Bergman: art and worship

Tuesday, July 28, 2026
    Commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach, musician, 1750
Meditation:
All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
    and all your saints shall bless you!
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
    and tell of your power...
    —Psalm 145:10-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is my opinion that art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from worship. It severed an umbilical cord... In former days the artist remained unknown and his work was to the glory of God...
    Today the individual has become the highest form and the greatest bane of artistic creation.
    ... Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007), The Seventh Seal, Lorrimer, 1984, introduction, p. 8 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 145:10-11; Rom. 1:20-21; Gal. 6:3; 1 Pet. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    All beauty is Your beauty, O Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: a two-footed stance

Monday, July 27, 2026
    Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901
    Commemoration of John R. W. Stott, spiritual writer and teacher, 2011
Meditation:
    Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
    —Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The loving service which God sends His people into the world to render includes both evangelism and social action, for each is in itself an authentic expression of love, and neither needs the other to justify it.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Christian Mission in the Modern World, London: Falcon; Downers Grove: IVP, 1975, p. 109 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 12:1-2; Gal. 2:10; 2 Tim. 4:2; Heb. 13:16; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me boldness in speaking and living the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: light enough to walk by

Sunday, July 26, 2026
Meditation:
    That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
    —John 1:9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    [Christians], at their best, know that often they don’t know. They do not have all the answers. They do not have God in their pocket. We cannot answer every question that any bright boy in the back row might ask. We have only light enough to walk by.
    ... Howard A. Johnson (1915-1974), “The Vocation of the Anglican Communion (Theme Address),” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 232 (see the book)
    See also John 1:9; Job 26:14; 42:3; Ps. 131:1; 139:6; Rom. 11:33
Quiet time reflection:
    O Christ, our light! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: faith from need

Saturday, July 25, 2026
    Feast of James the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:} “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.”
    —John 6:44-45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    That faith alone will never forsake Christ which springs out of or is built upon a conviction of the [need for] Him.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), Nature and Causes of Apostasy from the Gospel [1676], in Works of John Owen, v. VII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 146 (see the book)
    See also John 6:44-45; Matt. 9:20-22; John 10:27-28; 12:37-40; 2 Thess. 2:9-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Do I know how great is my need for Christ? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: reading the Scriptures

Friday, July 24, 2026
    Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471
Meditation:
    Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...
    —Luke 24:44-45 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Truth, not eloquence, is to be sought for in Holy Scripture. Each part of the Scripture is to be read with the same Spirit wherewith it was written. We should rather search after profit in Scriptures, than subtilty of speech. We ought to read plain and devout books as willingly as high and profound. Let not the authority of the writer offend thee, whether he be of great or small learning; but let the love of pure truth draw thee to read. Search not who spoke this or that, but mark what is spoken. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.v.1, p. 37 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:44-45; Matt. 6:25-34; Mark 12:36; John 5:39-40; Acts 17:11; Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 John 4:4-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Send Your Spirit to open the Scriptures to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: simplicity and truth

Thursday, July 23, 2026
    Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373
Meditation:
    Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
    —Genesis 2:1-2 (KJV)
Quotation:
    That earth and that heaven, which spent God himself, Almighty God, six days in furnishing, Moses sets up in a few syllables, in one line: In the beginning God created heaven and earth. If a Livie or a Guicciardine, or such extensive and voluminous authors, had had this story in hand, God must have made another world, to have made them a library to hold their books, of the making of this world. Into what wire would they have drawn out this earth? Into what leaf-gold would they have beat out these heavens? It may assist our conjecture herein to consider, that amongst those men, who proceed with a sober modesty, and limitation in their writing, and make a conscience not to clog the world with unnecessary books; yet the volumes which are written by them, upon this beginning of Genesis, are scarce less than infinite. God did no more but say, Let this and this be done; and Moses doth no more but say, that upon God’s saying it was done. God required not Nat ure to help him to do it; Moses required not Reason to help him to be believed.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. IV, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon CIX, p. 491 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 2:1-2; 1:26; Eccl. 12:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word prevails. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: goodness

Wednesday, July 22, 2026
    Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles
Meditation:
    Let all that you do be done in love.
    —1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The more vigor you need, the more gentleness and kindness you must combine with it... All stiff, harsh goodness is contrary to Jesus.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Selections from Fénelon, ed. Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston: Roberts Bros., 1879, p. 79,47 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 16:14; Gal. 5:22-23; Phil. 4:5; Col. 3:12; 1 Tim. 6:11; 1 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to be aware of the little wounds I make, and give me a gentle spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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