This Sunday’s readings: Luke 1:26-38

Reflections

He looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all round him laughing. ‘It seems, then,’ said Tirian, smiling to himself, ‘that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.’ ‘Yes,’ said the Lord Digory. ‘Its inside is bigger than its outside.’ ‘Yes,’ said Queen Lucy. ‘In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.’
~ C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

He Who sits upon the sublime and heavenly Throne, now lies in a manger. And He Who cannot be touched, Who is simple, without complexity, and incorporeal, now lies subject to the hands of men. He Who has broken the bonds of sinners, is now bound by an infant’s bands.
~ Cyril of Alexandria, 378-444, Patriarch of Alexandria

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A great man is always willing to be little.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We catch sight of a new key principle — the power of the Higher, just in so far as it is truly Higher, to come down, the power of the greater to include the less. Thus solid bodies exemplify many truths of plane geometry, but plane figures no truths of solid geometry: many inorganic propositions are true of organisms but no organic propositions are true of minerals; Montaigne became kittenish with his kitten but she never talked philosophy to him. Everywhere the great enters the little — its power to do so is almost the test of its greatness.
~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles

When the Christian faith is not only felt, but thought, it has practical results which may be inconvenient.
~ T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, British writer and social critic

The assumption that the human-divine encounter takes place primarily in the realm of ‘religious experience’… is challenged fundamentally by the heart of the Christian gospel. The earliest Christian…confession…[was] ‘Jesus is Lord’. And ‘Jesus is Lord’ was never merely a statement of personal devotion. It was an announcement of a decisive event of secular human history, that had universal, indeed cosmic implications….
~ Vinoth Ramachandra, Sri Lankan writer and human rights advocate

This Sunday’s readings: Matthew 11:7-15

Reflections

Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.
~ Mae West, 1893-1980, Actress/Playwright

You will never be entirely comfortable. This is the truth behind the champion – he is always fighting something. To do otherwise is to settle.
~ Julien Smith, 1971- , CEO, Author, The Flinch

We just wanna be the happy bums that we are. That’s all.
~ Mike Patton, musician

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Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens—they have their savings account. They don’t need God to help them—they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live—they have life figured and mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis—their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.
~ Francis Chan, Author/Preacher

All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.
~ Noam Chomsky, 1928- , Public Intellectual, ‘Father’ of modern Linguistics

Patty: I’ll be the good guy.
Shermy: I’ll be the bad guy.
Patty: What are you going to be, Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown: I’ll be sort of in-between; I’ll be a hypocrite!
~ Charles M. Schulz, The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 1: 1950-1952

“You all know,” said the Guide, “that security is mortals’ greatest enemy.”
~ C.S. Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress