MAC KIRK

Epiphany VI - Matthew 5:21-37 Today I would like to take these vss, only a part in the Sermon on the Mount, and think about them in the area of relationships. 5:23-24 " If you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has aught against you; leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." None of us can always do this perfectly, and that is the whole point of the Sermon the Mount as well. Who is always pure in heart? Who always a peacemaker? Who is always meek? Yet we seek to be like Christ and yet we fail so often in our lives and in our relationships. How can we hope? 1. The very inability to do the things we should illustrates our need of God's help in our situations and relationships. That is the whole point of the sermon on the mount. Yes we are to do His Will and forgive and repair as we try but we must let God help us do it. This remind...

No...I have not left the Church of God, but the one I was the pastor of I did . Sometimes we feel God does lead us and it is not always easy. We can do the right thing and step out of the way which I felt I had to do in the parish in Kerrville. When the parish switched to another fellowship not Reformed Episcopal, but more roman, I could not teach any longer what I believed in good conscience, so I stepped aside > I wish them well. I do believe that we should be true to our convictions . I happen to believe that compromise on the reformed nature of the protestant side of the Church made them weaker but they made that choice. Going ahead with a new call down the road possibly....we will let the new Bishop guide who happens to agree that he could not sign the Fifna roman sacramental system either.... ( so the ACNA needs to come to grips with this issue at some point...).Of course the Bible is our standard, not the Bishop. But we will compromise when we have to..... Com...

Christmas "The judge knew that Sgt. Joseph Serna had been through a lot. The former Special Forces soldier did four combat tours in Afghanistan over a nearly two-decades-long career with the U.S. Army. Through those years, the Fayetteville Observer reported, Serna was almost killed three times: once, by a roadside bomb, then again by a suicide bomber. During a tour in 2008, Serna and three other soldiers were driving down a narrow dirt road in Kandahar when their armored truck toppled into a canal, the Associated Press reported. As water filled the vehicle, Serna struggled to escape. It was his fellow soldier, Sgt. James Treber, who saved him. “I felt a hand come down and unfasten my seat belt and release my body armor,” Serna recalled to the AP. “Sgt. Treber picked me up and moved me to a small pocket of air. He knew there was not enough room for both of us to breathe so he went under water to find another pocket of air.” Treber died from the accident, but Serna survived....

Sunday before Christmas Day, 4th S in Advent Have you ever been frazzled? Is that a word? It certainly is a feeling of overwhelming angst and the opposite of quiet , peaceful serenity. I came across a book called, Overcoming Anxiety for Dummies and there are a lot of good ideas in there to try and settle one's emotions and thoughts down. Some people avoid anxiety for example and doing that may increase it. For example if you do not like parties, just don't go, but as the book illustrates after a while you become isolated, and being around people for any reason creates more anxiety. There are exercises which offer momentary relief such as "controlled breathing" or the " progressive muscle technique". While many of these exercises are very helpful for a short time and give us relief , I wonder if they really get to the long term solution. I liked the book but the fixes were not permanent at least for me. God offers us as His people and follow...

2nd S in Advent----the most famous Collect/Prayer in the PB " The Word of God is a two-edged sword; as for the weapons of natural reason, they are the armour of Saul, rather cumbersome about the Soldier of Christ than needful. They are not of force to do that which the Apostles of Christ did by the power of the Holy Ghost: ' My preaching', therefore saith Paul, 'hath not been has not been in the enticing speech of man's wisdom , but in plain evidence of the Spirit and of power, that your faith may not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.' ...if I believe the Gospel there needeth no reasoning about it to persuade me, if I do not believe, it must be the Spirit of God, and not the reason of man that shall convert my heart unto him." Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity , Richard Hooker, 1554-1600, Anglican theologian. The question today is about the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures , 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. The prayer for to...

Advent Insight ! Romans 13 Let me open this new Church Year with a story. I was out walking the dogs the day after Thanksgiving am Friday, and this account popped into my mind regarding the Romans text we heard read . In the early 60's when my Dad was stationed in Viet Nam, my mother, sister and I lived with my grandfather in Philadelphia for a year. It was an old interesting triple decker house in the suburbs of Philly. I had the roam of it, and it was exciting. One day though I got myself into trouble.....I was almost 8 and broke a window in the third floor bathroom trying to open it. I thought my grandfather would be very mad, but he wasn't. He said, " That is an old window anyway and it needed replacing." I felt very guilty about breaking it , and thought I deserved a good punishment. Instead he was kind, loving and grandfatherly in the best sense. This widened my thinking at that very young age! Imagine someone treating you nicely even when you did no...

Moving into Advent Next Week -Psalm 39/ John 6 Someone dialled a wrong number and got the following recording: "I am not available right now, but I thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes." - from: http://www.hotsermons.com/sermon-illustrations/sermon-illustrations- Today's Collect is about stirring up our wills so that we can change for the better in our actions and thoughts" STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. " BCP 1928 Often our lives seem unmanageable and we desire change but can't seem to get out of the rut we are in. Didn't Jesus do that with His disciples in today's Gospel? " WHEN Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company c...