MAC KIRK

God's Time. Galatians 4:4 "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Time to? It's about time. There is not enough time....What expressions do you know for time? Or , I wish I had time for......_________. Or it's time to ________ Pray , fast, celebrate? God has a time. His time is the best for us. The fulness of time means , " when however the fulness of the time had come , past tense, indicative, active....." Fulfilllment may be the best trans here. We can think of how time works. Tomatoes for ex. are ripe and if they get too ripe, I call them mushy, and they do not taste as good. The ...

Christmas Eve / Christmas I wonder if we can relate to the real Christmas story. Somehow it becomes a far off event with a Star, a Manger, an Inn, a baby ( the Christ child) , Mary, Joseph, ( even though we try with the Mangers and the real animals and all the celebrations..) etc... our world does not seem any different at all. We have the same things happening, crisis at the border; crisis in our lives with ill health; people who are lonely ( loss of loved ones due to something even separation or death). We see the manger from afar . Christmas is to us somewhat of a story that does not come down to our daily struggles. There are angels. They are saying," Glory to God to in the highest and peace on earth to men. "This is a rare event in our world ---such a wonderful event. People have problems today. They have always had them, haven't they? A casual friend of mine who took a church I did not retired recently. His wife for some reason ( which he never ...

Advent 4. Elizabeth, Zacharias and faith---Luke 1:39-46 Something I never quite caught as I read and re-read this Gospel for today is that there is doubt here and faith as well. Doubt makes the history seem so much more real to me, for I am a doubter if the truth be told. Is there anyone else here who is like that too? We live by faith because we are really believers in what God has said and done, but we doubt as we go through difficulties, and even beautiful surprises as Zacharias did. But before he saw, he doubted. Who else is there? Who else lives there from time to time? We doubt because ....fill in the blank. We doubt because we do not always have faith in God and His promises to us. Zacharias was given a great privilege to go into the Holy place by the lot that was cast. " And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense." Luke 1: 11 Vs 20 says that the angel is Gabriel and that Zacharias does not be...

Advent II. Andrew Symes in Anglican Mainstream hits the nail on the head... ( Isaiah)"The prophet recognizes that as the underlying problem is the mis-orientation of the human heart, resulting in God’s judgement. The desperate need is not for economic or political solutions, or programmes of self-improvement, but forgiveness, and spiritual and moral transformation in response to divine ‘ad-vention’ and intervention. We are powerless to make ourselves acceptable to God, and to change our hearts. “How can we be saved?” the prophet asks in anguish in verse 5. He pleads: “do not remember our sins forever”, but forgiveness alone, the removal of the sentence of punishment and the cleansing of conscience, is only one aspect of the salvation that is needed. We need God to visit in person: “Come down to make your name known to your enemies” (v2). We all believe this on our knees as Whitfield ( Anglican evangelist in the 1700's) said to Wesley ( Methodist). The unregenerate man ...

Advent I Year C The season is about events that are so dramatic and wonderful (to some) that we cannot but stand in awe of them. It is said that the first two Sundays of Advent are more about the Second Coming of our Lord than the 1st Coming as a babe. At least that is what the lessons are about. Luke 21:25-33 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” It is true if you re-read the Gospel. But actually we have small moments when we may feel some of our lives are on the edge. Feeding the cats/ dogs while the mail comes....ding go...

Last of the Church Year- Sunday Next before Advent What comes to mind when we say " Christ the King" ? Of course that He reigns in heaven & the world we live in is not just a hodgpodge of occurences. Revelation for today says, " Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, & the ruler of the kings on earth." " ( He is ) Alpha and Omega, who is , who was, and is to come...." Not only is He a king but He has made us " a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.." ( Because "He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.) The hymns and canticles we have help us to understand and remember this" " Rejoice, the LORD is king!" written by Charles Wesley and the vs in 1746 " Hymns for our Lord's Resurrection" first line, Rejoice--the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore! Rejoice, give thanks, and sing and triumph evermore! Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, a...

Hebrews 10:34 " A Better Possession & Abiding" Often we feel so drained and faithless that we need the encouragement of the Church( " let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together-10:24), & the fact that Jesus entered " into the holy place by the blood of ( His own blood) Jesus" -10:19, that we forget that we also have " a better possession and an abiding one"-10:34. 1. " You yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one... " A better possession- stronger, more excellent . This word is so often used in Hebrews. 7:19- We have a better hope ( here the writer contrasts this with the law " (which) "made nothing perfect) by which we draw nigh unto God. Origination of the word better- kreíttōn (the comparative form of krátos, "dominion" – what is better because more fully developed, i.e. in reaching the needed dominion (mastery, domin...

