The Soldier’s Pocket Book

Civil-War-soldiers-reading-letter-from-home-631.jpg__800x600_q85_cropEpisode 94 features an exploration of and readings from “The Soldier’s Pocket Book”, a small devotional book created for soldiers fighting in the American Civil War (1861-1865).

While originally written for soldiers in the mid-19th century United States, its contents on prayer, Bible, hymns and exhortations on living the Christian life would make a fine devotional (for soldier or non-soldier) in the early 21st century.

A link to this text on archive.org can be found here

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The Happiness of Drawing Near To God – Part 1

WATSON-Thomas_detailEpisode 87 is centered on the reading of the first half of a sermon by the 17th century English minister Thomas Watson (1620-1686).

A link to the podcast episode (Episode 15) on the practices of the Puritans regarding biblical meditation can be found here

A link to a text of the entire sermon “The Happiness of Drawing Near to God can be found here, courtesy of Grace Gems

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The Life and Legacy of Susanna Anthony

Colonial WomanEpisode 85 centers on a discussion of the life and written legacy (in diary entries and letters) of the 18th century American diarist Susanna Anthony.

A link to archive.org for Samuel Hopkins’ book entitled “The Life and Character of Miss Susanna Anthony” can be found here

A link to archive.org for “Familiar Letters”, a compilation of letters written between Susanna Anthony and Sarah Osborn can be found here

A link to the journal Rhode Island History from May of 1994, which featured an article on Sarah Osborn and Susanna Anthony, can be found here

Link to the Finding Hidden Treasure webpage for Episode 80 which dealt with the spiritual discipline of journaling can be found here

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Christian Spiritual Formation – The Interlacing of Spiritual Practices

Praying and Reading The BibleIn Episode 80, we close our series on Christian spiritual formation with a discussion about how spiritual practices can be combined to better help your walk in Christ.

A link to Episode 24 on the Bay Psalm (the first printed book in British North America from 1640), a book of the Psalms translated in metre can be found here.

A free downloadable pdf of the 1650 Scottish Book of Metrical Psalms can be found here.

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Life and Death and Life

annunciationToday is Friday, March 25. On the Western Christian calendar, today is Good Friday, the day that the church remembers the death of Jesus on the cross. It is an interesting coincidence of the church calendar that today is also the Feast of the Annunciation. The Annunciation recalls the announcement made by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive the Christ child.

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The timing of the Annunciation is a logical extension of when Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. At Christmas, we are reminded of and celebrate the birth of Christ. Nine months earlier, on March 25th, the church remembers the conception of Christ as a human.

In European culture, for centuries, March 25th was celebrated as new year’s day since that day commemorates the beginning of Christ’s humanity, which in their understanding, did not start at His birth but at His conception.

This merge of these two church feasts on a single day is a very rare occurrence. It happened only three times in the 20th century (the last time being 1932). It happens only twice in the 21st century (in 2005 and this year). The next time it happens will be in the mid 22nd century in the year 2157.

Please take time to reflect on the two biblical events being remembered today. The start of Jesus’ life as a human being. Though being God throughout all eternity, He started His existence at the Annunciation. Decades later, He would fulfill His calling to die a sacrificial death on behalf of His people. With that death and the resurrection that happened only days later, the Lord Jesus brought new life to those who would trust in Him.

Truly, this is a day for us to consider God’s gifting of life and death and life.