Advent Devotional

Week 2Dec. 6 - 12

Sandy Fitch - SundaySandy has been a faithful member of our congregation since she and her husband Hal moved here from Wyoming in 2005. (Hal passed away in 2010) She was raised in the Catholic church and has an interesting faith journey, find-ing a home with the Methodist church. Sandy is currently teaching the Disciple III class on Monday nights and participates in a variety of studies and ministries. Sandy is currently employed by Walmart in the Contact Center, specializing in Gift Cards and enjoys yarn crafts in her spare time. She also enjoys being the extra “grandma” to a number of children and youth of our congregation.

Jill Hale was born in Nebraska and moved to Prescott, Arizona, with her family when she was eight years old. She worked as a legal secretary and then as a paralegal for the same law firm during her entire professional career. Jill and her husband, Richard, moved here from Arizona after retirement, almost a full circle from where she began. Jill serves as secretary for several church

groups. Normally, she sings in the church choir and plays handbells. She is praying that those activities may be able to be resumed soon.

Chet and Cheryl Campbell moved to Bella Vista in 2003 from Wyandotte, OK. While living in Wy-andotte for 26 years, they were members of the Methodist church and were long-time educators. Upon arriving in Bella Vista they immediately joined FUMCBV. Chet did not grow up attending church. He started going to church after he and Cheryl were married. They have always gone to the Methodist church wherever they lived. Chet was baptized on Dec.24,1989 at Wyandotte UMC. Since moving here, he has been active in several ministries and activities including United Methodist Men, Board of Trustees, several church golf and bowling groups, Habitat for Humanity, BV Recycle Center, Missions Committee, and has gone on numerous mission trips with UMCOR and other groups.

jill hale - monday

chet campbell - tuesday

Meet Your Advent Devotional Writers

Wanda Williams - WednesdayWanda Williams was born and raised in Colora-do but due to following grandchildren has lived in Montana, South Carolina and several times in Arkansas. She loves to read, do cross stitch and other needle crafts as well as make her own greet-ing cards. Wanda recently retired after being in human resources for many years and is now living at Concordia Independent Living here in Bella Vista. Her joy is her family which consists of her daughter, Amy, and son-in-law James, and their two children Alec and Jenna. She also has a grandson, Craig Jr., who lives in New Jersey.

kacy spears - ThursdayKacy and her husband moved to Bella Vista two years ago and have been involved at First UMC ever since. Kacy is currently working on her Mas-ters of Library Science at Emporia State University through their online-hybrid program. She enjoys training volunteers in the A/V ministry, chaperon-ing youth trips, and serving. When she’s not study-ing or working, she likes to play with her kitten and

dog, travel (pre-COVID), bake, and spend time with loved ones.

Alec Gilmore - fridayAlec Gilmore is currently a senior at Bentonville High School. His family, including parents, Amy and James, sister Jenna, and grandmother, Wanda Williams, have been a part of the church since 2009. He loves being active in Youth Ministry, Media Minis-try, and wherever else he can be! He’s written devo-tionals for previous Lenten and Advent seasons, and absolutely loves doing it!

sonnie andersen - saturdayIn spite of long-established roots in Iowa; never-the-less, Sonnie and her spouse were ready to move on to new adventures and a warmer win-ter climate. Our involvement in church choir and other musical activities was something we wanted to resume; and with scarcely “missing a beat”, we joined FUMC choir.A major change to affect our future was: scaling

back on our already 26 years of voluntarily serving married couples around the world. In the same way we had benefitted years ago, we sometimes visibly witnessed life changes in couples; but almost all couples benefitted in some way. Often we learned of miracles hap-pening because of the Holy Spirit working through open and honest sharing of our life stories. Finding God’s wonderful intension for Holy Matrimony is far from won; but Dick and I felt honored to be a part of His Team and to pass the baton on...a legacy of choosing to love in all relationships.Boldly, but gently, sharing our faith continues to be a “conquest”..amidst life’s circumstances...all of our lives. And, yes, many blessings have been returned to us through sharing hymns, anthems and spiri-tual songs...and even in sharing our “real life” experiences!

This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of King David.David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s

wife… and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary

was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to

David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Matthew 1: 1-6, 16-17, NIV

Remember, we’re doing Christmas stories from the “B side”, looking at stories that are part of the Christmas story but don’t normally get the air play of the main theme.

I’ll be honest. I normally skip long genealogies in the Bible. The names are strange and I have a hard enough time remem-bering my family ancestors back two generations, (with their own funny names) let alone dozens. I always just skipped over the first chapter of Matthew as another of those long genealo-gies that were important to someone who was into genealogy.

Sunday, december 6 - second Sunday of Advent

One of the reasons I enjoy writing these devotionals is that I learn things. And this week is no exception. I read the relevant passages that tie into this week’s “B side” stories. I’ve even highlighted the important names for you.

My job here is not to enlighten you with what I learned specif-ically about each of these stories. I’ll let each day’s author do that. What I want you do concentrate on is the character of each one of the women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.

These women are not the prime example of Hebrew or Jewish womanhood. In fact, at least two of these women are not even Hebrew by birth! But they found favor with God through their character and belief in God. They did what was right in the eyes of God and were chosen to be part of the line that would lead to the birth of Jesus. Society at the time would have consid-ered them to be undesirable, outcast, even sinful. God saw into their hearts and knew them to be His daughters and worthy of His grace.

Prayer: Gracious and Holy Lord, thank you for your gift of grace that is extended to all of us. Thank you for seeing into our hearts and knowing our true worth on the inside despite what the world may see on the outside. May we always honor your ways. In Jesus name – Amen.

Written by Sandy Fitch

Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law “Remain a widow in your father’s house till my son Shelah is grown.” For he said,

“Lest he also die like his brothers.” And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.

And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot;

furthermore she is with child by harlotry” So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.” So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give

her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.Genesis 38:11, 24-26 (NKJV)

Well, there is a lot more to THIS story than meets the eye from reading these few verses! We’ll need a little history to get us to the present when this adventure—or misadventure—occurs. Tamar’s story is one of extreme tragedy, then subterfuge, and finally, triumph.

Tamar was a virtuous and devout young Israelite woman, mar-ried first to Judah’s eldest son, Er. When Er died, Judah ordered his second son, Onan, to take Tamar and make an heir that would be considered the son of Er to continue that line. This was required according to Jewish custom. However, although Onan “went in” to Tamar, he decided he didn’t want to fulfill his duties. He also died, which gets us to Genesis 38:11.

Judah is fearful that if he allows Shelah, his youngest and now only son, to marry Tamar, Shelah will die, too. Judah tells Tamar to return home to her father’s house until Shelah is older, but he has no intention of ever letting Shelah and Tamar be togeth-er. This puts Tamar in a very difficult position and could bring shame on her in the eyes of the others of the community. She becomes so desperate to fulfill the most important desire of a

Monday, december 7

woman of the time—to bear a son—that she designs an amazing and dangerous plan to try to rectify the situation. It is said that God works in mysterious ways. Is this one such time?

Tamar puts aside her widow’s clothes and covers herself with a veil and sits in a place where Judah is expected to pass. Since he hasn’t allowed Shelah to fulfill the law, Tamar decides that Judah will do that instead. Tamar talks Judah into giving her his signet (seal), cord, and staff as surety in order to have relations with her. He then goes away to arrange to send a goat to her in exchange for his things, but she disappears with the signet, cord, and staff.

And so, we are at verses 24 to 26. The “three months after” refers to the time since Judah and Tamar were together, not since Tam-ar went to live with her father. Tamar is about to be executed as a harlot, but when she shows Judah his signet, cord, and staff, it is clear to him that he is the father of Tamar’s unborn child. We see that Judah is gracious about the deception and says that she has been more righteous than he.

Do you want to know the rest of this story of bravery and deter-mination? Tamar bore twins, who were named Perez and Zerah. As you saw in the scripture from Matthew yesterday, Perez is in the genealogy of Jesus, and Tamar is named in the scripture as the mother of Perez. I have a set of books, one of which is about Tamar, and includes on the front, “One of five unlikely women who changed eternity.” You will read about three other such women in the next few days. Thank goodness for Tamar’s deter-mination to fulfill Jewish custom, and thank goodness for all of these amazing women.

Prayer: Gracious and Holy God of Tamar and of Judah, bless-ed ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank You for the Old Testament, which helps us to better understand Your ways and to better know Jesus through the history. Please help us to have determination and strength to be your disciples in this very dif-ficult time. We pray this in the name of your precious son Jesus. Amen.

Written by Jill Hale

Tuesday, December 8

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittum. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the lsrealites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole

land.” But the woman had taken the men and hidden them. She said,“Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the gate, the

men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had hidden them under the

stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the

Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out the gate was shut.Joshua 2: 1-7

As this story begins, Joshua sends two men across the Jordon to check out the land around Jericho. They come to a house in Jericho. This is the house of Rahab, who is identified as a prostitute. It is interesting that she is identified as a prostitute because this labels her as a sinner. She lets them in and then hides them on her roof under some flax which she has stored there. When the men from the King of Jericho come to ques-tion her about the spies, she tells them that they left before the gate was closed. Several things in the story stand out to me. First, Rahab, a known prostitute, is chosen by God to save the spies from being caught. Secondly, in order to save them she has to use deceit by hiding them. Thirdly, she has to lie about them having already left.

