Quotations for May, 2023
Monday, May 1, 2023
Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Between the press and the pulpit there is this mighty difference. The pulpit has a Word, the press has none... The one has a Gospel which is the source of its liberty, the other has no Gospel but liberty, which in itself is no Gospel at all. Liberty is only opportunity for a Gospel... The press may offer an opinion as to how the public should act, but the pulpit is there with a message as to whom the acting public must obey and trust. The press is an adviser, but the pulpit is a prophet; the press may have a thought, the pulpit must have a Gospel, nay a command.
... P. T. Forsyth (1848-1921), Positive Preaching and Modern Mind, New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son, 1907, p. 43 
(see the book; see also Eph. 6:19-20; Matt. 10:27-28; Acts 4:29; 28:31; Rom. 8:21; 1 Cor. 1:5-6; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1; Col. 4:3-6; 1 Thess. 2:2; Jude 1:3; more at Commandment, Gospel, Liberty, Obedience, Prophet, Trust)
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
What was God to do in the face of the dehumanizing of mankind—this universal hiding of the knowledge of Himself? ... So burdened were men with their wickedness that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very likeness of the Word... What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? ... Men had turned from the contemplation of God above, and were looking for Him in two opposite directions, down among created things, and things of sense. The Savior of us all, the Word of God, in His great love took to Himself a body and moved as Man among men, meeting their senses, so to speak, half-way. He became Himself an object for the senses, so that those who were seeking God in sensible things might apprehend the Father through the works which He, the Word of God, did in the body. [Continued tomorrow]
... St. Athanasius (293?-373), The Incarnation of the Word of God [4th century], St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996, XIII-XV, p. 40,41,43
(see the book; see also Gen. 6:5; 1:26-27; 3:17; Matt. 4:24; John 1:14; Rom. 1:18-23; 8:3-4; Gal. 3:16; Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 1:15; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 1:1-3; more at Christ, Father, Incarnation, Jesus, Knowing God, Man, Savior)
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
[Continued from yesterday]Human and human-minded as men were, therefore, to whichever side they looked in the sensible world, they found themselves taught the truth. Were they awe-stricken by creation? They beheld it confessing Christ as Lord. Did their minds tend to regard men as gods? The uniqueness of the Savior’s works marked Him, alone of men, as Son of God. Were they drawn to evil spirits? They saw them driven out by the Lord, and learned that the Word of God alone was God and that the evil spirits were not gods at all. Were they inclined to hero-worship and the cult of the dead? Then the fact that the Savior had risen from the dead showed them how false these other deities were, and that the Word of the Father is the one true Lord, the Lord even of death. For this reason was He both born and manifested as Man, for this He died and rose, in order that, eclipsing by His works all other human deeds, He might recall man from all the paths of error to know the Father. As He says Himself, “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
... St. Athanasius (293?-373), The Incarnation of the Word of God [4th century], St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996, XV, p. 43-44
(see the book; see also Luke 19:10; Matt. 9:12-13; 18:11; Luke 5:31-32; John 6:46; 14:7-9; Rom. 5:6; 1 Tim. 1:15; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 4:9; more at Christ, Confession, Creation, Death, Error, Evil, Incarnation, Jesus, Resurrection, Salvation, Truth)
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation
[Dr. Johnson to a Quaker:] Oh, let us not be found, when our Master calls us, ripping the lace off our waistcoats, but the spirit of contention from our souls and tongues.
... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., v. IV [1791], James Boswell, New York: Derby & Jackson, 1858, p. 12 fn
(see the book; see also 2 Tim. 2:23; Matt. 23:23-24; Luke 11:42; 1 Cor. 1:8; 13:2; Tit. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:3-7; 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:14; more at Call, Contention, Historical, Jesus, Second Coming, Soul, Spirit)
Friday, May 5, 2023
Jeremiah refutes the popular, modern notion that the end of religion is an integrated personality, freed of its fears, its doubts, and its frustrations. Certainly Jeremiah was no integrated personality. It is doubtful if... he ever knew the meaning of the word “peace.” We have no evidence that his internal struggle was ever ended, although the passing years no doubt brought an increasing acceptance of destiny. Jeremiah, if his “confessions” are any index, needed a course in pastoral psychiatry in the very worst way... The feeling cannot be escaped that if Jeremiah had been integrated, it would have been at the cost of ceasing to be Jeremiah! A man at peace simply could not be a Jeremiah. Spiritual health is good; mental assurance is good; but the summons of faith is neither to an integrated personality nor to the laying by of all questions, but to the dedication of personality—with all its fears and questions—to its duty and destiny under God.
