The Beacon
Blue Mound UMC October 2023
Are you on a Good, Healthy Diet?
Physical + Spiritual Diets
We may constantly strive to maintain a good healthy diet for our physical body, eating all the proper nutritional foods.
As a Christian Believer, do we feed ourself with a good healthy spiritual diet? – Are you spiritually suffering from Malnutrition?
What makes a proper spiritual diet? – Here are a few things>>>>
* Study the Bible, Learn about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Bread of Life + Get Spiritual Food from God and Jesus + Daily
* Communication with God – Two Way, Speak and Listen
Prayer + Supplication + Refresh Relationship w/God + Be Still
* Worship and Fellowship
Praising God + Gathering Together
* Sharing with Others -Witnessing -Linda
What Are the Sacraments? (Part One)
There have been times in the history of the Church when the Lord’s Supper was only celebrated once a year. Then there have been times when it was celebrated three times a year – at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. John Wesley celebrated it twice a week. One of the gifts of the revival led by the Wesleys, was the rediscovery of the Lord’s Supper as a vital means of grace. John Wesley saw the impact that the Lord’s Supper had on people, and he became convinced that it was a ‘converting ordinance’ – a place where people could meet the risen Lord for the first time and never be the same.
Think about the difference between knowing about a person and knowing a person. Knowing a person involves a relationship. It involves interaction and communication. Knowing a person is a much richer experience than knowing about a person. Just as we get to know a person through such means as talking, messaging, writing, and spending time together, it is important that we also get to know God. It is not enough to know about God. One of the main ways in which Christians can know God more fully is through the sacraments.
In Wesleyan traditions there are two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The first of these we perform only once, the second again and again. The word sacrament comes from the same root as the word sacred. It is something that is set apart, something special within the life of faith. Why are the sacraments special? For one thing, they are outward signs of inward realities. In other words, they are symbols of the work that the Holy Spirit does within us. As a wedding ring is the symbol of the loving relationship between two people, the sacrament is the symbol of a loving relationship between God and the believer.
Sacraments are much more than signs or reminders, though. Wesleyans believe that they are special “means of grace.” Remember that a means of grace is a way of receiving the power and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Imagine that human beings are spiritually sick. We are in need of help. God is our physician; the Holy Spirit is our medicine. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are time-honored, reliable ways of receiving the spiritual medicine that we so desperately need. In other words, we believe that God really does show up in the sacraments. Put in another way, the sacrament is not mainly about what we do, but about what God does.
It is important to note that the sacraments are part of our life together, not just individually. We can pray by ourselves. We can read scripture by ourselves. We cannot, however, baptize ourselves, nor can we partake of the Lord’s Supper by ourselves. These acts are carried out in the community of other believers, and through these works we believe that God is at work in our community of faith. It is part of the nature of a sacrament to be carried out within the worshipping life of a community of believers.
Next month we’ll continue looking at What Are the Sacraments? I pray that you may come to understand and believe more and more with each passing day, just how special and loved by God you are!
Peace be with you,
Buster
An Evening Prayer
By C. Maud Battersby & Charles Gabriel
If I have wounded any soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, forgive!
If I have uttered idle words or vain,
If I have turned aside from want or pain,
Lest I offend some other through the strain,
Dear Lord, forgive!
If I have been perverse, or hard, or cold,
If I have longed for shelter in the fold,
When thou hast given me some fort to hold,
Dear Lord, forgive!
Forgive the sins I have confessed to thee;
Forgive the secret sins I do not see;
O guide me, love me, and my keeper be.
Amen.
*Note: This song is in our Cokesbury Worship Hymnal, Song #120.
Celebrate A Real Harvest of Blessings
In Our People
Happy Birthday
01 Stacy Schertz
Suzanna Stenger
13 Susanne Barnett
15 John Smith
16 Charlie Ziegel
Jeanne Levelle
17 Charles Bressler
21 Wallace Trietsch
22 Ryan Trevino
24 Carolyn Brooks
27 Shirley Haisler
Happy Anniversary
03 Aaron and Katie Klein
20 John and Dorothy Smith
Hello October!
01 Holy Communion
08 Second Sunday Lunch, Noon
24 United Nations Day
28 Family Fellowship Night, 6:00 pm Fun, Games, and Food.
There are so many events during a month’s time that they cannot all be told in this newsletter.
Please check with a friend, the Sunday Bulletins and/or our weekly email updates for more information.
BLUE MOUND UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
8421 N. Interstate 35, Denton, TX 76207-1537 (940) 382-0825
Midway between Denton and Sanger at Exit 473
Sunday School: 9:30 am, Sunday Worship: 10:45 am
Website: www.bluemoundumc.org
Linda Boyer, Newsletter Editor
Need to contact Pastor Buster Noah?
Email: pastor@bluemoundumc.org
