Photo of the Week

Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from heaven,

Like the first dewfall on the first grass.

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,

Sprung in completeness where His feet pass.

- from a hymn by Eleanor Farjeon

Quote of the Week

"We need to repent of the haughty way in which we sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture and must learn to sit humbly under its judgments instead. If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God's, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior."

- John Stott

A Prayer from Thomas Cranmer

Blessed Lord,

who hast caused all holy Scriptures

to be written for our learning: 

Grant that we may in such wise hear them,

read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word,

we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Church History: From Persecution to Christian Empire (3rd-4th centuries)

(Click here for the church history series page)

Lecture: From Persecution to Christian Empire

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

Lecture Notes Outline

The Age of Persecution (mid-3rd – early 4th century)
     - Decian persecution
     - Rapid growth of Christianity in all social classes
     - Developments in Christian worship & practice
     - The Great Persecution

The Constantinian Revolution
     - Constantine’s conversion & rise to power
     - Christianity’s initial growth as a legal religion
     - The roots of monasticism

The First Trinitarian Debate: On the Son
     - The challenge of Arianism
     - Athanasius’ defense of orthodoxy
     - The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) – the first ecumenical council

The Evangeliad (28:1-4)

(Click here for an introduction and previous installments of the Evangeliad)

Section 28:1-4 (corresponding to John 7:2-5)

The time of year turned to the Feast of Booths,

When Israelites, from elders to youths,

Made pilgrimage upward to Zion's slopes

And around the city made tents their homes.

Now Jesus' brothers, who had their doubts

On the way that Jesus was going about

Presenting his claims to be the Christ-king

Amid small-town, backwater happenings,

Urged him to travel on up to the feast,

Saying, "Go to Judea; there, at least,

Your disciples can see your deeds among crowds;

You can't whisper soft and be heard aloud.

If you're going to do this, do it right,

Out there in public, yes, out in the light!

If Messiah is here, God's plan unfurled,

Then surely he'd show himself to the world!"

Photo of the Week

 

Magnificent, marvelous, matchless love,

Too vast and astounding to tell,

Forever existing in worlds above,

Now offered and given to all.

Oh, fountain of beauty eternal:

The Father, the Spirit, the Son,

Sufficient and endlessly generous--

Magnificent, marvelous, matchless love!

Creation is brimming with thankfulness,

The mountains, exultant they stand;

The seasons rejoice in Your faithfulness,

All life is sustained by Your hand.

You crown every meadow with color;

You paint every shade in the sky;

Each day the dawn wakes as an encore of

Magnificent, marvelous, matchless love.

- from a hymn by Matt Papa

Quote of the Week

"Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind."

- Cicero