MAC KIRK

Mark 9/ James 3 What does a servant look like? Someone just like you or me that tries to do God's will, and in the power of the Spirit imitate Jesus, the Divine Son? Could we make theological statements ( Jesus said to them, " Who do you say that I am? "They replied, " You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kergyma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our inter-personal relationships" And Jesus said, " What?" or would it be just better to go what our Lord , the writers of the Epistles say to us? ---that is the actual words of the Bible. That would be better, than guessing in words of ? Interesting the word servant is actually diakonos...dia- thorougly , konis-dust...in other words, raise up dust , they are moving to serve and minister. They had been talking about who would be the greatest while He had just told them about His Cross, death, and His resurrection. "Then He took a child and set him i...

James 2 Henri J. M. Nouwen "When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." Sometimes too preaching can be empty if it is not without Christ and His Spirit, and I too can id with that one as the preacher now and then. Source: Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life " If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find him in the chalice." ST John Chrysostom James was writing to the Jews who had become Christians. 1:1 " to the twelve tribes of the Di...

Reflections on faith and good deeds for others James I introduce this by quoting Charles Erdman, " One may be most scrupulous in observing all the prescribed forms of religion, he may give alms and pray and fast as the Pharisees did: he may attend church and sing hymns and observe sacraments; but his religion may still be an empty and vain delusion...." Before we think about some of things which please God, note that the gift of God is faith itself as James says, " every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights...Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." 1:17 This is James' way of saying what we already know, that our faith and birth in the new life is brought forth by God, and not our own efforts. Born of the Spirit is how John says it. 3:5 " except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." ...

Deuteronomy the Gospel of Love ( from Samuel Schultz) I have never forgotten that title from a book I got in seminary and it is true. " When we recognize that the Deuteronomic revelation provides the basis for the messages of the prophets, and that Jesus came to fulfill and complete God's revelation to mankind, then the Book of Deuteronomy becomes crucially signficant. Moses was the prophet par excellence in the OT. Jesus was the greater prophet of whom Moses spoke....A careful consideration of Deuteronomy provides today's God-fearing people with a better insight and understanding of life in its relationship to God and fellowmen..." from the book above. Deut below from ch. 4 "5Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all ...

Eph 5:15a Careful Walking What comes before this vs? " ( ESV-" Look carefully how you walk...") For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise" A new book just came out on Caring for one another by Ed Welch ," Imagine . . . an interconnected group of people who entrust themselves to each other. You can speak of your pain, and someon...

Psalm 34 ----Promises Here! " Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivereth them out of all their troubles." vs. 19 We saw last reading in Ephesians that 4:24-25 we are to "put on the new man , that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth....Wherefore , putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor... for we are members of one another." 1. This is the righteousness of Christ and of God Himself. It is not the right ways of man which are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12, " There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; But the end thereof are the ways of death." In the NT we hear the Apostle echo this thought in I Corinthians 3: 14 , " Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him, because they are spiritually judged." Is it the truth we are hearing? We are to speak the truth because Jesus who is the Way, the Tr...

John 6 :24-35 The Bread of our every life "In our daily lives, we tend to expend an awful amount of effort and energy on not letting go. We constantly try to prove our worth by accomplishing things and being very busy. Or we spend a lot of energy judging other people, trying to prove our righteousness by focusing on the splinter in our neighbor’s eye. Or our effort can be spent jumping from one distraction to the next, avoiding any stillness. This last tactic is especially dangerous in our current culture of distraction, as technology promises to keep us endlessly (mindlessly) entertained — our attention held captive. But God’s invitation remains the same: Just rest. It’s so simple and so transformative. The radical practice of rest can help us to recognize in ourselves the very patterns of effort that consume our energy and our lives. It can help us to let go of these useless strategies and this relentless striving. Rest takes us to the lip of the well, and helps us to fa...