MAC KIRK

2nd Sunday in Lent I Thessalonians 4 The letter to the Thessalonians is a letter written about 51 AD. Here is what it is about: " the majority of the people in the Thessalonian church had been converted from idolatry. In this letter Paul wanted to express his joy at their steadfastness, encourage them in the midst of suffering, instruct them in the way of holiness, and correct misconceptions about the Lord's return." The Matthew Henry Bible Today we are jumping in right in the middle of chapter 4. Our first point is about authority. This was the problem in Thessalonica. Leon Morris in his comments on this letter said, " the Jewish opponents of the Christian way were maintaining a campaign in which a principal element seems to have been a slander of St. Paul." Note what is said in the first few vs of the chapter about this" " we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, even as you have received from us, how it behooves you to...

1st Sunday in Lent Matthew 4:1-11 " Most of the grand truths of God have to be learned by trouble; they must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them...there are many things to be learned in the depths which we can never know in the heights." Daily Help by Charles H. Spurgeon. Every day I try and start out the day with a reading, and this was one. Somehow I think I had glossed over it----it fits the lesson for today. We read that Jesus our Lord was led up the Spirit of God for the purpose of testing. It was a time of trial . Pierce is the origin of the word. Certainly He was the Son of God as shown in chapter 3 at His baptism where we hear, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." That baptism too was as Jesus said, " to fulfill all righteousness" 3:15 when John said he should be the one being baptized. The same thing is occuring in chapter 4. Jesus , the Son of God, could ...

Psalm 23 Today we celebrate Pat Mackay ---- her life and her love; at the funeral home , I was asked by the family what Scripture to put in the pamphlet. It was no choice for me as I looked through the many pages that were offered as choices . You will see Psalm 23 there. Many like that and it seems common, but not to me. Pat was not a common person, yet she was at the same time so down to earth you saw her humility and compassion. She was at rest in the Good Shepherd in her spiritual life and that showed itself all the time. The LORD is my Shepherd. No she did not take that for granted. It was ever there in her living and attitude. The Shepherd was her Shepherd, and she followed . I felt like she was a wonderful companion in so many ways to our parish, her family and her friends. I especially enjoyed having her in the services because I could not get out of the sanctuary without her grabbing my hand and giving me such encouragement that it was like having dessert bef...

Quinquagesima Sunday before Lent Have you ever felt like a re-do? Bill Murray finally got that chance in the 1993 movie, " Groundhog Day" . He kept waking up to re-live the day until he got it right. He gets the girl and does over all the mistakes of the day . He finds compassion for the homeless and says the right things . It takes several days to keep waking up to the same day , in his case, Ground Hog Day, until he gets it right. Would that we too would have the chance for a re-do, and right all the things we said we should not have, and fix all the mistakes we made that day we regret. FEB 2 is Groundhog day which we celebrated actually as the Candlemas or Festival of the purification of the Virgin Mary in the Prayer Book. As we go to Lent on Wednesday we have an opportunity to review just as Bill Murray did in the movie, and change those things we ought to change and fix those things about us through the power of God's Holy Ghost to make us into the image ...