Paton: social action

Saturday, June 18, 2022
Meditation:
    [The Son] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
    —Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I do not think I am fanciful in discerning among some of those who most earnestly plead against the Christian social movement a feeling that there is something fundamentally intractable, inscrutable, mysterious about the world, and that no more can be hoped for than an heroic protest in the name of Christ, made in obedience but with no sort of hope that anything can come of it. I hope I am not wrong in saying that there is nothing Christian in such an attitude. It savours of the Paganism that saw behind the world a kind of ironical malice; that made Polycrates throw his ring into the sea, and called the Furies the Kindly Ones, if haply they might be so appeased.
    But we stand outside this world of darkness, for we have learnt that all things were created by the eternal Word, who is Christ Jesus. We know, in the Pauline phrase, that it is in Him that the whole universal order of things consists or holds together. Those who have come to know that, know in consequence that they are in their Father’s house. It is a big house, and they have begun to explore only a little of it. It has great reaches, and some of them are still shadowy. But it is His house, all of it.
    ... William Paton
    See also Col. 1:15-17; John 1:1-3; 8:58; 14:2; 17:5; 1 Cor. 8:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are truly engaged with the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: God's Fatherhood

Friday, June 17, 2022
    Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936
Meditation:
    I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
    —Ephesians 3:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We must not measure by natural human fatherhood what it means that God is our Father. It is from God’s fatherhood that our natural human fatherhood acquires any meaning and dignity it has. God is the Father “from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Church Dogmatics, v. I, part 1 [1936], Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004, p. 389 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 3:13-15; Isa. 63:16; Matt. 23:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are my true Father. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Saphir: the house left desolate

Thursday, June 16, 2022
    Feast of Richard of Chichester, Bishop, 1253
    Commemoration of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Moral Philosopher, 1752
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
    —Matthew 23:37-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Israel had another house besides Jerusalem [which was destroyed and the nation dispersed]. It was not merely their national existence, but there was another habitation which God had given unto them—the habitation of the word of God. Their house is left unto them desolate. They are still reading Moses and the prophets; they are still familiar with the outward form of the Word; but the house is desolate. They read the Bible, but the Master of the house is not seen by them. They read Moses, but He of whom Moses testifies is not known by them. They read the prophets, but the Messiah and His great work—behold, this is hidden from their eyes!
    ... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel, London: Morgan and Scott, 1911, p. 124-125 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 23:37-39; John 3:11-12; 5:39-40; Rom. 9:3-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send forth the Spirit of belief. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: the virtue of a rule

Wednesday, June 15, 2022
    Feast of Evelyn Underhill, Mystical Writer, 1941
Meditation:
Every day I will praise you
    and extol your name for ever and ever.
    —Psalm 145:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A simple rule, to be followed whether one is in the light or not, gives backbone to one’s spiritual life, as nothing else can.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Letters of Evelyn Underhill, Charles Williams, ed., London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1991, p. 312 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 145:2; 1:2; 5:3; 119:164; Isa. 26:9; Luke 18:6-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I never miss a day of praising You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Baxter: the murderer of the world

Tuesday, June 14, 2022
    Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691
Meditation:
    As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
    —Ephesians 2:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Use sin... as it will use you. Spare it not, for it will not spare you. It is your murderer, and the murderer of the world. Use it therefore as a murderer should be used. Kill it before it kills you; and then, though it kill your bodies, it shall not be able to kill your souls; and though it bring you to the grave, as it did your Head, it shall not be able to keep you there.
    ... Richard Baxter (1615-1691), “A Treatise of Death”, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, v. IV, G. Virtue, 1838, p. 831 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 2:1-2,5; Rom. 6:21,23; 7:5; 1 Cor. 15:26; Col. 2:13; 1 Thess. 4:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, the world groans under the weight of sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chesterton: is virtue unreasonable?

Monday, June 13, 2022
    Commemoration of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
Meditation:
    Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
    —Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As the word “unreasonable” is open to misunderstanding, the matter may be more accurately put by saying that each one of these Christian or mystical virtues involves a paradox in its own nature, and that this is not true of any of the typically pagan or rationalist virtues. Justice consists in finding out a certain thing due to a certain man and giving it to him. Temperance consists in finding out the proper limit of a particular indulgence and adhering to that. But charity means pardoning what is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all. Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. And faith means believing the incredible, or it is no virtue at all.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), Heretics [1905], New York: John Lane Co., 1909, p. 158 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 11:1; Matt. 11:25; Luke 23:34; Rom. 5:5; 8:24-25; 1 Cor. 13:13; Gal. 5:5; Eph. 2:12; 1 Thess. 5:8; Tit. 1:1-2; 1 Pet. 1:21; 3:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, all Christian virtue must come from You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: the burden of sin

Sunday, June 12, 2022
    Trinity Sunday
Meditation:
Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,
    and wickedness as with cart ropes...
    —Isaiah 5:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I do not understand how a man can be a sincere believer unto whom sin is not the greatest burden and sorrow.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), I.4 in The Grace and Duty of being Spiritually Minded [1681], in Works of John Owen, v. VII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 333 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 5:18; Deut. 7:26; Matt. 11:28-30; 2 Cor. 7:10-11; Eph. 2:1-2; Jas. 1:13-15; 4:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cast my burden upon You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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