Archive for December, 2009

Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you. Deuteronomy 16:16-17

“Each man was to bring a gift because the keynote of each of the festivals was the joyful expression of thanks for God’s rich spiritual and material blessings experienced in the past and the present. The gifts to the LORD were to be proportionate to the people’s blessings.”

Jack S. Deere on Deuteronomy 16:16-17 in The Bible Knowledge Commentary.

For all the blessings of the year,

For all the friends we hold so dear,

For peace on earth, both far and near,

We thank Thee, Lord.

For life and health, those common things,

Which every day and hour brings,
For home,
where our affection clings,

We thank Thee, Lord.

For love of Thine, which never tires,

Which all our better thought inspires,

And warms our lives with heavenly fires,

We thank Thee, Lord.

Hymn by Albert H. Hutchinson

“Therefore dearly beloved, the rust is the worm which seeks alone to possess the recesses of the human heart. The worm is envy and avarice. But the thief is the devil. Believe this. To lay his plots against good deeds, he flatters us with the pomp of the world. To keep a man from sharing in the heavenly kingdom, he puts gold in his hands, silver before his eyes, and gems about his neck. In this way he nourishes pride and by the goad of covetousness enkindles the desires of the flesh.”

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:9

Valerian of Cimiez, 5th century monk of Lerins, homilist and Bishop of Cimiez from Homily 7.3 on 1 Tim 6:9 in The Good Works Reader, ed. by Thomas C. Oden (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2007) 306.

“There is no compelling necessity for you to store up large earthly treasures for your children. You would do better to make your offspring treasures of God than make them richer in worldly goods.”

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Salvian (c. 400-429) from The Four Books of Timothy to the Church 1.4 and Mark 10:25 in The Good Works Reader, ed. by Thomas C. Oden (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2007) 302.

“The incarnate Lord knew what it was to be rich, incomparably so, but he came into the world as the poor, the child, the outcast, the refugee. He showed humanity the path of self-denial. The crucified Lord shared our human weakness, even unto death. He sent the Holy Spirit to help us grow to full maturity as persons. He calls each of us to use rightly the gifts we have received.

We have been asking how the ancient church understood the ministries to the affluent that they were actually offering. The answer we found not only in their letters, poetry, hymnody, and homilies, but also in their detailed exegesis of scripture texts on wealth, coveting, temptation, philanthropy, the fleeting, value of worldly goods, reparations, and generous giving. Christianity has been engaged in this challenging dialogue with the affluent for two millennia.

Jesus’ message to those who have wealth is evident in narratives that treat the wealthy not with contempt but respect, yet challenge them to total accountability in relation to their eternal destiny. The rich can be saved, but special difficulties lie in the way. Speaking honestly to the rich about their moral responsibilities requires a strong hold on one’s identity, an attitude of candor, and the willingness to penetrate defensive dodges.

A key evidence of the Christian life is intentional, ordered stewardship. Those who possess resources are called to use them for good purposes, to be ready to give cheerfully. It is within the range of every believer to practice these simple good works: stewardship of resources, willingness to live the simple life, being content with what one has, and giving generously.”

Thomas C. Oden in The Good Works Reader (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2007) 319-320.

“All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.”

Saying in the sign on George Bailey’s office wall in Frank Capra’s classic Christmas film: It’s a Wonderful Life

We plow the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all His love.

He only is the Maker of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him, by Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children, He gives our daily bread.

We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, and food;
No gifts have we to offer, for all Thy love imparts,
But that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.

Matthias Claudius (1740-1813)
Translated from German to English by Jane M. Campbell (1817-1878)

“At the birth of the Son the King was enrolling all men for the tribute money, that they might be debtors to him: the King came forth to us who blotted out our bills and wrote another bill in his own name that he might be our debtor.” Hymns on the Nativity 4

Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306-373) in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture vol. IX, ed. by Peter Gorday (Downers Grove: IVP, 2000) 34-35.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,

Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Christina G. Rosetti (1830-1894)

“Aurelius Clemens Prudentius grew up in Spain, becoming a lawyer and judge. In 379 he was invited to Rome to become part of the emperor’s staff. He was fascinated by Rome with its new Christian churches and the tombs of the martyrs. Christianity had been legalized earlier that century and was now the official religion of the empire. Perhaps Rome was the “noble city” on which he began this meditation.

Despite his enthusiasm, Prudentius soon grew weary of public life. He felt he had become too self-centered, so in 395 he forsook his worldly position and entered a monastery. There he wrote several devotional and practical works. A few fragments like this have been translated and set to music.

EARTH HAS MANY A NOBLE CITY

Earth has many a noble city;
Bethlehem, thou dost all excel;
Out of thee the Lord from heaven
Came to rule His Israel.

Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told his birth
To the world its God announcing
Seen in fleshly form on earth.

Eastern sages at His cradle
Make oblations rich and rare;
See them give, in deep devotion,
Gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
Incense doth their God disclose;
Gold the King of Kings proclaimeth;
Myrrh His sepulcher foreshows.

Jesus, whom the Gentiles worshiped
At thy glad epiphany,
Unto Thee, with God the Father
And the Spirit, glory be.

Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (c. 348-413)
Translated by Edward Caswall (1814-1878)

Brown, Robert R. and Mark R. Norton compiled The One Year Book of Hymns (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1995), reading from December 11.