Bernard: deep calls unto deep

Sunday, May 18, 2025
Meditation:
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;
    all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
    —Psalm 42:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    O my God, deep calls unto deep. The deep of my profound misery calls to the deep of Your infinite mercy.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), The Love of God, and Spiritual Friendship, ed. James Houston, Multnomah Press, 1983, p. 107 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 42:7; 57:10; 107:1; 108:4; Luke 1:50; Acts 3:19-20; Rom. 11:32; 1 Cor. 2:10; Eph. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have heard my cry and shown Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wright: the overthrow of death

Saturday, May 17, 2025
Meditation:
    [Peter:] “[Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.”
    —Acts 2:23-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To imply that Jesus “went to heaven when he died”, or that he is now simply a spiritual presence, and to suppose that such ideas exhaust the referential meaning of “Jesus was raised from the dead”, is to miss the point, to cut the nerve of the social, cultural and political critique. Death is the ultimate weapon of the tyrant; resurrection does not make a covenant with death, it overthrows it. The resurrection, in the full Jewish and early Christian sense, is the ultimate affirmation that creation matters, that embodied human beings matter.
    ... N. T. Wright (b. 1948), The Resurrection of the Son of God, Fortress Press, 2003, p. 730 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:23-24; Matt. 17:22-23; Luke 9:22; 24:5-7; Acts 2:32; 3:15; 1 Cor. 15:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have created life anew. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yaconelli: the "wrong" question

Friday, May 16, 2025
    Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877
Meditation:
    Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”
    —Matthew 9:4-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday:]
    Assumption 4: Questions can be “right” or “wrong.” All of us have had the experience of asking a question, only to be told the question was inappropriate, irrelevant, or “wrong.” According to this rule, “wrong” questions reveal a lack of faith, a refusal to believe, a rebellion, a carnal heart. “Wrong” questions are unanswerable questions. “Wrong” questions threaten the majority viewpoint.
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 39 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:4-6; Mark 2:8-11; 10:18; Luke 5:22-24; 12:16-20; 18:19; John 5:41-44
Quiet time reflection:
    Thank You, Lord, for Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yaconelli: the dangerous question

Thursday, May 15, 2025
    Commemoration of Charles Williams, Spiritual Writer, 1945
Meditation:
    And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
    —Luke 20:40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday:]
    Assumption 3: Questions can be dangerous. Many in our culture have opted to stay safe by limiting our knowledge to what we already know—a self-induced retirement of the mind. If we ask too many questions, the resulting answers might cause us to change. We might become accountable for truth and have to act on it. The Pharisees wanted to shut up Jesus for good. His constant questions were threatening to the status quo. Jesus’ questions were dangerous because the very asking of them was eroding the power structure. Jesus had to be killed because He had to be silenced. Asking “who is my neighbor?” and “whose image is on this coin?” can start a riot. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 38-39 (see the book)
    See also Luke 20:40; Matt. 22:18-21,42-46; Luke 10:29-36
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, be not silent, but speak in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yaconelli: afflicting the comfortable

Wednesday, May 14, 2025
    Feast of Matthias the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
    —John 6:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday:]
    Assumption 2: Questions can make people uncomfortable. Questions can cause others to question. Our doubts might resonate with others’ doubts. Because of our questions, others might have to face questions they have learned to ignore. Questions force us to think, to struggle, to interact with truth. In other words, the act of questioning is discomforting. Many Christians have silenced their questions; they’ve ignored the gaps in their thinking and don’t want those questions reawakened. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 38 (see the book)
    See also John 6:27; Hos. 4:6; Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, assist me to face my doubts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yaconelli: the embarrassing admission

Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Meditation:
    Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
    —Proverbs 12:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    By the time most of our children reach junior high school, their natural curiosity has been neutralized by an insidious set of unwritten assumptions:
    Assumption 1: Questions can be embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to admit you don’t know something. What is important is never to reveal your ignorance. Don’t admit you don’t know something because others may think less of you. In today’s world, truth doesn’t matter. Image does. Silence your doubts, ignore your questions, don’t do anything that might cause someone to think ill of you. As Flannery O’Connor reminded us, “mystery is the great embarrassment to the modern mind.” [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 38 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 12:1; 1:7; Rom. 11:33-34; 1 Cor. 8:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I love to inquire into Your creation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: God's consistency

Monday, May 12, 2025
    Commemoration of Aiden Wilson Tozer, Spiritual Writer, 1963
Meditation:
    As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
    —Romans 11:28-29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. No attribute contradicts the other, but all harmonize and blend into each other in the infinite abyss of the Godhead. All that God does agrees with all that God is, and being and doing are one in Him.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Knowledge of the Holy, Harper & Row, 1975, p. 85 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 11:28-29; Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Hab. 2:3; Luke 21:33; Heb. 6:17-18; Jas. 1:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are unchanging in Your purpose. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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