Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901 Be not afraid to pray... to pray is right. Pray read more

Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901 Be not afraid to pray... to pray is right. Pray if thou canst with hope; but ever pray Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay. Whatever is good to wish, ask that of heaven; But if for any wish thou darest not pray, Then pray to God to cast that wish away.

Welcome! all Wonders in one sight! Eternity shut in a span. Summer in winter, day in night, read more

Welcome! all Wonders in one sight! Eternity shut in a span. Summer in winter, day in night, Heaven in earth, and God in man. Great little one! whose all-embracing birth Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heav'n to earth!

Feast of Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, Archbishop of Mainz, Apostle of Germany, Martyr, 754 There are... few stronger read more

Feast of Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, Archbishop of Mainz, Apostle of Germany, Martyr, 754 There are... few stronger indications of ignorance of the power and evil of sin than the confident assertion of our ability to resist and subdue it.

Feast of Jawani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977 Continuing a short series on forgiveness: As the veil read more

Feast of Jawani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977 Continuing a short series on forgiveness: As the veil of the temple was, at the death of the Saviour, rent asunder, in the same way our communion with the Crucified puts aside all the curtains separating us artificially from the rest of the world, and removes all sense of privilege and exclusiveness. It is this explanation of justification by faith only which leads us to the true depth of what the Gospel has contributed to this world. To live by grace and to die by grace, to live in forgiveness every day, every hour and every moment, means to identify oneself with those who do not share our faith, and to realize all the debts we owe them. Let us not be afraid that this will reduce the Gospel to relativism. Its depth is in proportion to its breadth. The deeper it is, the broader and fuller it becomes.

Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170 Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains read more

Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170 Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose. Oh, that God would make me more fruitful and spiritual.

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933 If the appetite alone hath read more

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933 If the appetite alone hath sinned, let it alone fast, and it sufficeth. But if the other members also have sinned, why should they not fast, too... Let the eye fast from strange sights and from every wantonness, so that that which roamed in freedom in fault-doing may, abundantly humbled, be checked by penitence. Let the ear, blameably eager to listen, fast from tales and rumors, and from whatsoever is of idle import, and tendeth least to salvation. Let the tongue fast from slanders and murmurings, and from useless, vain, and scurrilous words, and sometimes also, in the seriousness of silence, even from things which may seem of essential import. Let the hand abstain from ... all toils which are not imperatively necessary. But also let the soul herself abstain from all evils and from acting out her own will. For without such abstinence the other things find no favor with the Lord.

Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203 We may look into a church, almost any read more

Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203 We may look into a church, almost any church, and discover someone who, though he is offered a gospel of love, must subtly convert it into a gospel of hate before he can receive it. The gospel of love -- with its emphasis upon brotherhood, equality before God, the dignity of every human being, and man's social responsibility toward man -- does not satisfy the lack that he urgently feels. That calls for something altogether different, for an assurance that he is superior, that he is right where others are wrong -- a kind of cosmic teacher's pet.

Wonder not then that all the true followers of Christ, the saints of every age, have so gloried in the read more

Wonder not then that all the true followers of Christ, the saints of every age, have so gloried in the cross of Christ, have imputed such great things to it, have desired nothing so much as to be partakers of it, to live in constant union with it. It is because His sufferings, His death and cross, were the fulness of His victory over all the works of the devil. Not an evil in flesh and blood, not a misery of life, not a chain of death, not a power of hell and darkness, but were all baffled, broken, and overcome by the process of a suffering and dying Christ. Well, therefore, may the cross of Christ be the glory of Christians!

But, you object, a heart like mine can offer Christ so little -- at best, so poor and pinched and read more

But, you object, a heart like mine can offer Christ so little -- at best, so poor and pinched and stingey a hospitality and such meagre fare; for I have nothing worthy of Him to set before Him, only a kind of affection, real enough at times, but which, at others, can and does so easily forget; only a will, quite unreliable, deplorably unstable; only a faith that is the merest shadow of what His real friends mean when they speak about faith, I know. But, there was once a garret up under the roof, a poor, bare place enough. There was a table in it, and there were some benches, and a water-pot; a towel, and a basin in behind the door, but not much else -- a bare, unhomelike room. But the Lord Christ entered into it. And, from that moment, it became the holiest of all, where souls innumerable ever since have met the Lord God, in High glory, face to face. And, if you give Him entrance to that very ordinary heart of yours, it too He will transform and sanctify and touch with a splendour of glory.