Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem
“Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love
…Salvation belongs to the LORD”
— Jonah 2:8-9
“My people have committed two sins:
they have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
— Jeremiah 2: 13
“I never wanted to follow Jesus.
I never wanted to follow Jesus.
I never wanted to follow Jesus.
He rescued me; He rescued me.
No turning back, No turning back.”
— Red Mountain Music
I arise today; Through the strength of Heaven,
Light of the sun, Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightening, Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea, Stability of the Earth, Firmness of the rock.
I arise today, Through God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me, Afar and near, Alone or in a multitude.
Christ shield me today, against wounding,
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in in the ear that hears me.
I arise today, Through the mighty strength,
Of the Lord of creation.
—Prayer of St. Patrick
No awesome thing in creation was meant to give you what only the Creator is able to give. Every awesome thing in creation is designed to point you to the One who alone is worthy of capturing and controlling the awe of your searching and hungry heart…. If awesome things in creation become your god, the God who created those things will not own your awe. Horizontal awe is meant to do one thing: stimulate vertical awe.—Paul Tripp, Awe
Even when it makes no sense to sing
Louder then I’ll sing your praise
—Hillsong United, “Even When It Hurts”
I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.—C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationships, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us.”—N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, 237.
“Only under great duress does a religious person admit they have sinned—because their only hope is their moral goodness. But in the gospel, the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won’t be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness). Our hope is in Christ’s righteousness, not our own—so it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion, we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel, the more and more often we will be repenting. And though, of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you are able to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions of your sin. The sin under all other sins is a lack of joy in Christ.”—Tim Keller, All of Life is Repentance
“Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationships, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us.”—N.T Wright, Simply Christian, 237.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” —Isaiah 61:1-3
The glory of God is man fully alive. —Saint Irenaeus
The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it. —Wallace Stevens
You are never a great man when you have more mind than heart. —Beauchene
Wallowing in shame, remorse, self-hatred, and guilt over real or imagined failings in our past lives … shows that we have not accepted the acceptance of Jesus Christ and thus have rejected the total sufficiency of his redeeming work … In order to grow in trust, we must allow God to see us and love us precisely as we are. The best way to do that is through prayer. As we pray, the unrestricted love of God gradually transforms us. —Brennan Manning
“I am very easy of belief when the Creed pleases me.”—Charlotte Bronte
“We carry a terrible wound: alienation from our embodied life. Your flesh shall become a great poem.”—Walt Whitman
Almost everyone is acutely aware of how the incessant clamorings of their body defeat their intentions to “be spiritual.” The Apostle Paul explains that, “The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” (Gal. 5:17) And Jesus’s words, “The spirit is willing but the body is weak”, are generally accepted as a final verdict on what human life must be like until we escape the body through death.
On the other hand, if the body is simply beyond redemption, then ordinary life is too. Many Christians seem prepared to accept this — at least in practice. But then “spiritual formation” really becomes impossible. That would be a defeat of major proportions for Christ’s cause, and could never be reconciled with the call to godly living that both permeates the Bible from end to end and resonates with the deep-seated human need to live as one ought. —Dallas Willard, The Human Body and Spiritual Growth
“The most precious part of each day for me is the 30-40 minutes I spend each morning before breakfast with the Bible. All the rest of the day I am bombarded with the stories the world is telling about itself. As I take time to immerse myself in the story the Bible tells, my vision is cleared, and I see things in another way. I see the day that lies ahead in its place in God’s story.” —Lesslie Newbigin
“The crisis in the U.S. church has almost nothing to do with being liberal or conservative; it has everything to do with giving up on the faith and discipline of our Christian baptism and settling for a common, generic U.S. identity that is part patriotism, part consumerism, part violence, and part affluence.” —Walter Brueggemann
“If the Gospel is about anything, it is about a God who meets us where we are, and not where we ought to be.” —Robert Farrar Capon
When opponents do their worst, and we’re still standing for Christ, that is “a clear sign,” a prophetic warning, that God is with us. For example, when the Empress Eudoxia, in the fourth century, threatened John Chrysostom with banishment, he told her, “You cannot banish me, for this world is my Father’s house.” “But I will kill you,” she said. “No, you cannot, for my life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Then I will take away your treasures.” “No, you cannot, for my treasure is in heaven, and my heart is there.” “But I will drive you away from your friends, and you will have no one left.” “No, you cannot, for I have a friend in heaven from whom you cannot separate me. I defy you, for there is nothing you can do to harm me.”—Ray Ortlund
“There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.”—Charles Spurgeon
“It is said of God that no one can behold his face and live. I always thought this meant that no one could see his splendor and live. A friend said perhaps it meant that no one could see his sorrow and live. Or perhaps his sorrow is splendor.
And great mystery: to redeem our brokenness and lovelessness the God who suffers with us did not strike some mighty blow of power but sent his beloved son to suffer like us, through his suffering to redeem us from suffering and evil.
Instead of explaining our suffering God shares it.”—Nicholas Wolterstorff
Repentance creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you are able to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions of your sin. The sin under all other sins is a lack of joy in Christ.—Tim Keller
Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love. So discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than of knowing and believing. Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all—a vision encapsulated by the shorthand “the kingdom of God.” Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves.—James K.A. Smith
Hupomonē is not the grim patience which resignedly accepts things, and which bows its head when troubles flow over it. Hupomonē is the courageous gallantry which accepts suffering and hardship and loss and turns them into grace and glory.—William Barclay
