MAC KIRK

  Good Shepherd Sunday.   John 10 ; I Peter 2   I remember one Sunday in the Army Chaplaincy helping out in one of the Anglican services and the higher ranking Chaplain , Major, Bill, asked me, " You have not heard of Good Shepherd Sunday?" I said, " no" .  He couldn't believe I had not.  But I came from an older group that did not have that.  Now I am glad I have been adopted by it.   What can be more beautiful than the Good Shepherd , our Lord Christ ?  Vanessa and I used to worship in a little Church in the Philly suburbs, and behind the Table was a lovely stained glass window of the Christ as Good Shepherd with the sheep He was herding.  ( I know the discussions about the images issues ....but I find myself rather on either side of it.)   We usually discuss the Gospel on this Sunday and there are many delightful words in there for us to ponder.  Jesus is the Door to the Sheepfold for example .  The others are not ...

 Easter Continues ! Luke 24:13-35 " Jesus Walks Along Beside us in our Journey" Many people today are struggling with how life has any purpose or plan. It is easy to look at what is going on in the world and wonder this. Why do some live to ripe old age while others die in their prime? Does this life have any purpose besides what I can find on my own? Where is truth? Does God speak today? How does He do that? Why bother trying to find out what He is saying? Is there any rhyme or reason to the events of my life? Are we finding any of these questions in our lives? Suicide rates among young people are high. In fact many of the stresses in war contribute to it. The services are struggling with how to reduce suicides among their own members. The bad economy also contributes to a higher suicide rate. Why do people get depressed? I imagine that a wish unfulfilled is part of that issue. Some have unrealistic expectations. Two of the disciples of Jesus were on the Resurrection day tra...

  Darkness to Light   - John 20:1-18   Easter 2023     " They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre , and we know not where they have laid Him."  20:2  In the darkness Mary Magdalene saw that the stone had been rolled away, and she was in darkness. A lot of us if we were honest with others and ourselves are in darkness a good bit of the time.  Sickness, loss, disappointment, dealing with difficult people, the economy, the country, the coming war we think is going to real, and even in our own despair in our inner spiritual world that seems so often dark and gloomy.  My favorite comic strip Snoopy on the dog house said, " It was a dark and gloomy night: or was it stormy night?  I wrote this Friday morning the day in which Jesus was crucified on the Cross.  And yes it was foggy.  In the fog I hear the birds cawing and not so much singing.  When I visited my father in California,  I heard the beautiful s...

  Holy Week. Palm Sunday . Matthew 27:42   Three groups of people abuse Jesus on the Cross , the ignorant sinners, the religious sinners and condemned sinners. 1. The ignorant sinners in vs. 39 " reviled Him, wagging their heads, and saying, ' Thou that destroyeth the temple, and build it in three days , save thyself.  If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." " The place of the Crucifixion was close to the great road which led from the North to Jerusalem.  On that Feast-Day , when there was no law to limit locomotion to a Sabbath day's journey, many would naturally be arrested by the spectacle of the three Crosses. ..." Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah. "Many of them knew nothing of Christ's case, but seeing him punished in company with the two malefactors, thought that he was doubtless guilty of the same crimes as they; others, perhaps, who had seen his miracles and heard something of his teaching, conceived the notion that one whom the pr...

  The Gift of Inadequacy   2 Timothy 1:7    " I am inadequate to meet life's opportunities, but I will conquer my fear by becoming a riverbed for the flow of God's guidance, love and power." Lloyd Ogilvie Have you ever felt overwhelmed and underprepared?  We all do, and this is the point at which we can see that God provides in our inability and inadequacy to get His grow His kingdom.  Instead of giving up,  this gives a time to see our need for God's power to do His will . And we should feel that way!  ..." I'm convinced that unless we are attempting something we could not pull off on our own strength, we have surrendered to the fear of being inadequate...and we become timid and shrink back from attempting what we know we are called to do."  p. 97 Ogilvie How then and in what way? 2 Tim. 1:7 the Apostle says to his companion and fellow worker in the faith, Timothy,  " God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of lo...

  Erasing our Fears.   I John 4:18   We have chatted the last few Sundays about our phobias , that is our fears.  What have we gotten from this series so far?  The list is here (table),  and can be helpful to us as we struggle with various things.  I have always liked the first one.  "My fear is really loneliness for God.  He will never leave me or forsake me.  I will claim His promise."  Last week's sticks with me too."  Secure in God's love, I will not surrender my self-worth to the opinions and judgments of others.  ...when I am hurt and rejected I will not retaliate.  I will allow God to heal me...."   We will look at resurrection and life as we journey to that Day of Easter with another fear statement about death and life.   I suppose my favorite of all is , " I will give up the vague idea that given time things work out.  Instead I will expectantly face the future knowing that God w...

  Fear and Rejection.          We all suffer rejection.  Sometimes we even feel rejected by God.  He doesn't seem to hear our desires we think.   Our plans are not His, and we know that, but that does not satifsy us.  He is looking for us to see that without Him we can do nothing, and living in His presence is better than all the other things we think we need or want.  Today's lesson in the fear series is , " Secure in God's love, I will not surrender my self-worth to the opinions and judgments of others.  When I am rejected, I will not retaliate; when I am hurt, I will allow God to heal me.  And knowing the pain of rejection, I will seek to love those who suffer from its anguish."  Lloyd Ogilvie 12 Steps To Living Without Fear I learned that Psalm 27 breaks down in these three areas.  " The LORD is my light.  And my salvation.The LORD is the strength of my life.  Of whom shall I be afraid?" ...