MAC KIRK

First Sunday after Christmas Claiming our Reconciliation----Henri Nouwen ( I found this quote on Friday and it was so good for our encouragement that I am reading it to you now) “How do we work for reconciliation? First and foremost   by claiming for ourselves that God through Christ has reconciled us to God. It is not enough to believe this with our heads. We have to let the truth of this reconciliation permeate every part of our beings. As long as we are not fully and thoroughly convinced that we have been reconciled with God, that we are forgiven, that we have received new hearts, new spirits, new eyes to see, and new ears to hear, we continue to create divisions among people because we expect from them a healing power they do not possess. Only when we fully trust that we belong to God and can find in our relationship with God all that we need for our minds, hearts, and souls, can we be truly free in this world and be ministers of reconciliation. This is not easy; we...

DECEMBER 21, 2014 · 2:19 PM ↓  Jump to Comments Yes, Johnny, There Is a Santa Claus I must have driven my father crazy around this of year as I spent so much time trying to outwit him and Santa Claus. It’s a time that comes in the early life of most children when they wonder if Santa is real. They want to believe because it’s a magical time and also because if they don’t perhaps the gifts won’t come. I was a strategic planner. One Christmas I asked for a finger printing kit and the next Christmas eve dusted the fireplace in our house. Of course, my father had a long memory and made sure no one touched the fireplace. One of our family traditions was my father dressing up as Santa and coming to the door on Christmas eve with a jolly ho, ho, ho. I began to be suspicious, perhaps more so because my father’s British accent did not disappear even in laughter. It began to dawn on me that whenever Santa came to the door my father was nowhere to be found. My mother would s...

" The Lord is at Hand in Advent----an Attitude of Rejoicing and Response of Gentleness unto All"    Philippians 4:4-7   The Lord is at hand.  His nearness in Advent is a cause for our joy and our rejoicing.  Lack of joy may be coming from several different causes.  It may come from unresolved anger and the inability to accept what God has dealt us so to speak.  In this case it appears in the context of these verses that there was a kind of dispute between some members of the church. This is Paul’s theme in this letter, “ be of the same mind in the Lord”.  4:3   2:2 says “ be ye like-minded, having the same love, being of accord, of one mind.  Let nothing be done through strife…”  The Apostle beseeches Euodias and Syntyche, two women who labored in the gospel to be of the same mind “ in the Lord.”  Now note that it is ok to have different views and that we should h...

“ I believe in the Virgin birth”  Luke 1:26-38    We have lit the Christ Candle and tonite we celebrate the birth of the Christ-Child.  In the reading of Luke we listen to the words about Mary who bore the Saviour of the world.  Without Mary, Jesus would not have been a man and could not represent us to redeem and save us.  I have taken the letters of her name to spell out our outline for our meditation this evening: M- Mystery   A- Attitude of  R-Reverence  and Y-Yielded to God Mystery- “ something unknown”  We cannot explain the Virgin Birth—it is supernatural , and that is where we must leave it.  We believe it. But we cannot explain it. That is ok. Life without mystery is boring. It is said that all snowflakes have individual traits and are not the same.  We would not want them to all look alike.  I think mystery adds beauty to life as well as color. The colors of the Church year give us some interesting w...

Corinthian Problems and a Sacred Message I Cor. 4       Remember the Corinthians were Christians as we start this passage today.  They needed correction and help but in I Cor 1 :2 we read , " unto the church  ( those called out)  , having been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints... I thank my God always concerning you..."  Unfortunately the city of corinth was known for other things, the virtual capital of Greece but a city of "unbridled passion to which men were giving vent...at the same time they were discussing philosophies, the wisdom of words." Morgan, The Unfolding Message of the Bible.  But they were divided in their admiration for individuals outside of building a message to the city about Christ Himself.  Ch 4 talks about this subject of judging others and the ultimate judge is God Himself.  We should take care how we build.  We should not be building the House of God upon men. There were " contentions...

Bible Sunday. 2nd Sunday in Advent Romans 15    I like what a friend sent me the other day that describes how we sometimes feel by ST Augustine: " God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless , the skies grey and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with saints and heroes of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to Your honour and glory. "     Certainly all of us have felt this way from time to time.  We need encouragement from others.  God has not left us alone in these times.  Whatever we in the way of hope is found in His Word which is "...

Malachi Advent I 2014    Malachi struggled with the same things that we still do as a nation , as a people, as families and as individuals.  The people looked around at others and said, " it is useless to serve God...it the evildoers who are successful."3:14  ( NEB) They had neglected the House of God after returning from captivity ( 100 years later).  The priests did not set the example . Intermarriage between believers and non-believers continued.  Jews were divorcing their wives to marry idolatrous women. ( Halley's Bible Handbook) 2:10-16  They offered diseased and blemished animals in the temple 1:8 as well as neglecting the temple tithes.     Malachi is quoted in the NT in Matthew 11, Mark 1 and Luke 1 , " Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." ( KJV)  He was speaking of John the Baptist who too faced similar things when he told the people to repent .  There is an attitude as well ...

John 6:5-- Suprising Challenges    Is it not true that God uses things, people, circumstances and situations to challenge us?  Somehow we did not think we had signed up for that when we acknowledged Him as Lord and King of our lives.  Yet in today's Gospel we see Philip being tested when he is asked , " Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"  Is He testing our motives ?  Perhaps we can relate to the story of the fish :   " A little fish was swimming around in the ocean, when he came across an older ( and presumably wiser) fish.  ' Excuse me ,' said the little fish. ' You are older than I , so can you tell me where to find this thing they call the ocean? ' The ocean,' said the older fish, ' is the thing you are in now.' ' Oh this?' ' But this is water.  What I'm seeking is the ocean,' said the disappointed fish as he swam away to search elsewhere.' "  as in Hearing with the Heart by Farrington. ...

Nobleman and Jesus John 4: 46    Have we ever been so overwhelmed and desperate that we go to God for a need that we cannot meet anywhere else?  I know we have.  We have asked I am sure for a loved one that has been deathly ill or have asked God, " Why?  Why?  Why did my loved one die ?"  At many times in our lives we feel absolutely helpless.  Perhaps we have experienced loss in other ways....thru a divorce or the loss of a friendship for some reason. Or a personal crisis in the life?    Thomas Merton well-known writer and Catholic Trappist monk was not always so.  In his auto-biography The Seven Storey Mountain, he tells of his worldly life. His conversion he said was when he, " ...was pierced deeply with a light that made me realize something of the condition I was in, and I was filled with horror at what I saw...and my soul desired escape . And now I think for the first time in my whole life I really began to pray...and pr...

Witnesses to Life All Saints    ( one of the alternate readings today is the ending vs of Hebrews 11) Heb 11: 32-12:2    Who are our role models today?  We all have them or are looking for them.  We all need friends, mentors and wise people to help us in our journey through life that we may live lives that are full with correct choices and paths of righteousness and humility.  What happened I have thought this last week to the young ( 15 years old) High School student who was a prom king one week , and the next week texted his friends and some family members in school to be at a certain place where he would take a gun out and shoot them?  Two have died along with the shooter up to this point I have heard and others remain in serious condition.  Young lives , 14 years, ended for no apparent reason that we know of at this point.  That young man needed someone he could go to for help and listening.  He needed to share what was ...

I Bare You on Eagles' Wings ----Exodus 19 :4 This is God telling the Israelites that He has always been there for His people.  Who has not been needing God's care in their lives?  We are all needing His care every day.  They have been greatly delivered from the hand of Pharaoh as Moses parts the Red Sea and they go on dry ground.  The waters cover the enemies of God and they and the 600 chariots are all lost forever.  We can be confident as Christians that whatever we are facing now and will face that as we continue to trust in God, He will bring us out of the difficult times we face.  Most birds carry the young in their talons ( Deuteronomy 32:11-12), but the eagle carries its young on its wings.  Matthew Henry says, " even those archers who shoot flying cannot hurt the young ones unless they first shoot through the old one." POINT 1 This people of God, the Israelites had a history of complaining.  We talked about it last week when they...