Hebrews 9:24-28 " ( Here is)..another comparison of the blood of the sacrifices with Christ, the Levitical high priests entering by their holy places into the sanctuary, offered corruptible blood for one year only: but Christ entering into that holy body of his, entered by it into heaven itself, offering his own most pure blood for an everlasting redemption: for Christ is both the High Priest, Tabernacle, Sacrifices and Offerings themselves, indeed all those both truly and for ever." Geneva Study Bible " Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." CS Lewis ( We can fill in the blank here based on our personal experience.......) --- Today we consider Hebrews 9. This is the most extraordinary beautiful lovely passage in Hebrews for it does give us the essential of Biblical true religion, not the religion of man made stuff. Holy body, entering heaven itself, pure blood for everlasting red...

Tried and True Hebrews 11:32-12:2 ( Evening Prayer- All Saints 28 BCP) When I was at Princeton Seminary by the bus stop near my student apartments I was complaining to one of the students about something...( forgotten now), but I will never forget the response. " And how's that working for you?" That hit me right between the eyes. I had needed that friendly rebuke. I had kept trying to get something done and was going about it wrong. If you want to get something done the right way I would say try it by the " Tried and True method of attack ( so to speak)" " Therefore let us also.." In other words Hebrews 12:1 tells of a secret to spiritual victory instead of defeat. " Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses..." Run the race that is set before us. This is a spiritual race to the end of our lives. We should not look to the runners on the track but to those who " have bor...

Moving on up and on! Forward . Hebrews 5:11-6:12 Chuck Swindoll , the radio preacher, and author of many good Christian devotional books said it this way, " Three steps forward, two steps back: Persevering through Pressure." This is the case of those the writer to the Hebrews is dealing with, and many times it is ours as well. Our society and churches have been inflicted with the virus of this world and are not being transformed by the renewing of their minds. Hebrews 5---"you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. " ch 6---"Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God" And an even greater possibility, an extreme circumstance for some, " For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enl...

Meditation on Hebrews 4:12-16 " It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Word written...." Article XX How do we know about God except He has given us His Word? We know about Him through His Word ? " For the word of God is living and active & sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 But as I thought about this and agree with it that the Word is written, is not the Word Christ Himself? John 1:1 reminds us that the Word was with God and is God....and this is talking about Jesus for He became flesh and dwelt among us. 1:14 The Word , Jesus, is a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, the Son of God. We have a structure and strong deliverer , not sand, but a House built upon the Rock, and as ST Paul said, " and the rock was Christ" I Corinthians 10...

Hebrews 3-4:11 Verbs! "How many people would like to be good, if only they might be good without taking trouble about it! They do not like goodness well enough to hunger and thirst after it, or to sell all that they may buy it; they will not batter at the gate of the kingdom of heaven; but they look with pleasure on this or that aerial castle of righteousness, and think it would be rather nice to live in it." Source: as quoted in The Gospel in George MacDonald The last few Sundays we have looked at the ministry of the angels, last week, the greatness of Christ & now as we enter into ch 3 and 4 we have a wonderful gift that we must act on. The gift is given to us , the gift of the Son, who " made purification of sins 1:3 " , " crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God, he should taste death for every man." 1:9 Today we are to "consider" Usage: I take note of, perceive, consider carefully, discern, detect, make account of. ...

Hebrews 2 Drifting or Anchored? Is it possible to drift away from our faith and religion? We call it apostasy, a " falling away from the living God" ( Erdman) Hebrews thinks so. Hebrews 2: 1 tells us to think about not "drifting away " from the things that we have heard. Watching sailing boats does not make us a sailor for example. We may need encouragement to persevere. All of us do. Last week we spoke of angels. Today the message from Hebrews contrasts angels with Jesus Christ, our Lord. He made " purfication of sins" being much better than the angels. Christ, the eternal Son, was born in human flesh so that we could be redeemed. Let me ask it this way. If you have ever gone through a difficulty or stress, who is helpful? Yes, the one who has also gone through it too , and can be an encourager for they know the pitfalls, the problems and the difficulties. We read in 2:18. " For in that He himself has suffered being tempted, H...

Mark 9/ James 3 What does a servant look like? Someone just like you or me that tries to do God's will, and in the power of the Spirit imitate Jesus, the Divine Son? Could we make theological statements ( Jesus said to them, " Who do you say that I am? "They replied, " You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kergyma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our inter-personal relationships" And Jesus said, " What?" or would it be just better to go what our Lord , the writers of the Epistles say to us? ---that is the actual words of the Bible. That would be better, than guessing in words of ? Interesting the word servant is actually diakonos...dia- thorougly , konis-dust...in other words, raise up dust , they are moving to serve and minister. They had been talking about who would be the greatest while He had just told them about His Cross, death, and His resurrection. "Then He took a child and set him i...

James 2 Henri J. M. Nouwen "When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." Sometimes too preaching can be empty if it is not without Christ and His Spirit, and I too can id with that one as the preacher now and then. Source: Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life " If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find him in the chalice." ST John Chrysostom James was writing to the Jews who had become Christians. 1:1 " to the twelve tribes of the Di...

Reflections on faith and good deeds for others James I introduce this by quoting Charles Erdman, " One may be most scrupulous in observing all the prescribed forms of religion, he may give alms and pray and fast as the Pharisees did: he may attend church and sing hymns and observe sacraments; but his religion may still be an empty and vain delusion...." Before we think about some of things which please God, note that the gift of God is faith itself as James says, " every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights...Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." 1:17 This is James' way of saying what we already know, that our faith and birth in the new life is brought forth by God, and not our own efforts. Born of the Spirit is how John says it. 3:5 " except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." ...

Deuteronomy the Gospel of Love ( from Samuel Schultz) I have never forgotten that title from a book I got in seminary and it is true. " When we recognize that the Deuteronomic revelation provides the basis for the messages of the prophets, and that Jesus came to fulfill and complete God's revelation to mankind, then the Book of Deuteronomy becomes crucially signficant. Moses was the prophet par excellence in the OT. Jesus was the greater prophet of whom Moses spoke....A careful consideration of Deuteronomy provides today's God-fearing people with a better insight and understanding of life in its relationship to God and fellowmen..." from the book above. Deut below from ch. 4 "5Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all ...

Eph 5:15a Careful Walking What comes before this vs? " ( ESV-" Look carefully how you walk...") For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise" A new book just came out on Caring for one another by Ed Welch ," Imagine . . . an interconnected group of people who entrust themselves to each other. You can speak of your pain, and someon...

Psalm 34 ----Promises Here! " Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivereth them out of all their troubles." vs. 19 We saw last reading in Ephesians that 4:24-25 we are to "put on the new man , that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth....Wherefore , putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor... for we are members of one another." 1. This is the righteousness of Christ and of God Himself. It is not the right ways of man which are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12, " There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; But the end thereof are the ways of death." In the NT we hear the Apostle echo this thought in I Corinthians 3: 14 , " Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him, because they are spiritually judged." Is it the truth we are hearing? We are to speak the truth because Jesus who is the Way, the Tr...

John 6 :24-35 The Bread of our every life "In our daily lives, we tend to expend an awful amount of effort and energy on not letting go. We constantly try to prove our worth by accomplishing things and being very busy. Or we spend a lot of energy judging other people, trying to prove our righteousness by focusing on the splinter in our neighbor’s eye. Or our effort can be spent jumping from one distraction to the next, avoiding any stillness. This last tactic is especially dangerous in our current culture of distraction, as technology promises to keep us endlessly (mindlessly) entertained — our attention held captive. But God’s invitation remains the same: Just rest. It’s so simple and so transformative. The radical practice of rest can help us to recognize in ourselves the very patterns of effort that consume our energy and our lives. It can help us to let go of these useless strategies and this relentless striving. Rest takes us to the lip of the well, and helps us to fa...

Mark 6: 45-52 Living in fear of what life brings is where some of us live from time to time. And, today we hear another sea story for summer. There is something about the ocean that gives us a feeling of relief and assurance. But these are not always calm days at the beach. " And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. " 6:48 If we were to ask to look inside our hearts , it may be overwhelming to us to see what He finds there. It is the things that rile us that test us to see what we truly believe. Family members may be ill or a tragedy of some kind strike that we never thought possible. Or we can be isolated in some way that we are not feeling well enough to speak about what is really hurting and bothering us. In the reading from Ephesians the Apostle prays, " ...that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.." To have a foundation that is not s...

Rest Yourselves! Mark 6:30 Coming Home “ Mark 6:30-34;53-56 Familiar places are just that. Familiar. And warm and comfortable as well. Coming home is a treat in so many ways. We know where to turn. We do not have to look for the road signs. We know the area . We are at rest because we do not have to deal with unexpected things usually. We come home to our own bed and our dog greets us with a warm hello or a crazy one in my case. Jack jumps all over the house when we come home. He speaks in loud barks a long time and is so happy to see us, that sometimes I have to get on the floor and touch lay with him and touch him, even before my wife. Yes, coming home is a delight. The disciples had just witnessed the death of John the Baptist at the hand of King Herod. They could have been obviously sad and forlorn. Their activities had dominated the weeks before. And now they came to report to Jesus what they had seen and done. “ And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, ...