Beechfield United Methodist Church Baltimore, MD
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • LEADERSHIP
    • OUR HISTORY
  • MINISTRIES
  • PRESCHOOL
  • NEWS
  • PHOTO ALBUM
    • Grill and Greet
    • Holy Communion
  • LINKS
  • CONTACT US

Good News - Week of 5/20/2018

5/22/2018

0 Comments

 
PRAYER OF THE WEEK
God of glory and majesty, I honor you and praise your glory. Amen.

Painting of the Holy Trinity. The primary colors are orange, read-orange, yellow and pink. Abstract renderings of the faces of the Father and the Son are present. There is also a dove representing the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Trinity
NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES

Isaiah 6:1-8: Isaiah receives a vision of God in God’s glory in the Temple, and he hears the seraphim singing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Then, after he has confessed and been cleansed, he hears God asking for someone whom God can send, and he volunteers.

Psalm 29: A psalm in praise of God’s glory, the power and majesty of God’s voice, and acknowledging God as the eternal ruler over creation, the heavenly beings and all people.

Romans 8:12-17: By the power of God’s Spirit, we are heirs with Christ of God’s glory, we are adopted as children of God, and we are able to live according to the Spirit’s leading, not following our sinful nature.

John 3:1-17: Jesus teaches Nicodemus that, in order to see God’s Reign, he must be born of the Spirit. For whoever believes in Jesus, sent by God into the world to save the world, receives God’s eternal life.

​
Reflections
The obvious focus of the readings this week is the celebration of the Trinity. The uniquely doctrinal nature of this theme can make it a tough week to prepare for, but the specific focus of the readings for Year B offers some helpful practical possibilities. Isaiah’s vision, with the triple “holy” of the seraphs, reveals how powerfully transforming a true encounter with the triune God can be. The psalm supports this with its celebration of God as king over all, including the heavenly beings. In the letter to the Romans, Paul reveals how the triune God works in our hearts and lives to make us, both in identity and action, true Spirit-led children of God. Finally, in John’s Gospel, Jesus makes the same point in his call for seekers of God to be born again – transformed, by God’s Spirit, into believers in, and practitioners, of the values and purposes of God’s Reign, that was revealed, taught and demonstrated by Jesus. God is revealed, then, as the King and Creator, who seeks an intimate relationship, as of parent and child, with human beings, and all of creation. Then, God is also revealed in Christ as the one who shows the true nature of God’s kingship, and who invites us to be participants in God’s work in the world, by giving us an example, and by opening doors to God’s life through his death and resurrection. Finally, the empowerment we need to enter this relationship with God, and live as kingdom people, is God’s Spirit who is given to us and through whom we are born from above. The key for this week, then, is how God encounters us, in God’s Triune nature, and transforms us into Christ-like, kingdom living, children of God. The Trinitarian celebration is not just a fascinating theological exercise, but a moment of opening ourselves, in worship, to this transforming encounter with our majestic and mysterious God.

​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    Communion
    Disaster Aid
    Holiday Baskets
    Holy Communion
    Preschool
    Psalm 137
    Psalms
    Remembering 9-11
    Scripture Notes
    UMCOR
    World Communion

541 S. Beechfield Avenue, Baltimore, MD  21229 - Tel: 410-644-7640 - beechfieldumc@yahoo.com 
​​​(c)  2016 Beechfield United Methodist Church
Website Manager: beechfieldumcwebmaster@gmail.com