Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 How wonderful it is -- is it not? -- read more

Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 How wonderful it is -- is it not? -- that literally only Christianity has taught us the true place and function of suffering. The Stoics tried the hopeless little game of denying its objective reality, or of declaring it a good in itself (which it never is); and the Pessimists attempted to revel in it, as a food to their melancholy, and as something that can no more be transformed than it can be avoided or explained. But Christ came, and He did not really explain it; He did far more: He met it, willed it, transformed it; and He taught us to do all this -- or, rather, He Himself does it within us, if we do not hinder the all-healing hands.

We love orthodoxy. It is good. It is the best. It is the clean, clear cut teaching of God's Word, read more

We love orthodoxy. It is good. It is the best. It is the clean, clear cut teaching of God's Word, the trophies won by truth in its conflict with error, the levees which faith has raised against the desolating floods of honest or reckless misbelief or unbelief; but orthodoxy, clear and hard as crystal, suspicious and militant, may be but the letter well shaped, well named, and well learned, the letter which kills. Nothing is so dead as a dead orthodoxy -- too dead to speculate, too dead to think, to study, or to pray.

Pentecost Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 INSCRIPTION FOR A PULPIT "The hungry sheep look up, and are not read more

Pentecost Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 INSCRIPTION FOR A PULPIT "The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed." The hungry sheep, that crave the living Bread. Grow few, and lean, and feeble as can be, When fed not Gospel, but philosophy; Not Love's eternal story, no, not this, But apt allusion, keen analysis. Discourse well framed -- forgot as soon as heard -- Man's thin dilution of the living Word. O Preacher, leave the rhetorician's arts; Preach Christ, the Food of hungry human hearts; Hold fast to science, history, or creed, But preach the Answer to our human need, That in this place, at least, it may be said No hungry sheep looks up and is not fed.

At the earlier Methodist class meetings, members were expected every week to answer some extremely personal questions, such as the read more

At the earlier Methodist class meetings, members were expected every week to answer some extremely personal questions, such as the following: Have you experienced any particular temptations during the past week? How did you react or respond to those temptations ? Is there anything you are trying to keep secret, and, if so, what? At this point, the modern Christian swallows hard! We are often coated with a thick layer of reserve and modesty which covers "a multitude of sins" -- usually our own. Significantly, James 5:16-20, the original context of that phrase, is the passage which urges, "Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.".

Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304 Most Christians are affected far more than they know by the read more

Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304 Most Christians are affected far more than they know by the standards and methods of the surrounding world. In these days when power and size and speed are almost universally admired, it seems to me particularly important to study afresh the "weakness", the "smallness of entry", and the "slowness" of God as He begins His vast work of reconstructing His disordered world. We are all tempted to take short cuts, to work for quick results, and to evade painful sacrifice. It is therefore essential that we should look again at love incarnate in a human being, to see God Himself at work within the limitations of human personality, and to base our methods on what we see Him do.

Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 When they inquire into predestination, they are penetrating the sacred read more

Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 When they inquire into predestination, they are penetrating the sacred precincts of divine wisdom. If anyone with carefree assurance breaks into this place, he will not succeed in satisfying his curiosity and he will enter a labyrinth from which he can find no exit. For it is not right for man unrestrainedly to search out things that the Lord has willed to be hidden in Himself; nor is it right for him to investigate from eternity that sublime wisdom, which God would have us revere but not understand, in order that through this also He should fill us with wonder. He has set forth by His Word the secrets of His will that He has decided to reveal to us. These He decided to reveal in so far as He foresaw that they would concern and benefit us.

Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851 Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965 read more

Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851 Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965 The renewal of our natures is a work of great importance. It is not to be done in a day. We have not only a new house to build up, but an old one to pull down. ... George Whitefield, letter [Thanks to Bill Blake at [email protected]] September 7, 2000 Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957 There are three lessons I would write, Three words, as with a burning pen, In tracings of eternal light, Upon the hearts of men. Have Hope. Though clouds environ round, And gladness hides her face in scorn, Put off the shadow from thy brow: No night but hath its morn. Have Faith. Where'er thy bark is driven - The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth - Know this: God rules the hosts of heaven, The inhabitants of earth. Have Love. Not love alone for one, But man, as man, thy brother call; And scatter, like a circling sun, Thy charities on all. ... Friedrich von Schiller September 8, 2000 Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before.

Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397 Doctrinal rightness and rightness of ecclesiastical position are important, but read more

Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397 Doctrinal rightness and rightness of ecclesiastical position are important, but only as a starting point to go on into a living relationship -- and not as ends in themselves.

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr Lord of all pots and pans and things, since I've no time to be read more

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr Lord of all pots and pans and things, since I've no time to be A saint by doing lovely things, or watching late with Thee, Or dreaming in the dawn-light, or storming Heaven's gates, Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates. Although I must have Martha's hands, I have a Mary mind, And when I black the boots and shoes, Thy sandals, Lord, I find. I think of how they trod the earth, what time I scrub the floor: Accept this meditation, Lord, I haven't time for more. Warm all the kitchen with Thy love, and light it with Thy peace; Forgive me all my worrying, and make my grumbling cease. Thou who didst love to give men food, in room or by the sea, Accept this service that I do -- I do it unto Thee.