Sunday November 13, 2022 — Fall Series — Knowing God: God’s Righteousness

This Sunday’s readings: Psalm 19:1-14

Reflections

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
~ Aristotle, 384-322 BC

Past secular creeds were built on the 18th-century enlightenment view of man as an autonomous, rational creature who could reason his way to virtue.
~ David Brooks, The New York Times, 2-3-2015

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
~ Voltaire (1694-1778), French Enlightenment philosopher

It is not enough to be delivered from sin; it is enough to be delivered to righteousness.
~ Edwin Louis Cole, 1922-2002, Author, Founder CMM

Despite the frequent claim that we are living in a secular age defined by the death of God, many citizens in rich Western democracies have merely switched one notion of God for another—abandoning their singular, omnipotent (Christian or Judaic or whatever) deity reigning over all humankind and replacing it with a weak but all-pervasive idea of spirituality tied to a personal ethic of authenticity and a liturgy of inwardness … At the heart of the ethic of authenticity is a profound selfishness and callous disregard of others.
~ Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster in The NY Times, June 29, 2013

Sunday November 6, 2022 — Fall Series — Knowing God: God’s Grace

Reflections

Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
~ Saint Augustine

Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks.
~ Frederick Buechner, 1926-2022, Author and Pastor

How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it.
~ G.K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, English writer and journalist

All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.
~ Flannery O’Connor, 1925-1964, Author/Essayist

I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.
~ A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963, American author and Pastor

This Sunday’s readings: Ephesians 2:1-10