The Beacon
Blue Mound UMC March 2022
What’s Luck Got to Do With It?
A number of years ago, Dale and I knew a man whose nickname was Lucky. He had been tagged with the name when as a young man he had some good fortune. The name stuck with him through the years. At the time we meet Lucky, he owned a small, successful trucking business and was happy with his position in life. I don’t remember his real first name and most likely didn’t know it anyway. He was just “Lucky”.
Luck is described as a success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions. Chance considered as a force that cause good or bad things to happen. As in Good or Bad Luck. March is a month to celebrate many things, Luck is one of them. Luck of the Irish, Lucky Charms, Shamrocks, Horseshoes and Pots of Gold at the End of a Rainbow. I have a smidge of Irish in me from my mother’s side and I enjoy the Wearing of the Green too.
I did like many people wish “Good Luck” as an encouragement for something a person wanted to accomplish. Now, I try my best not to use that phrase any longer. Over the time, I have found Luck has nothing to do with being a Christian. I say “God Bless” now.
Choice not Chance plays a bigger role in what happens in someone’s life. Instead of chance as a force causing good or bad, Chance seen as in giving a person a Chance is better. God gives us a chance/choice to follow him through Jesus his Son. Christ as your Savior brings more rewards than a Pot of Gold and more Blessings than Lucky Charms.
– Linda
The LORD Bless You, and Keep You;
The LORD Make His Face Shine on You, And Be Gracious to You;
The LORD Lift Up His Countenance on You, And Give You Peace.’
Numbers 6:24-26
Last month I gave the first part of an answer to Who Is God the Father? The following is part two.
A Lived Faith
The ways in which we think about God affect the ways in which we think about our lives as Christians. If we believe that God shows us what it means to be loving, just, merciful, and forgiving, these ways of thinking about God will shape how we should act. If we think of God as harsh and judgmental, we ourselves are likely to be harsh and judgmental. If we think of God as warlike, or peaceful, tolerant, forgiving, or in some other way, this will probably affect the ways in which we live. To think of God as God the Father is to believe that God loves all people and wishes to save us from sin and death. If “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16), then we ourselves should be loving, self-giving people as well. Or, as the First Letter of John puts it, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).
To give of ourselves is at the heart of the Christian life. How do we use our money? How do we use our time? Do we use them only for ourselves, or in ways that give life, love, and hope to other people? Women and men from all different walks of life can give of themselves. People have different gifts (1 Cor. 12:4-11), and these gifts contribute in particular ways to building up God’s kingdom. Some people are good listeners, some are great preachers, and some are good with their hands. Some Christians are great writers, great teachers of children, and outstanding models of parenting. Some Christians know how to use money in ways that contribute to God’s work in the world, while others may be gifted to glorify God through music and art. The point is not exactly what your gift is, but that your attitude toward life is one of self-giving. The nature of God the Father is one of self-giving, and in like kind, we should give of ourselves to God and to our neighbors as well.
A Deeper Faith
The language of God as Father is deeply meaningful for many Christians. It is a way for them to know and love God more fully. It is a way to relate to God and to remind us of how deeply God loves and cares for us. At the same time, some people have raised objections about the use of masculine language for God, and there are good reasons for asking these kinds of questions. After all, God is not really a male, right? Jesus was a man, but the Holy Trinity is neither male nor female. The word “Spirit” in Hebrew, ruach, is normally feminine, and in Greek, pneuma, is neuter (neither masculine nor feminine). Additionally, some Christians have asked whether talking about God in masculine terms leads to our understanding women as secondary in importance to men.
Pastor’s Corner Page 2 of 3
The Bible does at times use feminine language for God. In the Old Testament particularly, a number of passages use motherly images for God. Several of these occur in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 42:14 God is said to cry out like a woman in labor. In Isaiah 46:1-4, we read about people who have to carry around statues of false God on beasts of burden, but, rather than being carried, God carries Israel like a mother carries her child in the womb. In Isaiah 49:15 we read of a God who is like a mother nursing a child and as a pregnant woman. Likewise, in Isaiah 66:13 w read, “As a mother comforts her child, / so I (God) will comfort you.” Other books of the Bible employ this kind of imagery as well. Numbers 11:12 describes God as a mother and an infant’s nurse, and Deuteronomy 32:15 describes God as the mother who has given birth to Israel. References to God in feminine terms are less common in the New Testament, though Jesus compares himself to a mother hen who wishes to protect her young (Matt 23:37), and he talks about the beginning of God’s new reign on the earth as being like “birth pangs” (Mark 13:8; Matt 24:8).
Of course, motherly images certainly do not represent the experience of all women, just as fatherly images do not represent the experience of all men. The point here is that the Bible does at times reference God in feminine terms. If the Bible uses feminine language for God, is there any reason that we cannot or should not use this language too? Feminine language for God can be helpful and appropriate, so long as we are clear that the God, we are talking about is the God of Israel, the God who became flesh in Jesus Christ for our salvation, and who lives and abides with us in the Holy Spirit.
The point of our God-talk, indeed of all Christian theology worth reading, is to bring us closer to God. To talk about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit connects us with the ways in which Christians have thought about God’s saving work through the centuries. God the Father sent the Son for our salvation, and God continues to work in our lives through the Holy Spirit. There is too much packed into this language, too much theology built up around it, too many theological works that use this language, simply to dispense with it. Again, it is deeply meaningful language for many people. Nevertheless, while it would be harmful to stop using this language, it may be helpful and appropriate at times to use other language for God, including feminine language.
The Catechism
The Nature of God
- Who is the God of all creation?
- The God of all creation is the Holy Trinity.
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters (Gen. 1:1).
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being
(John 1:3).
For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 116-17).
- What does it mean to say that God is the Trinity?
- It means that God is “three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Pastor’s Corner Page 3 of 3
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone (Deut 6:4).
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).
- Who are the three persons of the Trinity?
- Christians have long known them as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- Why is it important to know God as the Trinity?
- Because God has acted through all three persons of the Trinity for our salvation.
- Are the three persons of the Holy Trinity equal to one another?
- The three persons of the Holy Trinity are equal to one another because they are one and the same God.
- How do the three persons of the Holy Trinity differ from one another?
- The three persons of the Trinity differ from one another as follows:
- God the Father is neither begotten nor proceeding from any other person.
- God the Son from all eternity is begotten from the Father.
- God the Holy Spirit from all eternity proceeds from the Father.
When the Advocate comes, whom will I send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf (John 15:26).
And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba Father!” (Gal. 4:6).
God the Father
- Who is God the Father?
- The First Person of the Trinity, from whom the Son is eternally begotten, and from whom the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds.
Next month we’ll begin to look at Who Is God the Son!
Peace be with you,
Buster
Birthday
08 Lydia Schertz
12 Teddy Reynolds
14 Reese Haisler
16 John Stenger
18 Carroll Barnett
22 Pat Allen
23 Aaron Klein
29 Jesse Miller
Michele Regan-Leaupepe
30 Vince Haisler
31 Elizabeth Snapp
Anniversary
08 Kelsy and Chaunsey Digby
28 Danny and Sandra Schertz
“March In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb
02 Ash Wednesday
06 Holy Communion
13 Second Sunday Lunch, Noon
Daylight Saving Time Begins
17 St. Patrick’s Day
20 Spring Begins
26 Family Fellowship Night, 6:00 pm Fun, Games, and Food.
Join Us for Ash Wednesday Service March 2 at 5 pm – Let’s Begin the Celebration of the Lent Season together.
Remember to set your clocks forward Saturday Night – March 12
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
