Brunner: is man's place in nature?

Monday, October 26, 2026
    Feast of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899
    Commemoration of Cedd, Founding Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of the East Saxons, 664
Meditation:
    Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
    —1 Corinthians 3:18-20 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In quite recent times we seem to have entered a particularly dangerous new phase of anthropological aberration, namely, a queer combination of nihilism and deification. Theoretically, man is said to be nothing but an animal with a highly developed cerebrum. At the same time, it is believed of this man that he is capable by science and technical devices of achieving whatever he wants. The deification which might have been thought to be finally overcome, returns as it were from behind, in the form of a deification of technical creativity to which not much less than omnipotence is ascribed. After mankind has done away with the pseudo-religion of race and blood, it is faced with the even greater danger of a technocratical pseudo-religion. There is no room for human personality, freedom and justice in either of these new religions of divine man. But the most dangerous of all must be the one which makes man at the same time nothing and God.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 70 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 3:18-20; Pr. 3:5,7; 26:12; Isa. 5:21; 44:24-26; Rom. 1:21-23; 1 Cor. 1:19-21; 2:6; 8:2; Gal. 6:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You truly show man’s wisdom to be foolishness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Mascall: the definitive miracle

Sunday, October 25, 2026
    Commemoration of Crispin & Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome, c.285
Meditation:
    Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
    —John 3:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we are prepared to admit, even as a possibility, that Jesus was divine, or even that without being divine he was unique, then we must, as a matter of logic, discard any attempt to discredit the Gospel accounts on the ground that they record abnormal occurrences [i.e. miracles].
    ... E. L. Mascall (1905-1993), The Secularization of Christianity, London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1966, p. 211-212 (see the book)
    See also John 3:18,21; 5:19; 6:38; 8:28; 12:49-50
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord Jesus, You are the greatest of the Father’s miracles. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Coleridge: Eternal transformation

Saturday, October 24, 2026
Meditation:
    Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
    —Romans 8:1-2 (ESV)
Quotation:
God’s child in Christ adopted—Christ my all—
What that earth boasts were not lost cheaply, rather
Than forfeit that blest name, by which I call
The Holy One, the Almighty God, my Father?—
Father! in Christ we live, and Christ in Thee—
Eternal Thou and everlasting we.
The heir of heaven, henceforth I fear not death:
In Christ I live! in Christ I draw the breath
Of the true life!—let then earth, sea, and sky
Make war against me! On my heart I show
Their mighty Master’s seal. In vain they try
To end my life, that can but end its woe.—
Is that a death-bed where a Christian lies?
Yes, but not his—’tis Death itself there dies.
    ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, v. II, London: W. Pickering, 1835, p. 151 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:1-2; Matt. 5:44-45; Luke 20:35-36; Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 15:51-57; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, release me from the fear of death. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: the furnace

Friday, October 23, 2026
Meditation:
    Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
    —Romans 8:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I am glad ye have been acquainted from your youth with the wrestlings of God, being cast from furnace to furnace, knowing if you were not dear to God, and if your health did not require so much of him, he would not spend so much physic upon you. All the brethren and sisters of Christ must be conformed to his image in suffering, Rom. 8:17, and some do more clearly resemble the copy than others.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Jan. 15, 1629, p. 8 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:17; Deut. 4:20; Isa. 48:10; Mal. 3:2; Matt. 16:24; Luke 24:26; Acts 14:21-22; Phil. 1:29-30; 2 Tim. 2:10-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have transformed my misfortunes into blessings, as only You can. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trueblood: new temple, old idol

Thursday, October 22, 2026
Meditation:
    [Paul to the Athenians:] “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
    —Acts 17:24-25 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In some communities there remains, as a vestige of a false conception of the church building, a resistance to the sale and purchase of books on a table... anywhere on the premises. When this position is expressed, it must be attacked directly and unapologetically, because it represents a genuine evil, ... the idolatry of bricks and mortar, a heresy specifically undermined by the Apostle Paul in Athens when he said, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man” (Acts 17:24). The notion that it is perfectly all right to sell a New Testament in the department store on Monday, but that it is wrong to sell it in the meetinghouse on Sunday, represents a confusion so great that it is truly appalling.
    As Christians, we believe in the Real Presence, but it is a severe denial of the divine power to claim that this Presence is limited geographically. If, in a building dedicated to worship, a seeker buys a book on Sunday morning and his life is deepened in consequence, the only important thing to say is that the Gospel has thereby been preached, and this is one of the major tasks of the Church.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Incendiary Fellowship, New York: Harper, 1967, p. 64-65 (see the book)
    See also Acts 17:24-25; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chr. 2:6; 6:18; John 4:22-23; Acts 7:48-50
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit to remind me of Your Presence in all things. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: the waste of misdirection

Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Meditation:
    And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
    —Philippians 1:9-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    When we look at the history of the Church, at the reckless fashion in which we have squandered our strength and time in fratricidal struggles between sect and sect, in embittered bickerings over matters often of secondary moment, while the world about us lies unwon, and the Church’s great commission remains plainly unfulfilled, surely we can understand that outburst of Erasmus, when he cried that he wished that we would cease from our disputings altogether, and put all that energy and zeal that we are wasting upon them into the carrying of the Gospel to the heathen! Or recall the infinite pains that have been taken, down the centuries, to preserve minute orthodoxy in all points of mental belief while ugly evils flaunt along the streets and are accepted meekly as part of the makeup of things! Or recollect how easy it is to assume that we, ourselves, are Christian people. Why? Oh, well, just the usual reasons: we say our prayers, when we are not too sleepy; and we come to church, when there is nothing much to do; and so, of course, there is no doubt of it, although our tempers may remain uncurbed, and our characters are not the least like Jesus Christ’s, nor growing any nearer it! Do we not need that solemn warning that Christ gives us when He tells us bluntly that many people lose their lives and souls, because they are always laying the emphasis and stress on the wrong points?
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 236-237 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:9-11; Matt. 23:13; Rom. 2:17-21; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 2 Tim. 2:14,16; 4:3-4; Tit. 1:13-14; 2 Pet. 1:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to use Your gifts to Your glory and to the benefit of Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kraemer: the Church belongs to Christ

Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Meditation:
    ... for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.
    —Acts 20:27-31 (ESV)
Quotation:
    By God’s grace we live in a time of rediscovery of the Church and of the wholeness of the Church. We see more clearly than often has been the case that ecclesiology and christology are one. The ekklesia, the community of believers, has as its first and foremost qualification that it is that community which, as community, belongs to Christ and is in Christ, and as such is the sphere of God’s salvation, redemption and reconciliation and of Christ’s rulership. This is the archetypal reality of the Church. To see and seize this essential point is a great blessing. This blessing, however, could as well become a curse, if it remained a theme of theological meditation and self-contemplation. This new knowledge is not real knowledge, if it is not accompanied by a horror about the alienation of the empirical Church from its own fundamental reality and by a deep longing for a tangible manifestation of the Church’s true na ture. This horror and this longing are the deeper motives which are operating in many of the events and passionate discussions around the place and responsibility of the laity as an organic part of the Church.
    ... Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965), A Theology of the Laity, London: Lutterworth Press, 1958, p. 100 (see the book)
    See also Acts 20:27-31; Isa. 46:9-11; Matt. 28:19-20; John 15:15; 2 Cor. 5:17; 11:3; Rev. 3:1-2,14-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, quicken Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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