Transfiguration Sunday is 14 February 2021.

The Transfiguration of Jesus is a story told in the New Testament. There are obvious versions in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels.

During the Transfiguration, Jesus radiantly shines in glory upon a mountain. He has gone there with 3 of his disciples – James, John and Peter – to pray. The disciples see Jesus begin to shine with bright rays of light. Jesus is then joined by the Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah, and he speaks with them.

The version of this story which forms the basis of Rev. Geoff McKee’s sermon here is from Mark. The Transfiguration – viewed in the light of Jesus’ resurrection – provides a glimpse of the glory that exists beyond the strife and the struggle.

Below, you will find the video service with the 4 scripture readings from the Lectionary for this Sunday, prayers and the sermon. At the end, you will find Katherine Robertson’s musical selection for this week. The text from Mark 9:2-9 precedes the video below.

[Read more…]

This is Rev. Geoff McKee’s 2nd sermon in the season of Epiphany (13 January 2019), looking at the Baptism of Jesus and its lessons for us, including why the Baptism of Jesus is an act by which he shows his complete identification with us.

You can download a PDF version of the sermon here, if you wish.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 (New International Version)
15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

…

The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus
21 When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

I have been fascinated for some time with the story of Jane Haining.

She was the Church of Scotland missionary who perished in Birkenau death camp in 1944.

She is very much the forgotten Scottish hero of the Holocaust.

She began to serve as matron of the girls’ home with the Scottish Mission School in Budapest in 1932. She was holidaying in Cornwall in 1939 when the Second World War broke out, and she immediately returned to Budapest. She refused to return to Scotland, as ordered in 1940, determined to remain with her girls. After the Nazi invasion of Hungary, in March 1944, she again refused to leave.

She was arrested in April 1944 and detained by the Gestapo, accused, amongst other things, of working among Jews and listening to the BBC.

And what Jane Haining did that was so remarkable was simply that she wished to identify herself with the Jewish children in her care to the extent that she wished to be treated exactly as they would be treated.

She wished her fate to become inseparably joined to theirs.

And that is what God has done in Christ Jesus.

He has come among us. He has identified with us. He has taken on our flesh and our blood – our experience – our joys and our concerns, our trials and tribulations – so that he might help us, so that we may know that we are not alone; so that we may know that we are loved. [Read more…]

Rev. Geoff McKee argues that the doctrine of a personal God is correct. In his sermon for 15 July 2018, his scripture is Ephesians 1:3-14 – part of the apostle Paul’s sermon to the church at Ephesus. Albert Einstein always had strong objections to the concept of a personal God. Geoff examines the competing ideas of free will and election/predestination, and explains how the words ‘In Christ’ are key to understanding the strength of the argument in favour of a personal God.

You can download a PDF version of the sermon by clicking here.

Ephesians 1:3-14 (New International Version)

Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Albert Einstein gave grudging acceptance to “the necessity for a beginning”.

Eventually, he also accepted “the presence of a superior reasoning power.”

But never did he accept the doctrine of a personal God.

Two specific obstacles blocked his way.

According to his journal writings, Einstein wrestled

• with a deeply felt bitterness toward the clergy, toward priests in particular, and
• with his inability to resolve the paradox of God’s omnipotence and man’s responsibility for his choices.

“If this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human thought, and every human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty being? In giving out punishment and rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him?”

Seeing no solution to this paradox, Einstein, like many other powerful intellects through the centuries, ruled out the existence of a personal God.

The story is told of a group of theologians who were discussing the tension between predestination and free will.

Things became so heated that the group broke up into two opposing factions.

But one man, not knowing which to join, stood for a moment trying to decide.

At last, he joined the predestination group.

“Who sent you here?” they asked.

“No one sent me,” he replied. “I came of my own free will.”

“Free will!” they exclaimed. “You can’t join us! You belong with the other group!”

So he followed their orders and went to the other clique.

There, someone asked, “When did you decide to join us?”

The young man replied, “Well, I didn’t really decide–I was sent here.”

“Sent here!” they shouted. “You can’t join us unless you have decided by your own free will!”

Such are the tangles we are capable of getting ourselves in as we receive in so many different ways the beautiful doctrine of election that is presented to us in the passage from Ephesians.

It is sometimes called the doctrine of predestination.

The conundrum that Albert Einstein articulated has come to dominate discussion of the teaching. I would like to suggest to you today that a failure to read the text that is in front of us, for what it is, has caused the problem. [Read more…]

The Scripture for Rev. Geoff McKee’s first sermon of 2017 is Matthew 3:13-17 (The Baptism of Jesus). He discusses how Baptism has been misunderstood – the common misconception being that it is an “end” rather than a “beginning”. He also reflects on the challenge presented daily to all who have been baptised.  The passage from Matthew’s Gospel follows immediately below and then the sermon.  You can download a PDF version of the sermon, if you wish, by clicking HERE.

Matthew 3:13-17 (New International Version)

The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

I read the following on an internet blog, recently. It’s quite long but I’m pleading your patience as I read it because there’s much here that is important and relevant for today as we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The context is Roman Catholic but the main point is universal across the Christian Church. [Read more…]