It seems that Paul is here [I Cor. 4:2] outlining the very ultimate degree of Christ's self-identification with us, the read more

It seems that Paul is here [I Cor. 4:2] outlining the very ultimate degree of Christ's self-identification with us, the very lowest point to which he condescended when he took the form of a slave. He allowed himself (God allowed him) to be accounted sin by the Law. He refused to do what orthodox Jews of his day thought God had commanded them to do, (i.e.) seek to gain credit with God by keeping the Law. He lived by faith, not Law, and therefore repudiated the Law and the path of self-justification.... He stripped himself even of that claim to moral goodness which would have distinguished him from sinners. Short of becoming a sinner (and Paul shows that this idea is repudiated), how could God come closer to us sinners?

Commemoration of Charles Williams, Spiritual Writer, 1945 Come to the Bible, not to study the history of God's read more

Commemoration of Charles Williams, Spiritual Writer, 1945 Come to the Bible, not to study the history of God's divine action, but to be its object; not to learn what it has achieved throughout the centuries and still does, but simply to be the subject of its operation.

I read in Shakespeare of the majesty of the moral law, in Victor Hugo of the sacredness of childhood, in read more

I read in Shakespeare of the majesty of the moral law, in Victor Hugo of the sacredness of childhood, in Tennyson the ugliness of hypocrisy, in George Eliot the supremacy of duty, in Dickens the divinity of kindness, and in Ruskin the dignity of service. Irving teaches me the lesson of cheerfulness, Hawthorne shows me the hatefulness of sin, Longfellow gives me the soft, tranquil music of hope. Lowell makes us feel that we must give ourselves to our fellow men. Whittier sings to me of divine Fatherhood and human brotherhood. These are Christian lessons: who inspired them? Who put it into the heart of Martin Luther to nail those theses on the church door of Wittenberg? Who stirred and fired the soul of Savonarola? Who thrilled and electrified the soul of John Wesley? Jesus Christ is back of these all.

Can we believe that God ever really modifies His action in response to the suggestions of men? For infinite wisdom read more

Can we believe that God ever really modifies His action in response to the suggestions of men? For infinite wisdom does not need telling what is best, and infinite goodness needs no urging to do it. But neither does God need any of those things that are done by finite agents, whether living or inanimate. He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and butchers, or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows soils and weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills of men to cooperate in the execution of His will... It is not really stranger, nor less strange, that my prayers should affect the course of events than that my other actions should do so. They have not advised or changed God' s mind -- that is, His overall purpose. But that purpose will be realized in different ways according to the actions, including the prayers, of His creatures.

Continuing a short series on Romans 8: [Of vv. 14-17] For the Spirit we have received read more

Continuing a short series on Romans 8: [Of vv. 14-17] For the Spirit we have received is the Spirit of the Son of God, and we possessing it are God's sons too, and "that of God in us" leaps out towards the God who is the source of it. The Spirit of Jesus within us moves us to prayer: indeed, prayer is just the moving of God's Son in us towards the Father. Though we are burdened with the greatness of our need, so that our prayers are not even articulate, yet in such "inarticulate sighs" the Spirit "intercedes for us.".

Feast of Hugh, Carthusian Monk, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200 We are not only to renounce evil, but to read more

Feast of Hugh, Carthusian Monk, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200 We are not only to renounce evil, but to manifest the truth. We tell people the world is vain; let our lives manifest that it is so. We tell them that our home is above and that all these things are transitory. Does our dwelling look like it? O to live consistent lives!

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.

This is the irrational season Where love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason There'd have been read more

This is the irrational season Where love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason There'd have been no room for the child.

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.