MAC KIRK

  Good Shepherd Sunday.   John 10 ; I Peter 2   I remember one Sunday in the Army Chaplaincy helping out in one of the Anglican services and the higher ranking Chaplain , Major, Bill, asked me, " You have not heard of Good Shepherd Sunday?" I said, " no" .  He couldn't believe I had not.  But I came from an older group that did not have that.  Now I am glad I have been adopted by it.   What can be more beautiful than the Good Shepherd , our Lord Christ ?  Vanessa and I used to worship in a little Church in the Philly suburbs, and behind the Table was a lovely stained glass window of the Christ as Good Shepherd with the sheep He was herding.  ( I know the discussions about the images issues ....but I find myself rather on either side of it.)   We usually discuss the Gospel on this Sunday and there are many delightful words in there for us to ponder.  Jesus is the Door to the Sheepfold for example .  The others are not to be allowed.  Sheep follow the Shepherd.  H

 Easter Continues ! Luke 24:13-35 " Jesus Walks Along Beside us in our Journey" Many people today are struggling with how life has any purpose or plan. It is easy to look at what is going on in the world and wonder this. Why do some live to ripe old age while others die in their prime? Does this life have any purpose besides what I can find on my own? Where is truth? Does God speak today? How does He do that? Why bother trying to find out what He is saying? Is there any rhyme or reason to the events of my life? Are we finding any of these questions in our lives? Suicide rates among young people are high. In fact many of the stresses in war contribute to it. The services are struggling with how to reduce suicides among their own members. The bad economy also contributes to a higher suicide rate. Why do people get depressed? I imagine that a wish unfulfilled is part of that issue. Some have unrealistic expectations. Two of the disciples of Jesus were on the Resurrection day tra

  Darkness to Light   - John 20:1-18   Easter 2023     " They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre , and we know not where they have laid Him."  20:2  In the darkness Mary Magdalene saw that the stone had been rolled away, and she was in darkness. A lot of us if we were honest with others and ourselves are in darkness a good bit of the time.  Sickness, loss, disappointment, dealing with difficult people, the economy, the country, the coming war we think is going to real, and even in our own despair in our inner spiritual world that seems so often dark and gloomy.  My favorite comic strip Snoopy on the dog house said, " It was a dark and gloomy night: or was it stormy night?  I wrote this Friday morning the day in which Jesus was crucified on the Cross.  And yes it was foggy.  In the fog I hear the birds cawing and not so much singing.  When I visited my father in California,  I heard the beautiful sounds of the Monterey bay and the sea lions and these things gav