The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle The defenders of the Jargon and phrases of the Church's tradition hold that read more

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle The defenders of the Jargon and phrases of the Church's tradition hold that there must of necessity be a specialized vocabulary, just as there is in any other specialized form of human activity, whether it is music, architecture, or electronic engineering. To me, at least, this is a thoroughly unsound argument, for Christ did not come into the world to bring men "specialized activity," but life, fuller and more satisfying than it had been ever before. If the churches have made Christianity appear to be some kind of specialized spiritual performance so much the worse for them. The real purpose of Christ, the real relevance of the Gospel, is surely to enable men to live together as sons of God. Human beings, like children, love to have secrets, love to be "in the know." But the Christian religion was never meant to be a secret recipe for living, held by a few. It is Good News for all mankind and, because it is that, the more clearly and intelligibly it can be presented, the more faithfully it is following its Master's purpose.

Commemoration of Margery Kempe, Mystic, after 1433 Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a read more

Commemoration of Margery Kempe, Mystic, after 1433 Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a Christian experience. We think we are doing our duty when we're only talking about it.

He may effect us directly by His Spirit, with the force of a thunderbolt, or He may choose to woo read more

He may effect us directly by His Spirit, with the force of a thunderbolt, or He may choose to woo us gently by stirring up our conscience. But, in addition, God affects us by determining that in the universe certain causes shall bring about certain effects. Cause and effect is, therefore, the operation of God through normal channels rather than through special channels. We have our normal way of acting when we drive a car. We can more or less put it in "automatic pilot" while we carry on a conversation, but when an emergency arises, we take conscious personal control. I have a hunch that God has something for which this automatic pilot will serve as an illustration. That is, His routine way of operating is cause and effect, and He is in control of it, so that when cause and effect affects us, then God is affecting us. That is what the Apostle Paul means in Galatians when he says, "Do not kid yourself -- God is not blind. What you do, you will get paid for." The causes which we have set in operation by our own personal choices will inevitably bring about certain results. But God is involved because God makes cause and effect to work. [Continued tomorrow].

Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389 Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, read more

Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389 Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, Staretz, 1833 The fool for Christ holds a prophetic role in Christianity, from the early church to Russian Orthodox "pilgrims" and such later fools as Luther, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky, who were seekers after the true, the good, the holy, the beautiful. They were insane -- not in a clinical sense, but in the madness of the Holy, an insanity which ordinary sanity refuses to admit.

Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550 And have the bright immensities received our risen Lord Where read more

Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550 And have the bright immensities received our risen Lord Where light-years frame the Pleiades and point Orion's sword? Do flaming suns his footsteps trace through corridors sublime, The Lord of interstellar space and Conqueror of time? The heaven that hides Him from our sight knows neither near nor far: An altar candle sheds its light as surely as a star; And where His loving people meet to share the gift divine, There stands He with unhurrying feet, and Heaven's splendors shine.

It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so read more

It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment; and nothing remained, but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule.

The sincere student of Scripture cannot avoid the truth of God's choice of individuals from among the sinful race of read more

The sincere student of Scripture cannot avoid the truth of God's choice of individuals from among the sinful race of men. We may not understand this, but we must never deny it. Scripture is filled with this great truth: it is not an isolated doctrine of the Word.

If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a soul in bondage, instead of read more

If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a soul in bondage, instead of caring only that it be delivered; if I nurse my disappointment when I fail, instead of asking that another the word of release may be given, then I know nothing of Calvary love.