It seems to me, the main thing we can learn from this story is that any of us could at any time be chosen by God for serving His purpose. We can be ready by having an open mind and a servant’s heart and paying attention to the messages He sends

us. If we accept the task He gives us, He will provide the means for us to accomplish it.

Growing up in Kansas, I can’t help but add a footnote. I imagine the flax on the roof as being stored in shocks. Shocks are made by tying the grain stocks in bundles and then standing the bun-dles together to form a teepee like structure called a shock, the source of the nickname of the Wichita State University sports teams (Wheatshockers). This structure would provide an ideal hiding place inside the shock.

Prayer: Gracious Heavenly Father, help us to be ready to serve You when you call us. May we always be willing to do Your will, not ours We give You the glory and praise Your Almighty Name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Written by Chet Campbell

wednesday, December 9

“Look.” Naomi said to her, “Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Where ever you go. I will go; wherever you I live, I will live. Your people shall be my people, and your God, will be my God. So, Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family. May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!” Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.

Ruth 1:15-16, 4:13-17 NLT

We all remember the story of Naomi and Ruth. Who is the B side in this story? Is it Naomi, the mother-in-law that Ruth loved and followed? Or is it Ruth, who gleaned the fields of Boaz and ended up the grandmother of David? I think it is Naomi. After all, Ruth has a book of the Bible named after her. Naomi, was an Ephrathite from Bethlehem, and due to a famine in Judea went with her husband and two sons to Moab. The sons married women from Moab, and Ruth was one of these. Ten years later, Naomi’s husband and both sons had died, and Naomi decid-ed to return to Judea. Both of her daughters-in-law decided to return with Naomi, but she told them they didn’t have to. Orpah chose to stay but Ruth said the beautiful words we read in vers-es 15 and 16.

Something that I did not remember was that when Naomi came to Bethlehem, she told the people to call her Mara ”for the Al-mighty has made life very bitter for me.” As the saying goes, we know the rest of the story. Naomi had Ruth glean the left overs stalks of grain from Boaz’s fields. (Boaz was related to Naomi’s husband.) She advised her how to gain the attention of Boaz and how to lay at Boaz’s feet. He, of course, marries Ruth and they have a son who becomes the grandfather of David.

So. Naomi may have played a minor role in this story, but to me, if she had not done each step along the way, we would not have had David. And what a loss that would have been. So much for a B character.

Prayer: Father, we thank you for the love Ruth and Naomi had for each other. We also thank you for giving Ruth to Naomi, who loved her as a daughter and led her to become grandmother to David. Amen.

Written by Wanda Williams

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out

about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am preg-nant.”... The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David

everything Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open,

but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the

king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.” When Uriah’s

wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.2 Samuel 11: 2-5, 22-26, NIV

Have you ever read scripture and thought “how in the world am I going to apply this to modern life?” That’s how I initially felt when I read this passage from 2 Samuel. David saw Bathsheba bathing and was enamored by her beauty. She became pregnant with David’s child, and David plotted to kill her husband, a soldier in his army.

In the second part of this scripture, David receives word that Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, died in battle (as David plotted). David sends a messenger to Joab, David’s nephew, telling him to destroy the city.

We’ve all met someone in our lives that live by their own agenda and will do anything to keep things going the direction they de-sire. People stuck in an attitude like that view people as less than God intended. Like David, they set their sights on something and bulldoze their way to get what they want, no matter the cost.

thursday, December 10

You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all

their sins.I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his

people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell

in our land.Psalm 85:1-2, 8-9, NIV

This is an excerpt from one of the eleven Psalms authored by the Sons of Korah. It’s actually rather ironic: Korah was a leader of a rebellion against Moses and the authority of God. This pur-suit would ultimately define his life, as God condemned Korah and his men. His sons, however, were spared. God, powerful but just, had judged Korah’s sons to still be pure, and He would not let the actions of their father define their fates. Most of Korah’s

friday, December 11

At the end of chapter 11, we read that God was not pleased by David’s actions. That’s because we’re not called to do our own will. We’re called to follow the will of a God that loves all crea-tures, that created all creatures in His image, and that holds our hand as we journey to know Him better. That God would never call us to treat humans as prizes or disposable or valued as less than they truly are.

How can we share the peace that God provides to those around us? What are some practical acts of love that we can show to others so they know that we value them?

Prayer: Lord of Love, forgive us for putting our will above your own. Help us to see people as your divine creation, worthy of your love and worthy of our love. Hold us close as we seek to hold you close, and let us find your peace amid the chaos.