... John Bright (1908-1995), The Kingdom of God, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1953, p. 120
(see the book; see also Jer. 15:10; 9:25-26; Hos. 1:2; Matt. 10:34-36; Luke 12:49-53; John 7:40-49; Acts 14:1-6; Rom. 2:28-29; 2 Cor. 11:23-27; more at Bible, Confession, Destiny, Doubt, Duty, Fear, God, Peace, Religion, Struggle)
Saturday, May 6, 2023
The great question for us now is, Do we believe in that love of God which Christ taught by His words, and of which His followers saw in His voluntary death a crowning manifestation? And remember that even belief in the love of God will do us no good unless it awakes answering love in ourselves—unless it adds to our hatred of the sin which separates us from God and increases our love of other men.
... James Hastings Rashdall (1858-1924), Principles and Precepts, Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1927, p. 126
(see the book; see also Ps. 97:10; Amos 5:15; John 15:13; Rom. 5:6-8,20-21; 7:13; 12:9; Heb. 1:8-9; Jas. 1:13-15; more at Belief, Christ, Death, God, Hatred, Love, Question, Sin, Teach)
Sunday, May 7, 2023
The less secure people are in their beliefs, the more strident they become. Conversely, the more confident people are of the truth, the more grace they exhibit to those who don’t agree. “Tolerance is the natural endowment of true convictions,” wrote Paul Tournier.
... Charles W. Colson (1931-2012), The Body, Waco: Word, 1992, p. 102
(see the book; see also Eph. 4:29; Ps. 71:15; Matt. 10:18-20; Luke 4:22; 21:14-15; Rom. 14:1; Col. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; 1 Pet. 3:15-16; more at Belief, Confidence, Conviction, Grace, Security, Tolerance, Truth)
Monday, May 8, 2023
Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417
Commemoration of Dallas Willard, Teacher, Spiritual Writer, 2013
I saw full surely in this and in all, that ere God made us he loved us; which love never slackened, nor ever shall be. And in this love he hath done all his works; and in this love he hath made all things profitable to us; and in this love our life is everlasting. In our making we had beginning; but the love wherein he made us was in him from without beginning; in which love we have our beginning. And all this shall we see in God, without end.
... Juliana of Norwich (1342?-1417), Revelations of Divine Love, Grace Harriet Warrack, ed., Methuen, 1901, ch. LXXXVIII
(see the book; see also Ps. 103:17; Gen. 1:26-27; Job 10:9-12; Ps. 22:9-10; 139:13-14; Isa. 44:2; Jer. 31:3; John 3:14-16; 6:51; 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 John 2:17; more at Beginning, Creation, Everlasting, God, Life, Love, Sight)
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Above all, beware of letting go the spirit of peace because of your faults. Humble yourself before God because of them, repent, make such reparation for them as you are able, and then do not dwell upon them any more. It is often mere pride which frets at finding itself beset by the same often renewed faults, and at its lack of spiritual progress. Do not deceive yourself into the belief that such disquiet is humility. A really humble soul accepts its faults with patience, and goes afresh on in confidence and hope.
... Jean Nicolas Grou (1731-1803), The Hidden Life of the Soul, London: Rivingtons, 1870, p. 147-148
(see the book; see also 1 John 2:1-2; Ps. 103:8-12; Mic. 6:8; John 3:16-17; Rom. 5:1-2; 12:16; 1 Cor. 1:27-29; 13:4; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; 10:5; Phil. 2:3; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 4:15-16; Jas. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 5:5; 1 John 1:4-9; more at Confidence, God, Hope, Humility, Patience, Peace, Progress, Repentance, Soul, Spirit)
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Humility is a strange flower; it grows best in winter weather, and under storms of affliction.
... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Quaint Sermons of Samuel Rutherford: hitherto unpublished, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1885, p. 86
(see the book; see also Luke 7:6-10; Ps. 131:1-2; Matt. 8:5-8; 15:22-28; John 1:26-27; Rom. 7:18; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Phil. 2:5-8; 4:12-13; more at Affliction, Flower, Growth, Humility, Winter)
Thursday, May 11, 2023
The melodious music of the Psalms has been designed for us, that those who are boys in years, or at least but lads in ways of life, while they seem to be singing, may in reality be carrying on the education of the soul. It is not easy for the inattentive to retain in their memory, when they go home, an injunction of an apostle or prophet; but the sayings of the Psalms are sung in our houses and travel with us through the streets.
