MAC KIRK

  Candlemas, Presention of the Lord in the Temple. Luke 2:22-40     Some things are defining.  " Men declare themselves by their attitude to Him ( Jesus).  They cannot ultimately be neutral.  When men see Christ suffer , their reaction shows on which side they stand."  The Gospel According to St. Luke by Leon Morris  I want to focus on Luke 2: 34 "And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." 1. Simeon blessed them.  He had been waiting to see the infant Christ child, and here 40 days after His birth He does. He utters words that are famous in many traditional Services at Evening Prayer since the 4th century.  We call it the"   Nunc Dimittis" literally now let depart... The Salvation He was w...

  3rd Sunday after Epiphany: Neh 8:1-12 Ps 113 1 Cor 12:12-27 Luke 4:14-21  "Jesus is the Pattern for our Ethics ( as was His custom-ethos or ethics)" WORDS OF WISDOM “Feeling good about ourselves is essential in our being able to love others.” FRED ROGERS  ( he was a Presbyterian minister , and we could learn from how he applied his faith to apply ours in some good way) The I Corinthian ch . 12 reading talks about this in a very graphic way, " the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." We may want to say it this way.  Jesus is the pattern for our ethics.  In Luke the word custom, " as was His custom" is the greek word ethos.  "The Greek verb "ethó" primarily means to be accustomed to or to be in the habit of doing something. It implies a repeat...

  2nd Sunday after Epiphany.  Lessons: Isa 62:1-5 Ps 96; 1 Cor 12:1-11 ;John 2:1-11; Message- " Jesus Manifested His Glory" "The Jews attached great importance to the high moments of life. Thus a wedding was not just a brief ceremony, but an experience shared by the entire community. The typical wedding feast could last up to seven days. That sounds strange to our modern way of thinking, but this offered a bright interlude in an otherwise dreary existence. The ceremony would begin on Tuesday at midnight. After the wedding the father of the bride would take his daughter to every house so that everyone might congratulate her. It was a community experience. Weddings were a time of joy. Years ago, when Johnny Carson was the host of The Tonight Show, he interviewed an eight year old boy. The young man was asked to appear because he had rescued two friends in a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As Johnny questioned the boy, it became apparent to him and the audie...

  1st Sunday after Epiphany. Isa 42:1-9 Ps 89:1-29 or 89:20-29 Acts 10:34-38 Luke 3:15-22  ; " Epiphany Living"   The first thing I do in preparing the message for the Sunday is to look at the season, and the lessons.  The hymn we will sing at the end of the service is a seasonal hymn in that it talks about this in one of the stanzas left out in the hymnal. "Oh, lead me, Lord, that I may lead The wand’ring and the wav’ring feet; Oh, feed me, Lord, that I may feed Thy hung’ring ones with manna sweet."   That is the point of Epiphany.  The Gospel is for all, not just for us here. Another vs left out " Oh, give Thine own sweet rest to me, That I may speak with soothing pow’r A word in season, as from Thee, To weary ones in needful hour."  Epiphany is manifesting and showing God's power and love to others , so that they too would be fed with God's manna. This is the example of the Wise men in Matthew 2 that we read last week..."there came wise men...

  A Beginning to the New Year Message. Second Sunday after Christmas Day:Jeremiah 31:7-14; Ps 84; Eph 1:3-14 ;Luke 2:22-40 or Matt 2:1-12 "Living without Christ Fred Craddock once told a parable about a man who moved into a cottage equipped with a stove and simple furnishings. As the sharp edge of winter cut across the landscape, the cottage grew cold as did its occupant. He went out back and pulled a few boards off the house to kindle the fire. The fire was warm, but the house seemed as cold as before. More boards came off for a larger fire to warm the now even colder house, which in return required an even larger fire, demanding more boards. In a few days the man cursed the weather, cursed the house, cursed the stove, and moved away. The futility that man felt is the futility of those who try to live the Christian life without Christ. He is the Word that was in the beginning with God and was God. And he is alive today. To those of us who are drowning he is someone we can hold on...