I love this “bedtime prayer” by John Henry Newman

May the Lord support us all the day long,
Till the shades lengthen and the evening comes
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done.

Then in his mercy may he give us
a safe lodging
and a holy rest,
and peace at last.


“The old seminary professors used to speak about a necessary trait for pastoral ministry called gravitas. It refers to a soul that has developed enough spiritual mass to be attractive, like gravity. It makes the soul appear old, but gravitas has nothing to do with age. It has everything to do with wounds that have healed well, failures that have been redeemed, sins that have been forgiven, and thorns that have settled into the flesh. These severe experiences with life expand the soul until it appears larger than the body that contains it” (Barnes, The Pastor As Minor Poet, p. 49).”

Michael Spencer - Soli Deo talk #4 - Pentecost

Michael Spencer - Soli Deo Talk #3

Michael Spencer - Soli Deo talk #2

I have found some of Michael Spencer’s Soli Deo talks in my audio archives. Thought I would share. Here’s the first one. I will post more in the coming days (after I speak to the folks at IM to see if they want to post them).

Enjoy!

Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands (via LadyMask01)

Wilberforce and goofing off – Ray Ortlund

Wilberforce and goofing off

One evidence of a humble trust in God is the capacity, within the rhythm of life, to play as well as to work.  William Wilberforce, for example, abolished the British slave trade against intense opposition.  But when at home, he left the cause in God’s hands and lived a humane, sustainable existence with his family:

“No account of Wilberforce’s life can be complete without an attempt to show him in the midst of his loving family and friends.  His had always been a curiously disorganized household.  Robert Southey, the poet, tells of a visit to Keswick in 1818.  ‘Wilbeforce has been here with all his household, and such a household!  The principle of the family seems to be that, provided the servants have faith, good works are not to be expected from them, and the utter disorder which prevails in consequence is truly farcical… . I have seen nothing in such pell mell topsy turvy chaotic confusion as Wilberforce’s apartments.  His wife sits in the midst of it like patience on a monument, and he frisks about as if every vein in his body were filled with quicksilver; but with all, there is such a constant hilarity in every look and motion, such a sweetness in all his tones, such a benignity in all his thoughts, words and actions, that … you can feel nothing but love and admiration for a creature of so happy and blessed a nature.’”

Patrick Cormack, Wilberforce: The Nation’s Conscience (Basingstoke, 1983), pages 108-109.

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