MAC KIRK

 Our Fears and the Resurrection I was in Panama with the unit , Wolfhounds ( light infantry), and we were there for Norriega killing some Americans, etc...You may remember it in 1989 when the first Bush said that was a no no.  I was there for about 60 days and Soldiers kept asking me , " When do we go home Chaplain?"  I think the Commander and I talked about this, and he said we are here as long as the Army says to be there basically ( We had already missed Christmas 1989). This is when I thought of the verse from Hebrews 12:5 “ ..he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” What is making you fearful? What are you and I afraid of? It is certainly difficult to do certain things that we do not want to do. One of those things is flying. That being said, I know some of you have told me that you like to fly. Good for you! I am not one of those people. There seem to be a lot

 CRISIS " A Crisis of Choice " I John 5:10 Have you ever had a crisis on your hands?  The word crisis comes from the Greek krisis which means to separate, in other words a change is coming either for better or worse.  It has been used in medicine as to which way the person is going in his health.  It is a time of danger or trouble.  Have you ever been in the ditch?  Hopefully you are not stuck and  cannot get out...or is the furnace out?  Being out of work is a crisis.  In I John 5:10 we read about a person in crisis because of a past action of choice.  " The one who does not believe ( present tense) God has made him a liar, BECAUSE HE HAS NOT BELIEVED ( perfect tense here indicating a past crisis of choice ) in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son."  A crisis because of a past action of choice says the Greek scholar Wescott. John Stott ( the evangelical Anglican and former rector of All Souls Church in London )said in his commentary on I John. " U

  " ( Unknown Greek Author of the 5th Century)  Intro the Service - Mark 16:1-13 On Keeping Easter.  " This is the day which the Lord had made: let us keep it with gladness and rejoicing.  Why should we do so? Because the sun is no longer darkened; instead everything is bathed in light. Because the veil of the temple is no longer rent; instead the Church is recognized. Because we no longer hold palm branches; instead we carry the newly enlightened ...This is the day in the truest sense: the day of triumph, the day custom consecrates to the resurrection, the day on which we adorn ourselves with grace, the day on which we partake of the spiritual lamb.  This is the day on which milk is given to those born again, and on which God's plan for the poor is realized.  Let us keep it with gladness and rejoicing, not by running off to the taverns , but by hastening to the martyrs' shrines; not be esteeming drunkeness, but by loving temperance; not by dancing in the marketplace,

  Easter 2022 Someone asked me what Easter means to me in one word . I said " Resurrection-new life". It was not hard to distill it down into what Easter is about as I thought about it . It is the hope of eternal life in this world and the next, the promise that those who have died we will see again. Now they live in our memories and soon we will see eye to eye with our new bodies in heaven. That is what Easter is and to any Christian as well certainly. On that first Easter , at the break of day, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary, the mother of James came to the tomb. They had already prepared spices resting on their Sabbath, that is Saturday, after Jesus died on the Cross on Good Friday. They were serving Him even in His death. They came to the tomb, the stone was already rolled away, and they went into the tomb, " and found not the body of the Lord Jesus." 24:3 They were met by two men in dazzling light. They are told, " He is not here, but is risen." They

 Jesus watches & prays for us “ Could you not watch with me one hour?” Mt 26:40 Romans 8:34 says," He is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." Hebrews 7:25 " He ever lives to make intercession for us.." John 17:9- "I pray for them...for them which thou has given me.." Palm Sunday . The Gk Church uses the names “ Sunday of the Palm Carrying” & “ Hosanna Sunday” , “ Blossom Sunday “ in England or “ Flowering Sunday” . The official title is the “ Second Sunday of the Passion” and usually the account in Matthew is read. The Ukranians and Poles strike each other gently with the palms which they call “ God’s Wounds” as the scourging of Christ. In Italy people offer palms as a token of reconciliation and peace to those who they have quarreled with . In Austria and the Slavic countries they walk through fields and buildings on the afternoon of Palm Sunday with the palms to draw God’s blessings on the harvest. In the passion we did

 Hebrews and the brokenness we need through Jesus our Great High Priest "...There is a vast difference between divine and human sorrow. True contrition occurs when God turns and looks upon us. Human sorrow is us turning and looking upon ourselves. True, there is nothing wrong in turning and looking at oneself – only there is a danger. We can miss the most authentic experience of life in the imitation. For genuine repentance consists of feeling deeply our human helplessness, of knowing how God comes to us when we are completely broken." " Henry Drummond Broken people are needy. Broken people know their need of Divine assistance , even a priest. Christ is such a comfort and priest to us. He knows the value of broken seeds. " Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. " John John 12 in the Gospel say it this way, " Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates