Edwards: the beauty of holiness

Saturday, August 17, 2019
Meditation:
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.
    —Psalm 96:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He that sees the beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world, which is the fulness of all things, without which all the world is empty, no better than nothing, yea, worse than nothing. Unless this is seen, nothing is seen that is worth the seeing; for there is no other true excellency or beauty.
    ... Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), The Works of President Edwards, v. IV, Worcester: Isaiah Thomas, Jun., 1808, p. 210-211 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 29:2; 96:8-9; 110:3; Isa. 52:7; Matt. 5:48; 1 Pet. 1:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Open my eyes, Lord, that I might gaze upon the beauty of Your holiness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hatch: the flexibility of Christianity

Friday, August 16, 2019
Meditation:
    Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
    —1 Corinthians 9:19-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Nor is the fact that a particular form was good in a particular age a proof that it is also good for another age. The history of the organization of Christianity has been in reality the history of successive readjustments of form to altered circumstances. Its power of readjustment has been at once a mark of its divinity and a secret of its strength.
    ... Edwin Hatch (1835-1889), The Organization of the Early Christian Churches [1880], London: Longmans, Green, 1918, p. 218 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 9:19-22; Acts 11:16-18; 2 Cor. 3:17; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15-16; Col. 1:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant Your church the understanding and power to speak Your word to this generation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: the priesthood of all Christians

Thursday, August 15, 2019
Meditation:
    Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
    —Hebrews 13:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Indeed, all Christians are priests, and all priests are Christians. Worthy of anathema is any assertion that a priest is anything else than a Christian.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), Church and Ministry II, as v. XL of Works of Martin Luther, v. XL, Concordia Pub. House, 1986, p. 19 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15-16; 1 Pet. 2:4-5,9; Rev. 1:4-6; 5:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Speak, Lord, for Your church is listening to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cox: after forty years

Wednesday, August 14, 2019
    Commemoration of Maximilian Kolbe, Franciscan Friar, Priest, Martyr, 1941
Meditation:
    So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”
    He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
    —Mark 7:5-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The dual role of personification of the past and preserver of a subcultural ethos, a role clergymen play quite avidly, takes its toll when they speak of God. Because of the role they have been willing to play, when they use the word God it is heard in a certain way. It is heard, often with deference and usually with courtesy, as a word referring to the linchpin of the era of Christendom (past) or as the totem of one of the tribal subcultures (irrelevant). The only way clergy can ever change the way in which the word they use is perceived is to refuse to play the role of antiquarian and medicine man in which the society casts them; but this is difficult, because it is what they are paid for.
    ... Harvey Cox (b. 1929), The Secular City, New York: MacMillan Company, 1965, p. 246 (see the book)
    See also Mark 7:5-8; Eze. 33:31; Matt. 15:2-6; Mark 7:3-4; John 5:41-42; Gal. 1:14; 5:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have set Your people free from the vain imaginations of men. Help us not to prefer bondage. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Taylor: for grace to spend our time well

Tuesday, August 13, 2019
    Feast of Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down & Connor, Priest, Teacher, 1667
    Commemoration of Florence Nightingale, Social Reformer, 1910
    Commemoration of Octavia Hill, Worker for the Poor, 1912
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
    —Matthew 24:42 (NIV)
Quotation:
    O eternal God, who from all eternity dost behold and love thy own glories and perfections infinite, and hast created me to do the work of God after the manner of men, and to serve thee in this generation and according to my capacities; give me thy grace, that I may be a curious and prudent spender of my time, so as I may best prevent or resist all temptation, and be profitable to the Christian commonwealth, and by discharging all my duty may glorify thy name. Take from me all slothfulness, and give me a diligent and an active spirit, and wisdom to choose my employment; that I may do works proportionable to my person, and to the dignity of a Christian, and may fill up all the spaces of my time with actions of religion and charity; that, when the devil assaults me he may not find me idle, and my dearest Lord at his sudden coming may find me busy in lawful, necessary, and pious actions; improving my talent entrusted to me by thee, my Lord; that I may enter into the joy of my Lord, to partake of his eternal felicities, even for thy mercy’s sake, and for my dearest Saviour’s sake. Amen.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, p. 29 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 24:42-44; Mark 13:33; John 4:34; 5:19; 9:4; 17:4; Rom. 12:11; Eph. 5:15-16; Col. 3:22-24; 1 Thess. 4:11-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I give the time of my living back to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lawrence: every aspect of life

Monday, August 12, 2019
Meditation:
    May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
    —1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The task of the people of God is to proclaim the kingdom of God, which is a universal kingdom extending to every aspect of human life. In a secular society, religion cannot remain a department of life. It must be the expression of a faith that extends over the whole of life, or it will be nothing.
    ... John Lawrence (1873-1968), “The Church’s Mission to the World: On the Cultural Frontier (Theme Address),” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 90 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 5:23; Phil. 1:4-6; 2:14-16; Eph. 5:25-27; Col. 1:22; Jude 1:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, ignore my resistance and leave no part of my life untouched. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newman et al.: the necessity of faith

Sunday, August 11, 2019
    Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253
    Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890
Meditation:
    Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).
    —John 1:40,41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We were made for action, and for right action—for thought, and for true thought. Let us live while we live; let us be alive and doing; let us act on what we have, since we have not what we wish. Let us believe what we do not see and know. Let us forestall knowledge by faith. Let us maintain before we have proved. This seeming paradox is the secret of happiness. Why should we be unwilling to go by faith? We do all things in this world by faith in the word of others. By faith only we know our position in the world, our circumstances, our rights and privileges, our fortunes, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our age, our mortality. Why should religion be an exception? Why should we be unwilling to use for heavenly objects what we daily use for earthly?
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), John Keble (1792-1866) & Edward B. Pusey (1800-1882), Tracts for the Times, v. V, William Palmer, Richard Hurrell Froude & Isaac Williams, London: Rivington, 1840, p. 84-85 (see the book)
    See also John 1:40-41; Hab. 2:4; Matt. 14:28-31; Mark 11:22-23; John 1:45; Rom. 1:16-17; Gal. 2:16-17; 3:11-12; Heb. 10:37-38
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I not be held back by doubt. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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