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 "...