Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 We can all call to mind movements which have begun as pure read more

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 We can all call to mind movements which have begun as pure upsurges of fresh spiritual vitality, breaking through and revolting against the hardened structure of the older body, and claiming, in the name of the Spirit, liberty from outward forms and institutions. And we have seen how rapidly they develop their own forms, their own structures of thought, of language, and of organisation. It would surely be a very unbiblical view of human nature and history to think -- as we so often, in our pagan way, do -- that this is just an example of the tendency of all things to slide down from a golden age to an age of iron, to identify the spiritual with the disembodied, and to regard visible structure as equivalent to sin. We must rather recognise here a testimony to the fact that Christianity is, in its very heart and essence, not a disembodied spirituality, but life in a visible fellowship, a life which makes such total claim upon us, and so engages our total powers, that nothing less than the closest and most binding association of men with one another can serve its purpose. ... Lesslie Newbigin, The Household of God February 2, 2000 THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE Persons that are well affected to religion, that receive instructions of piety with pleasure and satisfaction, often wonder how it comes to pass that they make no greater progress in that religion which they so much admire. Now the reason of it is this: it is because religion lives only in their head, but something else has possession of their heart; and therefore they continue from year to year mere admirers and praisers of piety, without ever coming up to the reality and perfection of its precepts.

Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole read more

Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole of man's reason.

Holy Saturday When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a read more

Holy Saturday When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world.

Steadfastness in believing doth not exclude all temptations from without. When we say a tree is firmly rooted, we do read more

Steadfastness in believing doth not exclude all temptations from without. When we say a tree is firmly rooted, we do not say the wind never blows upon it.

If there had anywhere appeared in space Another place of refuge where to flee, Our hearts had read more

If there had anywhere appeared in space Another place of refuge where to flee, Our hearts had taken refuge from that place, And not with Thee. For we against creation's bars had beat Like prisoned eagles, through great worlds had sought Though but a foot of ground to plant our feet, Where Thou wert not. And only when we found in earth and air, In heaven or hell, that such might nowhere be That we could not flee from Thee anywhere, We fled to Thee.

Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812 Continuing a short series about the read more

Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812 Continuing a short series about the early church: The life of the early Church lay in constant intercommunication between all its parts; its health and growth were dependent on the free circulation of the life-blood of common thought and feeling. Hence it was firmly seated first on the great lines of communication across the empire, leading from its origin in Jerusalem to its imperial center in Rome. It had already struck root in Rome within little more than twenty years after the Crucifixion, and it had become really strong in the great city about thirty years after the Apostles began to look round and out from Jerusalem. This marvelous development was possible only because the seed of the new thought floated free on the main currents of communication, which were ever sweeping back and forward between the heart of the Empire and its outlying members. Paul, who mainly directed the great movement, threw himself boldly and confidently into the life of the time; he took the Empire as it was, accepted its political conformation and arrangement, and sought only to touch the spiritual and moral life of the people.

Feast of Harriet Monsell of Clewer, Religious, 1883 The fundamental note of the Old Testament, in other words, is read more

Feast of Harriet Monsell of Clewer, Religious, 1883 The fundamental note of the Old Testament, in other words, is revelation. Its seers and prophets are not men of philosophic mind, who have risen from the seen to the unseen and, by dint of much reflection, have gradually attained to elevated conceptions of Him who is the Author of all that is. They are men of God whom God has chosen, that He might speak to them and, through them, to His people. Israel has not, in and by them, created for itself a God: God has, through them, created for Himself a people.

I wish they would remember that the charge to Peter was "Feed my sheep", not "Try experiments on my rats", read more

I wish they would remember that the charge to Peter was "Feed my sheep", not "Try experiments on my rats", or even "Teach my performing dogs new tricks".

What else is the meaning of our present chaos, of humanity in sorrow, but this: that contemporary man is tried read more

What else is the meaning of our present chaos, of humanity in sorrow, but this: that contemporary man is tried before the bar of the Eternal, and found wanting? Nor can any nation survive, or re-establish lasting peace, if it rests on those foundations on which contemporary nations have been built, our own included. What are those crumbling foundations? Conceit, self-will, denial of discipline, self-expressionism, secularism, this worldliness, greed, entrenched privilege, defiance of God's desire. On base absurdities have we built. Have we now moral courage to face our common sin, or are we content to trust in one form of armed wickedness to overcome the evils of another form of the same mad folly? Merely by smashing our enemies we shall not remake the world. By Beelzebub no devils are cast out... (Continued tomorrow).