Just suppose members of our churches were voted on, like the members of certain civic clubs. Suppose three unexcused absences read more

Just suppose members of our churches were voted on, like the members of certain civic clubs. Suppose three unexcused absences required that the individual's name be automatically dropped from the roll, and he could be reinstated only by special vote of the body. Suppose absences from services had to be made up by attending services in some other place, or by carrying out some special project. Suppose church members had to be re-elected to membership each year, and that their attendance and participation in the program of activities determined how the vote went. Oh, well -- just suppose. ... from The Baptist Messenger September 16, 2002 Feast of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, 258 Commemoration of Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts, c. 430 Commemoration of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, tractarian, 1882 This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden, under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see--brigands on the high roads, pirates on the seas; in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds; under all roofs misery and selfishness. It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasures of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians -- and I am one of them.

In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.

In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Religion is the possibility of the removal of read more

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone.

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Now the great thing is this: we are read more

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Now the great thing is this: we are consecrated and dedicated to God in order that we may thereafter think, speak, meditate, and do, nothing except to his glory. For a sacred thing may not be applied to profane uses without marked injury to him.

Feast of Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, Spiritual Writer, 1626 Commemoration of Sergius of Radonezh, Russian Monastic Reformer, Teacher, 1392 read more

Feast of Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, Spiritual Writer, 1626 Commemoration of Sergius of Radonezh, Russian Monastic Reformer, Teacher, 1392 It may seem an anachronism to speak of "the relation of the ordained ministry towards the Church" ... when we are only thinking about St. Paul and his converts. Was there really an ordained ministry as early as that? We need not argue about whether, or how, St. Paul was ordained, but he certainly considered that he and his fellow workers had a special pastoral relation to their converts.... St. Paul was primarily a missionary, which in itself establishes a link with the Servant of the Lord. As a missionary, he was not working on his own, but was supported by a group of assistants without whose help he could never have carried on his work. We know the names of many of them... But there were many more whose names we do not know, sometimes referred to as "the brethren" (e.g., in I Cor. 16:11). This missionary group with St. Paul as its leader is the New Testament equivalent of the ordained ministry of today, and it is significant for us that St. Paul describes this group as carrying out in some sense the work of servants in the Church.

The Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind.

The Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind.

If by fate anyone means the will or power of God, let him keep his meaning but mend his language: read more

If by fate anyone means the will or power of God, let him keep his meaning but mend his language: for fate commonly means a necessary process which will have its way apart from the will of God and of men.

"The Kingdom of Heaven", said the Lord Christ, "is among you." But what, precisely, is the Kingdom of Heaven? You read more

"The Kingdom of Heaven", said the Lord Christ, "is among you." But what, precisely, is the Kingdom of Heaven? You cannot point to existing specimens, saying, "Lo, here!" or "Lo, there!" You can only experience it. But what is it like, so that when we experience it we may recognize it? Well, it is a change, like being born again and relearning everything from the start. It is secret, living power -- like yeast. It is something that grows, like seed. It is precious like buried treasure, like a rich pearl, and you have to pay for it. It is a sharp cleavage through the rich jumble of things which life presents: like fish and rubbish in a draw-net, like wheat and tares; like wisdom and folly; and it carries with it a kind of menacing finality; it is new, yet in a sense it was always there -- like turning out a cupboard and finding there your own childhood as well as your present self; it makes demands, it is like an invitation to a royal banquet -- gratifying, but not to be disregarded, and you have to live up to it; where it is equal, it seems unjust; where it is just it is clearly not equal -- as with the single pound, the diverse talents, the labourers in the vineyard, you have what you bargained for; it knows no compromise between an uncalculating mercy and a terrible justice -- like the unmerciful servant, you get what you give; it is helpless in your hands like the King's Son, but if you slay it, it will judge you; it was from the foundations of the world; it is to come; it is here and now; it is within you. It is recorded that the multitudes sometimes failed to understand.

Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community, 1637 The conduct of disputation by verbal read more

Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community, 1637 The conduct of disputation by verbal brickbat, by innuendo, and by light-fingered intellectual dexterity, is a mordant reminder of the time when controversies were settled by faggot and sword. The truth is hardly less the loser because the inquisitor has altered his methods. All of us who seek to explore the wide reaches of God's revelation, and strive to bring the thinking of others under the domination of Christ, do well to seek first to bring our own rhetorical techniques under that same dominion -- under the discipline, that is, of love.