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have sent Your people to the nations. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth