MAC KIRK

How Should We Begin a New Church Year of Advent? Luke 1:5-25 Today's Gospel that we will consider is about Zacharias , Elisabeth and the birth of a child, that was unexpected. (John the Baptist) " And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren." 1:7 Not only that but they were both quite old. " well stricken in years. This account today is for us as we contemplate the spiritual lives we sometimes feel that we are going through the motions. In the silence of our meditation, God does hear and know, and He acts. I Corinthians 2:9 came to my mind, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." God wishes our silence and our trust. I like this:" We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they mov

Christ the King Sunday---2015 The question we are dealing with this week is " if Christ is our King, then why is the world the way it is?" Christians live in the world now, and we wonder if Christ rules and defends us, why does it seem that the world is so difficult to live in with its tragedies, disappointments, and difficulties? I would say our understanding is quite limited and therein lies our problem. No , we are not God, but somehow we try to be little gods, and our thinking therefore is human, and not divine. " For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part...." I Corinthians 13:12 Q: How doth Christ execute the office of a king? ---Scots Catechism ( Westminster) A: Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself,1 in ruling and defending us,2 and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.3 1. Psalm 110:3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness

Malachi ---a message for all for pre-Advent Malachi opens his book with a rather remarkable statement that should guide as well in all of our lives. " I have loved you,saith the LORD." The temple had been rebuilt in the time of Nehemiah ( rebuilt the wall), Haggai and Zechariah ( rebuilt the temple) , and now the people were ignoring the worship and service of God after being back from Bablyon for a hundred years. The same failures and sins were still a problem for the people. They were intermarrying pagan women Malachi 2:11; they were not putting the temple as a priority and holding back the tithe from the House of God, Malachi 3:8-10; the services in the Lord's House were only a form and lacked true devotion. " It is possible to attend the temple, bend the knee,and make an offering regularly, but unless there is love in the heart there is no communion with God. To go to the temple merely as a matter of duty is to blaspheme." Living Message of the Books

The Christian and the Government. Matthew 22: 21 "Though absent from the heavenly City, we are none the less its citizens, for the Church on earth and the Church in heaven are in truth one, and the Kingdom of Grace is but a suburb of the Kingdom of Glory." --Melville Scott, The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels As Christians we are all faced with living with one foot in the kingdom of heaven, of which we are a member by faith and profession as well as citizens of this era we live in. The testings we face here are always to be placed in relationship to our heavenly heritage. The epistle reminded us today, " our citizenship is in heaven." Philippians . When tested and tried by the Pharisees and the Herodians ( a Jewish group known for supporting Herod), Jesus was not caught as they tried to "entangle him." Matthew 22: 15. He asked them to show him a coin, and the famous quote we all know came out of his lips, " Render unto Caesar