Feast of Timothy and Titus, Companions of Paul Commemoration of Dorothy Kerin, Founder of the Burrswood Healing Community, 1963 read more

Feast of Timothy and Titus, Companions of Paul Commemoration of Dorothy Kerin, Founder of the Burrswood Healing Community, 1963 What knowledge of Jesus Christ and His teaching lay behind the flash of enlightenment it is now impossible for us to say: but it is clear that the God whom Paul met was the "Father" of Jesus' own Gospel parables, the Shepherd who goes after the one sheep until He finds it. It was the God, in fact, whom the whole of the life of Jesus set forth, to the astonishment of those among whom He moved. Loving still, He brought God to men in the same unmistakable way. The divine love that through Jesus had found the public an Zacchaeus had now through the risen Christ found Paul the Pharisee. Hence forward the central facts of life for Paul were that while he was yet a sinner God had found and forgiven him, and that this was the work of Jesus Christ, in whose love the love of God had become plain.

The shameful apostasy of Israel is unparalleled among the heathen nations of the world, God charges (Jer. 2:9-13). Search through read more

The shameful apostasy of Israel is unparalleled among the heathen nations of the world, God charges (Jer. 2:9-13). Search through every pagan nation, inquire in every idol temple, investigate the religious life of the idolaters of the world, and there will be found a fidelity to these false gods that will put Israel's unfaithfulness to her God to shame. Israel's conduct was unheard of even among the heathen. The idolatrous nations remained true to their gods, in spite of the fact that they did not actually exist and could not help them in any way. God, as it were, marvels at Israel's unbelief.

Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691 I apprehended it a Matter of great Necessity to imprint read more

Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691 I apprehended it a Matter of great Necessity to imprint true catholicism on the Minds of Christians, it being a most lamentable thing to observe how few Christians in the World there be, that fall not into one Sect or another .... And if they can but get to be of a Sect which they think the holiest (as the Anabaptists and the Separatists), or which is the largest (as the Greeks and the Romans), they think then that they are sufficiently warranted to deny others to be God's Church, or at least to deny them Christian love and communion.

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 First in a series on read more

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 First in a series on God and the human condition: Suffering is sometimes a mystery. We must affirm both the mystery and God. The paradox remained, but now, at least, Job knew that it belonged there -- that it is built into the moral and physical orders, and into the very nature of God as He has permitted us humans to perceive Him. In a world where the universal principle is cause/effect, the book of Job reminds us that the principle is a reflection of the mysterious, self-revealing God. It is subsumed under Him, however, and He cannot be subsumed under it. The God-speeches remind us that a Person, not a principle, is Lord.

Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866 Continuing a short series of verse on Christ: The day of resurrection! read more

Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866 Continuing a short series of verse on Christ: The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad; The passover of gladness, The passover of God. From death to life eternal, From this world to the sky, Our Christ hath brought us over With hymns of victory. Our hearts be pure from evil, That we may see aright The Lord in rays eternal Of resurrection light, And, list'ning to His accents, May hear, so calm and plain His own "All hail!" and, hearing, May raise the victor strain. Now let the heav'ns be joyful, Let earth her song begin, Let the round world keep triumph And all that is therein; Invisible and visible, Their notes let all things blend; For Christ the Lord has risen -- Our Joy that has no end.

Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist Modern Christianity is crucially weak at three vital points. The first read more

Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist Modern Christianity is crucially weak at three vital points. The first is its compromised, deficient understanding of revelation. Without Biblical historicity and veracity behind the Word of God, theology can only grow closer to Hinduism. Second, the modern Christian is drastically weak in an unmediated, persona. experiential knowledge of God. Often, what passes for religious experience is a communal emotion felt in church services, in meetings, in singing or contrived fellowship. Few Christians would know God on their own. Third, the modern church is often pathetically feeble in the expression of its focal principle of community. It has become an adult social club, preaching shop, or minister-dominated group. With these weaknesses, modern Christianity cannot hope to understand why people have turned to the East, let alone stand against the trend and offer an alternative.

If we are honest, we freely admit that the Christian system involves difficulties; but so does every other system. No read more

If we are honest, we freely admit that the Christian system involves difficulties; but so does every other system. No thoughtful person gives up a position merely because he finds difficulties in it; he does not abandon it until he is able to find other and alternative systems with fewer difficulties... I learned from my professors of philosophy... that, while philosophy might not provide me with a watertight intellectual defense of the Christian faith, it would, if used aright, help me to reveal the weakness of its enemies. By careful analysis it is possible to see that there are glaring weaknesses and non-sequiturs in atheism, naturalism, positivism, scientism, and psychologism. The Christian must be a fighter, for he is always under attack. The Church will not be as strong as it ought to be until each local pastor uses his precious freedom from outside employment in order to become a scholarly participant in the intellectual struggle of our day and generation.

Feast of the Naming & Circumcision of Jesus The blessed son of God only In a crib full poor did read more

Feast of the Naming & Circumcision of Jesus The blessed son of God only In a crib full poor did lie; With our poor flesh and our poor blood Was clothed that everlasting good The Lord Christ Jesu, God's son dear, Was a guest and a stranger here; Us for to bring from misery, That we might live eternally. All this did he for us freely, For to declare his great mercy; All Christendom be merry therefore, And give him thanks for evermore.

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Faith is rest, not toil. It is read more

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Faith is rest, not toil. It is the giving up all the former weary efforts to do or feel something good, in order to induce God to love and pardon; and the calm reception of the truth so long rejected, that God is not waiting for any such inducements, but loves and pardons of His own goodwill, and is showing that goodwill to any sinner who will come to Him on such a footing, casting away his own poor performances or goodnesses, and relying implicitly upon the free love of Him who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.