Wesley: the worldwide parish

Saturday, February 11, 2023
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
    —Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.
    ... John Wesley (1703-1791), a letter in the entry for June 11, 1739, Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, v. I, London: J. Kershaw, 1827, p. 193 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 28:19-20; Ps. 40:9; Isa. 60:1; Matt. 5:13-14; 10:27; Luke 12:8; Acts 10:37-38; Phil. 2:14-16; Col. 4:6; Rev. 22:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people come to You through proclamation of Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Augustine: the other cheek

Friday, February 10, 2023
    Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic... But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”
    —Luke 6:29,35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Many have learned how to offer the other cheek, but do not know how to love him by whom they are struck.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), from “Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount,” in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, v. VI, Philip Schaff, ed., New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888, I.58, p. 26 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:29,35; Ex. 23:4-5; Ps. 57:7; Pr. 25:21-22; Lam. 3:30; Matt. 5:39,44-45; Rom. 12:14,20-21; 1 Cor. 4:12-13; 1 Pet. 2:20-23; 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, drive away all resentment that blocks Your love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

MacDonald: God pleased vs. God satisfied

Thursday, February 9, 2023
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”
    —Mark 9:41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    That no [obedience] but a perfect one will satisfy God, I hold with all my heart and strength; but that there is none else He cares for, is one of the lies of the enemy. What father is not pleased with the first tottering attempt of his little one to walk? What father would be satisfied with anything but the manly step of the full-grown son?
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Way”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 10 (see the book)
    See also Mark 9:41; Gen. 17:1; Ps. 111:10; Matt. 10:42; 19:17-21; Mark 12:41-44; 2 Cor. 8:11-12; Eph. 4:11-14; Phil. 2:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, be pleased to accept my stumbling and stammering. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Gossip: the hope of sinners

Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Meditation:
    [Jesus] did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
    —John 2:25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Browning ... tells us that what won him for Christ was this, that while others tried to soothe his angry conscience, and kept urging that, really, things were not nearly so bad as he was making out, Christ looked him in the eyes and told him bluntly that he was a desperate sinner, worse, much worse, even than he realized. And that, queerly enough as you might think, the man was not discomfited but heartened. Here at last, he felt, is one who understands and knows the facts. And since His desperate diagnosis is so accurate, may not His optimism also justify itself even in me. Well does He know what is in human nature, and yet, knowing the worst, He has still confident hope.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 90-91 (see the book)
    See also John 2:25; Jer. 17:9; Matt. 18:11; John 5:41-42; 6:64; Gal. 5:5; Tit. 3:4-7; Heb. 4:13; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You know the evil that is in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Bernard: conversion

Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Meditation:
    [Paul and Barnabas:] “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
    When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
    —Acts 13:47-48 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The conversion of souls is the working of the divine, not the human voice... It is from him alone that we must hope for results. We must ask him for it, so that our voice may be in harmony with the voice of majesty. May I suggest then that you prick up the ears of your heart in order to hear this inner voice and that you make an effort to hear God speaking within rather than the man speaking without... Nor do we have much difficulty in hearing this voice; the difficulty is rather in stopping our ears from hearing it. For that voice offers itself, presents itself, and never ceases to knock at the door of each one of us.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), Honey and Salt: selected spiritual writings of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Random House Digital, Inc., 2007, p. 247-248 (see the book)
    See also Acts 13:47-48; Ps. 29:3-9; Isa. 6:9-10; Zech. 7:11-12; Matt. 11:15; 13:16; John 1:12-13; 8:47; Acts 2:4,38-39; 7:55-58; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me silence, so that I may listen to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Barth: the great Answer

Monday, February 6, 2023
Meditation:
    Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
    —John 4:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Of all the things that are needed by man, and needed in such a way that he can receive them only from God, there is one great gift. And to all the true and legitimate requests that are directed necessarily to God, there is one great answer. This one divine gift and answer is Jesus Christ.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Church Dogmatics, v. III, part 3, London: T & T Clark, 2010, p. 270 (see the book)
    See also John 4:10; Isa. 9:6; John 3:16; Rom. 5:14-17; 6:23; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 9:15; Eph. 2:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the eternal gift from God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Hauerwas: the way things are

Sunday, February 5, 2023
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Japan, 1597
Meditation:
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
    and established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not lift up his soul to an idol
    or swear by what is false.
    —Psalm 24:1-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Any suggestion that the world is sinful cannot be limited to “moralistic” claims about our petty crimes. The Christian story trains us to see that in most of our life we act as if this is not God’s world and therein lies our fundamental sin. Moreover, when we so act, we find that our actions have far-reaching consequences, since in effect we distort our own and the world’s nature. Therefore sin implies not just a claim about human behavior but a claim about the way things are.
    ... Stanley Hauerwas (b. 1940), The Peaceable Kingdom, University of Notre Dame Press, 1983, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 24:1-4; Deut. 10:14; Josh. 7:12; Isa. 59:2; Mic. 3:4; John 19:10-11; Acts 17:24-26; 1 Tim. 6:13-16; Heb. 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, this is Your world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth