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