... St. Basil the Great (330?-379), from Homily XXII, “Humility”, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, second series, v. VIII, Philip Schaff & Henry Wace, ed., New York: Christian Literature Company, 1895, p. xlv
(see the book; see also Ps. 47:7; 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 149:1; Luke 24:44; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Jas. 5:13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Rev. 5:9-10; more at Art, Beauty, Memory, Music, Song, Youth)
Friday, May 12, 2023
Commemoration of Aiden Wilson Tozer, Spiritual Writer, 1963
We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do—flee it or die upon it.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Root of the Righteous, Christian Publications, 1955, p. 63
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 1:17-18; Rom. 6:3-7; Gal. 2:20; 5:24; 6:14; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 2:11-15; 3:3,9-10; more at Atheism, Cross, Death)
Saturday, May 13, 2023
What then? loves he his people in their sinning? Yes; his people,—not their sinning. Alters he not his love towards them? Not the purpose of his will, but the dispensations of his grace. He rebukes them, he chastens them, he hides his face from them, he smites them, he fills them with a sense of [his] indignation; but woe, woe would it be to us, should he change in his love, or take away his kindness from us!
... John Owen (1616-1683), Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost [1657], in Works of John Owen, v. II, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1851, p. 31
(see the book; see also Isa. 57:17-19; 1 Chr. 16:34; Job 6:4; Ps. 6:6; 38:1-5; 39:11; 100:5; 136; Isa. 8:17; Mal. 3:6; Rom. 5:5; Heb. 12:7-9; Rev. 3:19; more at Affliction, Discipline, God, Grace, Kindness, Love, People, Purpose)
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Feast of Matthias the Apostle
Moderate bodily discipline is useful in resisting depression, because it rouses the mind from dwelling on itself; and frequent Communion is specially valuable; the Bread of Life strengthens the heart and gladdens the spirits.It may be useful, too, to lay bare all the feelings, thoughts, and longings which are the result of your depression before some spiritual advisor, in all humility and faithfulness; to seek the society of spiritually minded people, and to frequent such as far as possible while you are suffering. And finally, resign yourself into God’s hands, endeavouring to bear this harassing depression patiently.
... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, IV.xii, p. 322
(see the book; see also Ps. 71:20; Song of Solomon 2:16; Ps. 119:82; John 6:35; Rom. 8:18,35-37; 1 Pet. 1:6; more at Bread, Communion, Confession, Depression, Discipline, Resignation, Suffer, Weakness)
Monday, May 15, 2023
Commemoration of Charles Williams, Spiritual Writer, 1945
Be on the lookout for mercies. The more we look for them, the more of them will we see. Blessings brighten when we count them. Out of the determination of the heart the eyes see.
... Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901), Thoughts for Every-day Living, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1901, p. 107
(see the book; see also Ps. 116:12-13; 103:2; Luke 17:15-18; Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Phil. 4:6-7; more at Attitudes, Blessing, Heart, Mercy)
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877
Neither must we be in a hurry to forget past sin, and to force our way into the sunshine. If God gives us quite a depressing sense of sin, let us cherish it and stagger on beneath the burden. Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hand upon our shoulders. In a word, patience with self is almost a condition of spiritual progress.
... Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), Growth in Holiness, London: Thomas Richardson & Son, 1860, third edition, p. 114
(see the book; see also Ps. 51:2-3; 38:4-6; Lam. 1:20; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 10:19-22; 1 John 3:19-20; more at Blessing, Burden, Forget, Goodness, Patience, Progress, Sin)
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
From the crude cry which we have so often heard during the war years: “If there is a God, why doesn’t He stop Hitler?,” to the unspoken questioning in many a Christian heart when a devoted servant of Christ dies from accident or disease at what seems to us a most inopportune moment, there is this universal longing for God to intervene, to show His hand, to vindicate His purpose. I do not pretend to understand the ways of God any more than the next man; but it is surely more fitting as well as more sensible for us to study what God does do and what He does not do as He works in and through the complex fabric of this disintegrated world, than to postulate what we think God ought to do and then feel demoralized and bitterly disappointed because He fails to fulfill what we expect of Him.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 33
(see the book; see also Ps. 106:13-15; 3:1-3; Lam. 3:33; Rom. 8:18; 2 Tim. 3:12; more at Adversity, Death, Disappointment, God, Purpose, Sin, Will of God, Work)
Thursday, May 18, 2023
Ascension
To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 88
(see the book; see also 1 Pet. 4:13-14; Mark 8:31-38; Acts 9:15-16; Rom. 8:18; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:29-30; 3:10-11; Col. 1:24; Jas. 1:2-4; more at Christ, Cross, Life, Suffer, Tragedy)
Friday, May 19, 2023
Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
I have a Christian friend who is a Roman Catholic, another who belongs to the Church of Christ, others who hold this theology, that loyalty, or the other affiliation... Can I associate, as a Christian, with any of these without endangering my witness to the truth I have received? Because I believe in the Holy Ghost, I believe that I can, because I believe that He will be with me. I may fail to make clear to my Roman Catholic friend the true nature of salvation in Christ, or to my Campbellite friend the true place of the Scriptures in the Christian life; but God’s truth will remain. It may not be safe in my hands, but it is safe in His.
... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985), “Receiving One Another”
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Joel 2:28-29; John 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:13; Eph. 4:11-13; 1 John 2:20,27; Jude 1:3; more at Belief, Failure, Friend, Holy Spirit, Loyalty, Safety, Theology, Truth, Witness)
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Christ did not enchant men; He demanded that they believe in Him: except on one occasion, the Transfiguration. For a brief while, Peter, James, and John were permitted to see Him in His glory. For that brief while they had no need of faith. The vision vanished, and the memory of it did not prevent them from all forsaking Him when He was arrested, or Peter from denying that he had ever known Him.
... W. H. Auden (1907-1973), A Certain World, London: Faber and Faber, 1971, p. 150
(see the book; see also 2 Pet. 1:17-18; Matt.13:58; 17:1-8; 26:33-35,69-75; Mark 6:5-6; 9:2-9; 14:29-31,66-72; Luke 9:28-36; 22:31-34,55-62; John 1:14; 13:36-38; 18:17-18,25-27; Rom. 11:19-21; Heb. 3:12; Rev. 1:13-18; more at Belief, Betrayal, Faith, Glory, Jesus, Sight, Vision)
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330
Well may this body poorer, feebler grow!It is undressing for its last sweet bed;But why should the soul, which death shall never know,Authority, and power, and memory shed?It is that love with absolute faith would wed;God takes the inmost garments off his child,To have him in his arms, naked and undefiled.
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), Diary of an Old Soul, London: by the author, 1880, p. 163
(see the book; see also Zech. 3:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:1-4; Heb. 2:14-15; 9:27-28; more at Child, Death, Faith, God, Knowledge, Providence, Soul)
Monday, May 22, 2023
The One Body cannot be created by human collaboration. It exists through simply removing the barriers and having fellowship with God, a reality prevailing among those who obey Him and love each other. No other merely human method will avail.
... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 5
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 12:20; John 15:12; 17:20-23; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 10:17; 12:13; Eph. 2:14-16; 4:4-6; 5:29-30; Col. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:17; 1 John 1:7; 2:6; 3:24; 4:13; more at Body of Christ, Fellowship, God, Love, Obedience)
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Commemoration of Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century
What fellowship means in material matters is made very plain. Every man is to work for his living. “If a man will not work, neither let him eat.” But those who cannot work are to be provided for out of the common fund. Old and helpless persons who have relations of their own should, indeed, find support from them and not be forced to come upon the Church; but for the resourceless the Church must provide. And those who are rich and who earn more than enough to support their own families are to be willing contributors to the common fund. The love of money—the desire to accumulate wealth—is the root of every kind of evil. The relation of one to another is to be that of members in one body, in which, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.
... Charles Gore (1853-1932), Christ and Society, London: Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1928, p. 78-79
(see the book; see also 2 Thess. 3:10; Matt. 6:24; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 3:11-12; 1 Tim. 5:3-6,13; 6:10-11; more at Aged, Body of Christ, Church, Evil, Family, Fellowship, Money, Suffer, Wealth, Work)
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Feast of John and Charles Wesley, Priests, Poets, Teachers, 1791 & 1788
Without some suffering, we should scarce remember that we are not proprietors here, but only tenants at will, liable to lose all we have at a moment’s warning.
... John Wesley (1703-1791), letter to Ebenezer Blackwell, 28 Jul 1762, Letters of John Wesley, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915, p. 348
(see the book; see also Jas. 4:13-15; Job 7:6-7; 14:1-2; Ps. 39:4-5; 89:47; Isa. 40:6-8; Jer. 17:11; Luke 12:16-21; Jas. 1:10-11; more at Remembrance, Suffer, Will of God)
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Feast of the Venerable Bede, Priest, Monk of Jarrow, Historian, 735
Commemoration of Aldhelm, Abbot of Mamsbury, Bishop of Sherborne, 709
The smallest things become great when God requires them of us; they are small only in themselves; they are always great when they are done for God, and when they serve to unite us with Him eternally.
... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Letters to Men and Women, P. Owen, 1957, p. 55
(see the book; see also Matt. 10:41-42; 18:3-5; 25:40; Mark 9:41; 12:42-44; Luke 6:35; John 6:9-13; Acts 11:29; 2 Cor. 8:12; 9:6; Heb. 6:10; more at Eternity, God, Greatness, Obedience, Unity)
Friday, May 26, 2023
Feast of Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, 605
Commemoration of Arthur John Gossip, Spiritual Writer, 1954
When a man is not troubled it is not hard for him to be fervent and devout, but if he bears up patiently in time of adversity, there is hope for great progress.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xiii.8, p. 49
(see the book; see also Rom. 5:3-4; Matt. 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23; Acts 5:41; Rom. 8:28; 15:3-4; 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 4:8-10,17; Phil. 1:27-28; Jas. 1:2-3; 2 Pet. 1:4-8; more at Adversity, Devotion, Patience, Progress, Trouble, Zeal)
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564
The most perfect way of seeking God, and the most suitable order, is not for us to attempt with bold curiosity to penetrate to the investigation of His essence, which we ought more to adore than meticulously to search out, but for us to contemplate Him in His works, whereby He renders Himself near and familiar to us, and in some manner communicates Himself.
... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, I.v.9, p. 65
(see the book; see also Ps. 111:2; Gen. 1:31; Ps. 8:3-4; 92:4-5; 104:24; 139:14; Eccl. 3:11,14; Jer. 10:12; Eph. 2:6-7; more at Contemplation, God, Knowing God, Search, Way)
Sunday, May 28, 2023
Pentecost
Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089
The dove descending breaks the airWith flame of incandescent terrorOf which the tongues declareThe one discharge from sin and error.The only hope, or else despairLies in the choice of pyre or pyre—To be redeemed from fire by fire.
Who then devised the torment? Love.Love is the unfamiliar NameBehind the hands that woveThe intolerable shirt of flameWhich human power cannot remove.We only live, only suspireConsumed by either fire or fire.
... T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), from Four Quartets, The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1952, p. 143-144
(see the book; see also John 1:23-33; Deut. 4:24; Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 2:2-3; Heb. 12:28-29; more at Despair, Fire, Flame, Holy Spirit, Hope, Love, Pentecost, Redemption, Sin, Terror)
Monday, May 29, 2023
You feed on Christ and then go and live your life, and it is Christ in you that lives your life, that helps the poor, that tells the truth, that fights the battle, and that wins the crown.
... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Candle of the Lord [1881], E. P Dutton & Co., New York, 1903, p. 246
(see the book; see also Col. 1:27; Luke 17:20-21; John 6:56; 14:20; Rom. 8:10; 1 Cor. 3:16; 9:25; Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17; 4:22-24; Col. 3:11; 2 Tim. 4:8; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; 1 John 4:4; Rev. 3:20; more at Battle, Christ, Fight, Life, Poverty, Truth)
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
To have heard the Bible speak is to be prepared not for maturity, balance, poise, riches, but for the poverty and distress and uncertainty of thought and action that are so desperately characteristic of human life. The Bible takes human mortality seriously, that mortality which the preacher does not hide from you even when you stand on the threshold of life. To wrestle with the theme of the Scriptures is your proper preparation for the rough things of human life, as we see it, and observe it, and are immersed in it. The Truth which is being spoken to you most clearly in the Scriptures is your only protection against cynicism and skepticism, just as it is your only protection against that false romanticism which is the modern cruel substitute for faith in God.
... Sir Edwyn C. Hoskyns (1884-1937), We are the Pharisees, London: SPCK, 1960, p. 8
(see the book; see also Isa. 40:6-8; Job 13:15; Ps. 90:5-6; 102:11-12; Matt. 24:35; 1 Cor. 1:20-21; Jas. 1:10-11; more at Bible, Faith, God, Life, Mortality, Poverty, Scripture, Thought, Truth, Uncertainty)
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Expressions of sharp and even violent criticism of religion and the church have been welcomed [in this collection], for they usually imply sincerity of thought. If caustic criticism of religious institutions and practices is irreligious, then Amos, Isaiah, and Jesus were very irreligious men. In fact, that is exactly what many of their contemporaries took them to be.
... Halford E. Luccock (1885-1960) & Frances Brentano, The Questing Spirit, New York: Coward-McCann, 1947, p. 42
(see the book; see also Isa. 1:13-17; 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16; Pr. 21:27; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:7-8; Matt. 9:13; 12:1-3; 23; 26:64-66; John 19:7; more at Bible, Church, Criticism, Jesus, Religion, Thought)
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