Category Archives: LitBits

LitBit Commentary – Alexander Schmemann on Preaching

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

“Witness to Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit is the content of the Word of God, and this alone constitutes the essence of preaching: ‘and the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth’ (1 Jn 5:7). The ambo is the place where the sacrament of the word takes place, and therefore it must never be turned into a tribune for the proclamation of even the most elevated, most positive, but only human truth, only human wisdom.”

Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist, p.78

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – James Torrance on Prayer 2

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2“The gift of sharing in the intercessions of Christ is that when we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit makes intercession for us.  Whatever else our faith is, it is a response to a Response already made for us and continually being made for us in Christ, the pioneer of our faith.”

James Torrance, Worship, Community and the triune God of Grace, p.18

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – Alexander Schmemann on Worship and the Church 1

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

“We need to be thoroughly aware that we come to the temple not for individual prayer but to assemble together as the Church, and the visible temple itself signifies and is but an image of the temple not made by hands. Therefore, the ‘assembly of the Church’ is in reality the first liturgical act, the foundation of the entire liturgy; and unless one understands this, one cannot understand the rest of the celebration. When I say that I am going to church, it means I am going into the assembly of the faithful in order, together with them, to constitute the Church, in order to be what I became on the day of my baptism – a member, in the fullest, absolute meaning of the term, of the body of Christ.”

Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist, p.23

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – Rowan Williams on Confession

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

“Belief in Christ involves (if our discussion has been on the right lines thus far) a vision of the entire human world as a network of oppression and privation, in which no one is wholly free from the responsibility of making victims: so that penitent awareness is indispensably part of reconstructed humanity.”

Rowan Williams, Being Christian, p.55

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – James Torrance on Prayer

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

We can only pray ‘in the name of Christ’ because Christ has already, in our name, offered up our desires to God and continues to offer them.  In our name, he lived a life agreeable to the will of God, in our name vicariously confessed our sins and submitted to the verdict of guilty for us, and in our name gave thanks to God.  We pray ‘in the name of Christ’, because of what Christ has done and is doing today in our name, on our behalf.
James Torrance, Worship, Community and the triune God of Grace, p. 35

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – Timothy Radcliffe on the Eucharist 1

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

The Eucharist is a mystery not because it is mysterious, but because it is a sign of God’s secret purpose, which is to unite all things in Christ.  In the Eucharist we celebrate that the mess of human history, with its violence and sin, its wars and genocides, is somehow, in ways that we cannot now understand, on its way to the kingdom.  It is God’s will that we be gathered into unity, reconciled with each other.  And so we begin the Eucharist asking the forgiveness of our brothers and sisters, the angels and the saints, the whole vast community of the kingdom.  It is a sign that we are willing to be gathered into God’s peace with the rest of creation.

Timothy Radcliffe, Why Go to Church? p.19

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – Augustine on the Eucharist 1

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

“…if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle Paul speaking to the faithful: ‘You are the body of Christ, member for member.’ If you, therefore, are Christ’s body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord’s table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying ‘Amen’ to what you are: your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith.”

Augustine, Sermon 272

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – Timothy Radcliffe on the Creeds

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

“The purpose of the dogmas of the Church is not to shut down further discussion.  Quite the opposite: they evolved in opposition to heresies which did just that, wrapping up the truths of our faith in narrow theological positions which betrayed the mystery.  …dogmas can be treated as idols, which halt our search for God, but properly understood they are icons which invite us to carry on our pilgrimage towards the mystery, pushing us beyond too easy answers.” Timothy Radcliffe, Why Go to Church? p.67

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – Herbert McCabe on Confession

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

“If we go to confession, it is not to plead for forgiveness from God.  It is to thank him for it… When God forgives our sins, he is not changing his mind about us.  He is changing our minds about him.  He does not change, his mind is never anything but loving: he is love.” Herbert McCabe, God, Christ and Us, p.16.

 

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary
« Older Entries Recent Entries »