Luther on struggling with Satan
"We must not imagine that we shall have peace from [Satan.] He takes no vacation and does not sleep. Choose, then, whether you prefer to wrestle with the devil or whether you prefer to belong to him."
-- Martin Luther, 1527 (AE 37:17)
Photo by Anandu Vinod on Unsplash
Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation (1863)
In 1863, to a nation deeply divided along cultural and political lines, to a country wracked by hundreds of thousands of casualties from an endless civil war, to a people who must've wondered if their beloved United States was on the very brink of collapse, Abraham Lincoln called the American public to a day of thanksgiving and . . .
"Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus." [link]
N.T. Wright via TIME magazine
N.T. Wright is an Anglican New Testament professor and prolific writer. Most recently, he published a piece at TIME magazine online titled, "Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It's Not Supposed To."
In contrast to the Pentecostal and Fundamentalist Baptist types who argue that COVID-19 is punishment . . .
Luther on casting burdens upon the Lord
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you..." Ps 55.22
Whoever desires to be a Christian must learn to believe this, and to exercise this faith in all his affairs, in physical and in spiritual things, in doing and in suffering, in living and dying, and to cast aside all anxious thoughts and care and throw them cheerfully off. Yet he must not throw them into a corner, as some have . . .
Luther on waiting for God
"I wait for the Lord." Psalm 130.5
There are some people who want to show God the goal and to determine the time and the manner and at the same time suggest how they wish to be helped; and if things do not turn out as they wish, they become faint-hearted, or, if they can, they seek help elsewhere. They do not wait upon God, rather God should wait for them and be . . .
Christians are 'peculiar'...
Kate Tristram on the faithful odd
We are 'peculiar.' We have chosen not to go with the majority. We shall pray and reflect on the life of Christ: most people don't do this. We shall worship and receive God's gifts in His sacraments: most people don't do this. We shall be in a minority: we shall be odd.
Kate Tristam, quoted in Celtic . . .