Written by Kacy Spears

descendants—the Korahites—led lives of hard labor, often fulfill-ing roles as custodians and manual laborers. In summation, we have these men who traced their ancestral paths to a disgraced rebel against the Lord, and for years dwelled in lower echelons of society. Not exactly people one might expect to exemplify who God was and what God was about...funny how things work out.

I draw a comparison between the Korahites and Good Samari-tan: both were social pariahs through whom many wouldn’t think to see God, yet both tell great stories of what God truly values, in that the content of one’s character. One would be hard- pressed to find any record of the Korahites ever instigating conflict of any kind, not even so much as a complaint. As one will find in their writings, the Sons of Korah were incredibly humble, thoughtful, and faithful.

The ability to recognize that God is above all else is harder than one might think. We can be so quick to focus on what God perhaps “didn’t do” or “allowed to happen.” We ask God a lot of questions on our faith journey, and while asking questions can ultimately be fruitful, sometimes we go about it the wrong way. I will be the first to admit that there are times when I have felt like I know better than God. Despite His power and good will for all of His creations, in certain situations, I struggle to understand God’s actions and feel like something should’ve unfolded differently.

Humility can be extraordinarily difficult to exercise sometimes, even with God. He doesn’t love us any less for our struggle; in fact, He always gives us a chance to confide and grow in our faith. It’s such a simple sentiment: God knows best. I look at that truth now and think how ridiculous it is to question that. But I know that I have found myself in a position where I think it’s ridiculous to believe that doubtlessly. The Sons of Korah—of all people—remind us of the importance of humility. Not only is hu-mility enriching for our character, but God shows favor to those who are humble before Him.

In Advent, we remember that God provides peace. Not only does He provide peace, but He promises peace. As the Sons say, he

he doesn’t and will never let us “turn to folly.” We must remem-ber that God loves everyone, but favors the faithful. The Sons are quick to mention but a couple of examples of God’s power in ac-tion, borne out of His love. By remaining humble, we accept that, as difficult as it may be to comprehend sometimes, God knows and does best. By accepting this, we bring ourselves closer to God as opposed to pushing Him away from us. And when we’re closer to God, we are a part of the glory of His Kingdom.

Prayer: Lord, we thank You for your love. We are imperfect, and we sometimes think we may know or do better than You. We are eternally grateful for Your forgiveness of struggles like these and commitment to us through our transgressions. We know that You are above all, and will strive to remain humble, no matter how difficult. Help us on that pursuit, Lord, as we look to grow closer to You. It is in Your Name we pray, Amen.

Written by Alec Gilmore

saturday, December 12

Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righ-

teousness looks down from heaven, The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteous goes before

him and prepares the way for his steps.Psalm 85:10-13 , NIV Study Bible

For your information: Psalm 85 is a song of return. It is praise for revival and deliverance. One footnote says this psalm is for any-one who has been chastised for sin. We all sin, but the key word is “chastised “. In what way, would this psalm help me reflect on my sin? Verses 10-13 offer reassurance that the prayer will be heard. God’s sure mercies to His people spring from covenant love, to which in His faithfulness and righteousness He remains true, and that assures His people’s welfare. Here the psalm-ist speaks of looking ahead to future blessings and prosperity. Righteousness, used three times in four verses, would seem to

be the prevalent theme but notice how God’s favor is personified...love and faithfulness...righteousness and peace...righteousness goes before (Him). Verse 10 especially caught my attention by the vivid portrayal of their meeting and embracing (kiss each other), a most beautiful image. Verse 13: Acting as a herald or guide, righteousness leads the way and marks the course for God’s engagement in His people’s behalf...and righteousness is God’s perfect faithfulness to all His covenant commitments. What better road to take than to walk in His footsteps!

One could question God’s choices of persons He uses for His pur-poses in order to bring back His people. Who would have thought a devious woman, a harlot, a faithful widow or a scheming adulter-ous would be among the for-bearers of Jesus, the innocent babe in the manger...the child who grew in truth and grace...the one who took on all of my sins and yours.

In our world of today, God continues to use His choices of people to bring about His plan for mankind. Satan loses...God wins. God continues to assure us, we are His children...we who are humble enough to know we can’t “do it on our own”...that we know God loves all of His creation and grieves when any turn away from Him.

Reflection: “O love, that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.I give Thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flowMay richer, fuller be.”

Prayer: Dear loving Father of us all, You, who personify all the attri-butes and qualities of heavenly love...unfailing, enduring merciful and gracious love...bestowed on all peoples (in spite of their re-sponse). Your love encompasses faithfulness, righteousness and peace. Your love surrounds and fill us with love overflowing.May this overflowing love be richer and fuller because of what You have done for us and may we be faithful in following You. Thank you Jesus, Amen.

Written by Sonnie Andersen