MAC KIRK

Water into Wine in John 2. Jesus takes the ordinary and turns it into something marvelous. He took the water turned into wine , showed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. John 2:11 I note that Jesus & His disciples were invited to the wedding by I assume His mother. " And ..there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and Jesus was also bidden." We do not know for sure , but He came to a marriage. I see something here about Jesus being present at this wedding , " He showed His approval of joy and gladness, He sanctified marriage and all our social relationships, and above all He indicated how human lives would be glorified by Him.." Erdman Ordinary life is to be glorified by God's presence & enjoyed by us His disciples when we see life as a gift and a joy. Life for sure is full of joys as well as sorrows, but God is present in all of it. Unfortunately Christians are not always known for joy. We should...

Epiphany I. ----I usually study the texts that are provided each week, and think on them. All Scripture is inspired of God, God-breathed, but I wait until the bells go off in my head for what hits me as good for us to think about. Phillips Brooks , the Bishop of Boston, and author of " O Little Town of Bethlehem" used to say that preaching is truth through personality.This week as I was traveling back and forth to the Rehab, doing other various things through the week, teaching on WED, Tues preparing for that, and being at the CC...etc....it hit me that this was not what I would have said about how God acts. It would have been more dramatic and the calling of God to someone who had not known Him at all, but this is not what I see here. I see drama with the dreams and the angel of God coming to Cornelius, a centurion of all people, but let's take a look at him before we judge what God did . ...while remembering that Epiphanytide is the season of outreach and the appeari...

Wise Men Matthew 2 Many things stand out in these few verses. Note what is said by one famous theologian, " Søren Kierkegaard Although the scribes could explain where the Messiah should be born, they remained quite unperturbed in Jerusalem. They did not accompany the Wise Men to seek him. Similarly we may be able to explain every article of our faith, yet remain spiritually motionless. The power that moved heaven and earth leaves us completely unmoved. What a contrast! The three kings had only a rumor to go by. But it spurred them to set out on a long, hard journey. The scribes, meanwhile, were much better informed, much better versed. They had sat and studied the scriptures for years, like so many dons. But it didn’t make any difference. Who had the more truth? Those who followed a rumor, or those who remained sitting, satisfied with all their knowledge?" Source: Watch for the Light I had never thought about this so much until I read this. It exhorts us as well ...

God's Time. Galatians 4:4 "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Time to? It's about time. There is not enough time....What expressions do you know for time? Or , I wish I had time for......_________. Or it's time to ________ Pray , fast, celebrate? God has a time. His time is the best for us. The fulness of time means , " when however the fulness of the time had come , past tense, indicative, active....." Fulfilllment may be the best trans here. We can think of how time works. Tomatoes for ex. are ripe and if they get too ripe, I call them mushy, and they do not taste as good. The ...

Christmas Eve / Christmas I wonder if we can relate to the real Christmas story. Somehow it becomes a far off event with a Star, a Manger, an Inn, a baby ( the Christ child) , Mary, Joseph, ( even though we try with the Mangers and the real animals and all the celebrations..) etc... our world does not seem any different at all. We have the same things happening, crisis at the border; crisis in our lives with ill health; people who are lonely ( loss of loved ones due to something even separation or death). We see the manger from afar . Christmas is to us somewhat of a story that does not come down to our daily struggles. There are angels. They are saying," Glory to God to in the highest and peace on earth to men. "This is a rare event in our world ---such a wonderful event. People have problems today. They have always had them, haven't they? A casual friend of mine who took a church I did not retired recently. His wife for some reason ( which he never ...

Advent 4. Elizabeth, Zacharias and faith---Luke 1:39-46 Something I never quite caught as I read and re-read this Gospel for today is that there is doubt here and faith as well. Doubt makes the history seem so much more real to me, for I am a doubter if the truth be told. Is there anyone else here who is like that too? We live by faith because we are really believers in what God has said and done, but we doubt as we go through difficulties, and even beautiful surprises as Zacharias did. But before he saw, he doubted. Who else is there? Who else lives there from time to time? We doubt because ....fill in the blank. We doubt because we do not always have faith in God and His promises to us. Zacharias was given a great privilege to go into the Holy place by the lot that was cast. " And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense." Luke 1: 11 Vs 20 says that the angel is Gabriel and that Zacharias does not be...

Advent II. Andrew Symes in Anglican Mainstream hits the nail on the head... ( Isaiah)"The prophet recognizes that as the underlying problem is the mis-orientation of the human heart, resulting in God’s judgement. The desperate need is not for economic or political solutions, or programmes of self-improvement, but forgiveness, and spiritual and moral transformation in response to divine ‘ad-vention’ and intervention. We are powerless to make ourselves acceptable to God, and to change our hearts. “How can we be saved?” the prophet asks in anguish in verse 5. He pleads: “do not remember our sins forever”, but forgiveness alone, the removal of the sentence of punishment and the cleansing of conscience, is only one aspect of the salvation that is needed. We need God to visit in person: “Come down to make your name known to your enemies” (v2). We all believe this on our knees as Whitfield ( Anglican evangelist in the 1700's) said to Wesley ( Methodist). The unregenerate man ...