March in Review

Heavenly Mother and Father are the parents of "heaven and earth", are one with Christ, are the parents of Christ, created the night and day, are merciful and are glorified by us, sought by us, and love and bless us. We wish to obey them, and they visit us with miracles and fill us with love.

I didn't do any essays this month; I'll rededicate myself to that next month.

On the Internet this month, Mraynes at the Exponent wrote a piece about the subconscious messages about gender and godliness in Primary and at the end wrote, "And today she will learn that she has a body just like her Heavenly Mother’s." I loved this piece because I actually taught that lesson to my Sunbeams this year. We all have bodies like our Heavenly Father and Mother.

The Internet was also abuzz about the idea of references to Asherah in the Bible. Asherah is considered the wife of God in the Bible. This has been on the "list of things to write about" for this blog, so if anyone would like to contribute their own studies of Asherah, please do!

If there is anything else you've seen this month relating to our Heavenly Mother, please share in the comments!

Matthew 7:7-12

Sunday School was on the last half of the Sermon on the Mount yesterday. I realized I personally spend more of my attention on Matthew 5 and 6 so here's a scripture in 7. I made all the "he"s gender neutral and changed Father to Parents. Unfortunately, I had to use "they" and "them" as singulars to make this work, so pardon the grammar.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and they that seeketh findeth; and to them that knocketh it shall be opened.

9 Or what person is there of you, whom if their child ask bread, will they give them a stone?

10 Or if they ask a fish, will they give them a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Parents which are in heaven give good things to them that ask them?

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King

This was our sacrament hymn today and references "Father" once. Changing pronouns has almost become second nature for me during hymns lately.

Jesus of Nazareth,
Savior and King!
Triumphant over death,
Life thou didst bring,
Leaving thy Parents' throne,
On earth to live,
Thy work to do alone,
Thy life to give.

While of this broken bread
Humbly we eat,
Our thoughts to thee are led
In rev’rence sweet.
Bruised, broken, torn for us
On Calvary’s hill—
Thy suff’ring borne for us
Lives with us still.

As to our lips the cup
Gently we press,
Our hearts are lifted up;
Thy name we bless!
Guide us where’er we go,
Till in the end
Life evermore we’ll know
Through thee, our Friend.

Doctrine and Covenants 50:43

I really like the "Father" to "Parents" changes so here's another one!

43 And the Parents and I are one. I am in the Parents and the Paretns in me; and inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.

Abraham 4:5

Yesterday our ward had ward conference and Sunday School was combined for all the classes and conducted by the stake, so we didn't have a regular lesson. So I'm taking my scripture from the Sunbeam lesson I taught yesterday, "I am thankful for the day and night." I added "Goddesses" and that's all I needed to do.

5 And the Goddesses and Gods called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night. And it came to pass that from the evening until morning they called night; and from the morning until the evening they called day; and this was the first, or the beginning, of that which they called day and night.

Our Savior's Love

We were late to church today for the first time in a long while and walked in right at the end of the opening hymn, Our Savior's Love. The first verse is about Christ, the second about the Spirit and the last one mentions God. I did a little altering on that last voice. I switched "Our Father, God" to "Our Parents, Gods."

The other switch was optional. I changed "King" to "Crowns" as a 1 syllable option for "King and Queen," but if you think of "King" as Christ, that's not necessary. Because I used "Crowns" I also altered the line, "Praises we sing" to "Praises we sound" so that the rhyming structure is somewhat intact, but if you don't change "King" then you don't need to change the rhyme.

Our Savior's Love

Our Savior’s love
Shines like the sun with perfect light,
As from above
It breaks thru clouds of strife.
Lighting our way,
It leads us back into his sight,
Where we may stay
To share eternal life.

The Spirit, voice
Of goodness, whispers to our hearts
A better choice
Than evil’s anguished cries.
Loud may the sound
Of hope ring till all doubt departs,
And we are bound
To him by loving ties.

Our Parents, Gods
Of all creation, hear us pray
In rev’rence, awed
By thy Son’s sacrifice.
Praises we sound.
We love thy law; we will obey.
Our heav’nly Crowns,
In thee our hearts rejoice.

Helaman 16:18

Adding Heavenly Mother again!

18 That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come; if so, and he be the Son of God and Goddess, the Parents of heaven and of earth, as it has been spoken, why will he not show himself unto us as well as unto them who shall be at Jerusalem?

Matthew 5:48, Luke 6:36

Sunday School this week was the Sermon on the Mount which is chock-full of beautiful scripture. That and King Benjamin's speech take the cake for me. In these couple of scriptures I changed "Father" to "Parents" and the verbs to make the sentence work, of course.

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Parents which are in heaven are perfect.

Now, I can't ever let this scripture go without mentioning Luke's version because I love it.

36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Parents also are merciful.

I just love the idea that to become perfect, what we really need to do is become merciful. It makes "perfection" a little more tangible for me.

Children All Over the World

Today's song was one I liked a lot as a kid. I thought it was really cool that I "knew" some Japanese. I also like it as a lullaby song because of the first line- perfect for going to bed!
Children All Over the World was easy to edit: Father to Parents, he to they. Changing "his" to "their" in the third line grates grammatically ("each" is singular, "their" is plural), but using male-only language irked me more. Let's hope a grammarian comes up with a good solution in the near future. Perhaps, since language is fluid and evolving, we'll soon be able to use "their" as a singular without the grammar police find us.

Children All Over the World

All over the world at the end of day,
Heav’nly Parents' children kneel down and pray,
Each saying thank you in their own special way,
Saying thank you, thank you in their own special way.
“Gracias.” “Malo.” “Wir danken dir.”
All over the world tender voices hear.
Some say “tak,” others “merci,”
“Kansha shimasu,” we thank thee.
Our Heavenly Parents hear them;
They understand each tongue.
Our Heav’nly Parents know them;
They love them, love them, ev’ry one.

Matthew 6:33-34

I chose these verses today because I feel like I'm been exemplifying "take no thought for the morrow" to an extreme lately. I completely forgot that yesterday was Wednesday and I needed to post! And I haven't gotten around to finishing this month's book for review tomorrow. So here we are on a Thursday; I will try to get back to the swing of things next week.

Today I added "Goddess" and made the possessive plural. I would love to do all the verses before these some time as well.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and Goddess, and their righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Luke 7:11-16

Using scriptures from the Sunday School lessons has been really uplifting for me. Last Wednesday and today, we include Heavenly Mother as an originator of miracles. The changes in this scripture are in verse 16, but I've included the whole story for continuity.

11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

13 And when the Lord saw her, he had acompassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

15 And he that was adead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God and Goddess, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God and Goddess hath visited their people.

Parents, This Hour Has Been One of Joy

This was our closing hymn today and it is particularly special because the author, Nan Hunter, is in in our ward. I hope she doesn't mind it showing up here today.

Parents, this hour has been one of joy;
We thank thee for thy many blessings.
Our hearts are filled with thy gracious love
And thy tender caring.

Luke 5:22-26

From the reading from last week's Sunday School lesson. This was a simple "add Goddess" scripture.

22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying Goddess and God.

26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified Goddess and God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.