Bradley: devotional poetry

Tuesday, February 3, 2026
    Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865
Meditation:
    Praise our God, O peoples,
        let the sound of his praise be heard;
    he has preserved our lives
        and kept our feet from slipping.
    —Psalm 66:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Devotional poetry... has to do with devotedness, with trust merged into faith, with love’s steadfastness. It finds men’s worthwhileness deep laid in relationship to God’s worthwhileness, and this devotion is expressed in communication. It finds this world precious insofar as it... symbolizes God’s love and therefore it runs counter to our national sin of distrust in God. (And yet, how can we trust Him without knowing and living unto Him and loving Him?)
    ... Samuel Bradley
    See also Ps. 66:8-9; Rom. 9:33; 15:13; Col. 3:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to live unto You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: life devoted to God

Monday, February 2, 2026
    THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
Meditation:
Thou preparest a table before me
    in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
    my cup runneth over.
    —Psalm 23:5 (AV)
Quotation:
    A life devoted unto God, looking wholly unto Him in all our actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far from being dull, and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts in everything that we do.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 183 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 23:5; 27:4; 42:1-2; 71:21; 84:4; Isa. 51:12-13; Rom. 8:37; 2 Cor. 1:3-5; 2 Cor. 2:14; 7:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have satisfied my hunger. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Champion: fundamental antagonism

Sunday, February 1, 2026
    Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525
Meditation:
    Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
    —Hebrews 12:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The church has severely under-estimated the fundamental antagonism between Christianity and contemporary neo-pagan values.
    ... Max Champion, “The Religious Crisis of Western Civilisation”
    See also Heb. 12:2-3; Acts 16:12,22-24; 1 Thess. 2:2; 2 Tim. 1:11-12; Heb. 11:36-38
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I pray that You will redeem those who currently suffer under pagan values. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Robertson: dare to be alone

Saturday, January 31, 2026
    Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888
Meditation:
    [Elijah] “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
    [The LORD:] “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”
    —1 Kings 19:14,18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a cowardice in this age which is not Christian. We shrink from the consequences of truth. We look round and cling dependently. We ask what men will think; what others will say—whether they will not stare in astonishment. Perhaps they will; but he who is calculating that, will accomplish nothing in this life. The Father—the Father which is with us and in us—what does He think? God’s work cannot be done without a spirit of independence. A man is got some way in the Christian life when he has learned to say humbly and yet majestically, “I dare to be alone.”
    ... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons, v. I, Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1861, v. 1, p.238 (see the book)
    See also 1 Kings 19:14,18; Rom. 8:28; 11:3-5; 1 Tim. 4:12; 2 Tim. 2:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me your assurance in my calling. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newbigin: no middle ground

Friday, January 30, 2026
    Commemoration of Lesslie Newbigin, Bishop, Missionary, Teacher, 1998
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “My prayer is not for [my disciples] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
    —John 17:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is common to hear churchmen speak as though they did not really regard Christian unity as a serious question this side of the End. This is a disastrous illusion. Christians cannot behave as though time were unreal. God gives us time, but not an infinite amount of time. It is His purpose that the Gospel should be preached to all nations, and that all men should be brought into one family in Jesus Christ. His purpose looks to a real End, and therefore requires of us real decisions. If we misconstrue His patience, and think that there is an infinity of time for debate while we perpetuate before the world the scandal of our dismemberment of the Body of Christ, we deceive ourselves. In an issue concerning the doing of the will of God there is no final neutrality.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Reunion of the Church, London: SCM Press, 1960, p. xiii-xiv (see the book)
    See also John 17:20-21; Matt. 11:15; John 10:16; Acts 4:32; 1 Cor. 1:10; 12:27; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 4:3-6; Phil. 2:1-5; Col. 3:11-14; 1 Pet. 3:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, bring about the unity of Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fosdick: science the new arbiter

Thursday, January 29, 2026
Meditation:
    Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
    —James 1:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The men of faith might claim for their positions ancient tradition, practical usefulness, and spiritual desirability, but one query could prick all such bubbles: Is it scientific? That question has searched religion for contraband goods, stripped it of old superstitions, forced it to change its categories of thought and methods of work, and in general has so cowed and scared religion that many modern-minded believers... instinctively throw up their hands at the mere whisper of it... When a prominent scientist comes out strongly for religion, all the churches thank Heaven and take courage, as though it were the highest possible compliment to God to have Eddington believe in Him. Science has become the arbiter of this generation’s thought, until to call even a prophet and a seer ‘scientific’ is to cap the climax of praise.
    ... Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), As I see Religion, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1932, p. 123 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:27; 2 Cor. 5:16; Jas. 4:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, renew my mind, that I may discard the world’s standards for Yours. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Aquinas: bearing wrongs, right and wrong

Wednesday, January 28, 2026
    Feast of Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Teacher of the Faith, 1274
Meditation:
    The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
    —Mark 15:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.
    ... Thomas Aquinas (1225?-1274), attrib.
    See also Mark 15:3-5; Isa. 53:7; Acts 7:22-24; 1 Cor. 6:7; 1 Pet. 2:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me sensitive to the suffering of others. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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