MAC KIRK

  Easter -Mark 16 "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." I Cor. 5 Alleluia. Christ is Risen.  Response- Christ is Risen Indeed. Alleluia.    The women were there to annoint the body of Jesus with sweet spices they had bought.  They did not know a lot of things but they were wondering and said among themselves, " Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" 16:3 1.  What stones have not been rolled away? I see good intention here to annoint the body of Jesus with the aroma of the spices, but they were troubled about how they would get into the tomb.   So we too have stones in our paths that have not been rolled away. We are unable to see inside the tomb just as the women wondered.  We are unable to see where we are going at times.  Our lives are like the mirror that we see darkly I Cor.

 Sunday of the Passion-Palm Sunday  " Death must come before Life" Mark 14-15:47;  Philippians 2:5-11 "ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 1928 Book of Common Prayer   "Death must come before life" is the sermon title. " Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."  John 16:7 John 12:24 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” In agriculture

  Passion Sunday. Hosea 6:1-6; Epistle:  Hebrews 10:1-25; Gospel:  St. John 10:17-38 Sermon- "  I Give Them Eternal Life & They Shall Never Perish"    In the near East there is told the story of a traveler who was traveling with a guide, and came across a shepherd and his sheep. The man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It had four walls with a way in.  " That is where they go at night?" " Yes, said the shepherd, and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe."  " But (said the traveler), but there is no door."  " I am the door said the shepherd."  He was speaking from the arab shepherd's standpoint.  The traveler said,  " What do you mean by the door?"  Then said the shepherd. "When the light has gone, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in that open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door."  Morgan, Th

  Lent 4 mid way to Easter---  scripture:  Old Testament: Numbers 21:4-9;  Epistle: Epistle: Ephesians 2:1-10; Gospel: John 3:14-21     Sermon---" The Gospel Still Works" Charles Spurgeon the famous Reformed Baptist in England said, "  We believe that the work of regeneration, conversion, sanctification,  and faith is not an act of man's free will and power, but of the might efficacious and irrestible grace of God." I was re-reading my great-grandfather's commentary ( DR. G Campbell Morgan from London) on John, and came across this which I will use as an outline for the message:"Because God so loved He gave-1 and life comes through that Gift-2 and now the Light is shining-3"  ( Morgan on John) 1.  God so loved He gave. The conversation before this is with Nicodemus , a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee . He needed to see before he could believe ...there was a new birth needed. We too need that before we can truly love and then give as does God.  We nee

  "Seeking God Alone Together"--or " The World Does not know God ....the Way of the Cross Leads Home" Exodus 20:1-17 Third Sunday in Lent Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 John 2:13-22 What is the church exactly? What is this place where we come every Sunday to bring our concerns, to worship, to share our joys and sorrows? We would say a community of faith where Jesus is the Head. It is His body and we are His followers. There are laws which we read a few minutes ago which form the background of its laws, the so-called moral law of God which is binding and gives us form in our lives here now and for eternity. In the lessons we see some talk of that. Why come ? We come because in community we share the body of Christ together. We are its members. All week long I have been thinking of that . I like what a writer on a book on retreats said about community: “ one of the most powerful things community brings to individuals is courage---courage to be and do things we would n