MAC KIRK

ST Michael and All Angels    - Sept 29      Today we celebrate the feast day of our parish and we enter an area that is certainly in Scripture but this is an area of great mystery .   We can only as Christians bow before what we hear in reverence.   When I think of angels I think of that marvelous vision of Isaiah in Chapter 6 of his prophetic book where there is a picture of “seraphims with six wings”.   Isaiah sees them as they cry out ,” Holy , Holy , Holy   is the LORD of hosts”.   Seraph is from the root to burn and these creatures may have been angelic beings that were flying fiery serpents.   Of course there are other kinds of angels-----we think of cherubs as well.   They are mentioned in Genesis 3:24 where they guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden.   As well they sit over the Ark of the Covenant-Exodus 25:20 “ And the cherubims shall stretch their wings on high”   They had wings we know for su...

“The Balm of Gilead”         Jeremiah 8:18-9:1    Psalm 79:1-9   1 Timothy 2:1-7   Luke 16:1-13   Healing comes to us in many ways and in many shapes in our lives.   It may be that it takes many years to work through some of the problems and hurts we have felt .   I heard someone say that you know that forgiveness , a kind of healing ,   happens when we no longer wish ill on someone who has harmed us.   That means we have finally let go of our anger and frustration and have forgiven.   In the Old Testament we read of healing that came from Gilead. Genesis 37 said “ Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh going to carry it down to Egypt” vs. 25   “It was a healing compound made from the resinous gum of a bush which grew plentifully in the area of Gilead” Wikipedia   In our OT lesson we read , “ Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician...

Sabbath –Healing and our Lives    Luke 13:10 -17   On Sunday heaven's gates stand open. - George Herbert John Calvin ; “If the Lord’s day is abolished, the church would be in imminent danger of convulsion and ruin.” GENERAL ORDER RESPECTING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY IN THE ARMY AND NAVY EXECUTIVE MANSION , Washington , November 15, 1862 The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for men and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the divine will demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer nor the cause they defend be imperiled by the profanati...

GENERAL ORDER RESPECTING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY IN THE ARMY AND NAVY EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, November 15, 1862 The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for men and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the divine will demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer nor the cause they defend be imperiled by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High. “At this time of public distress,” adopting the words of Washington in 1776, “men may find enough to do in the service of God and their country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.” The ...

On Sunday heaven's gates stand open. - George Herbert John Calvin ; “If the Lord’s day is abolished, the church would be in imminent danger of convulsion and ruin.” D. L. Moody (1837-1899) made the following appeal in regard to the Sabbath: "I honestly believe that this commandment is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.' It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was-in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age. The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. The fourth commandment begins with the word remember, showing t...

Luke 12:49-52   “ Division and Our Godly Responses”        Not peace. But division.   Fire instead of calm.   These do not sound like words we are glad to hear but they are words Jesus spoke: “ Fire I came to cast into the earth….peace , I say to you rather division….father against son, and daughter against mother…” Luke 12:49    “ In the Mediterranean world of antiquity the extended family meant everything.   It was not only the source of one’s status in the community but also functioned as the primary economic, religious, educational, and social network.   Loss of connection to the family meant the loss of these vital networks as well as any connection to the land. LOSS OF FAMILY WAS THE MOST SERIOUS LOSS ONE COULD SUSTAIN.”   Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels by Bruce Malina         The same word “division” occurs in Luke 11:17 when Jesus said , “   a ...

Hebrews 11- “ Faith”       I did not want to see the recent movie “ Argo” but got to anyway.   It is about some of the embassy ( about 6) being taken to the Canadian embassy in Iran during the hostage crisis.   Now how do they get out?   The story says that ( supposed to be true) they disguised themselves as working on a space fantasy movie .   The director played by Ben Affleck flies into Tehran gives them fake passports, stamped with the date he arrives and they proceed to try and get out Iran .   I was on the edge of my seat!   My heart was pounding . They are on the airplane after being severely questioned and are ready to take off.   But they Iranians figure out they are not really movie actors at all, and rush the plane .   They take off.   They are safe.   But it did not look like it would happen.        Faith is like this.   But our passage is guaranteed!   ...