Advent Devotional 12-5-24

For the past thirty-five years, it has been my honor to be part of the teaching rotation for the Johnson Memorial Koinonia Sunday School Class.  Recently my lesson fell on All Saints’ Day, a day set aside to remember faithful church members who had passed away in the previous year.

Instead of reaching for the Cokesbury teacher’s manual, I gathered the twenty-five Advent Devotional Project booklets (1999 – 2023) and began my “saint search.” I had an idea for a game called Name That Saint. I read through the booklets and chose five devotionals to be used in the game. 

At the beginning of class, I explained that I would share a devotional written in the past twenty-five years by one of JM’s saints. Class members were to listen carefully and guess the writer’s name. 

When I had finished reading the first devotional from the 1999 booklet, I asked if anyone could Name That Saint. Because my class members are very smart, and some have grown up in this church, guessing was not as hard as one might think. What we enjoyed most were the wonderful comments made about each person. I had known each of the saints, but hearing about their lives from those who knew them better made their stories come alive.

My class and I felt Jan Thornton’s empathy and frustration in her story about coming to the aid of a homeless man found sleeping in the Thornton barn. We shared the joy Jean Dean found in her studies of piano and voice. We will forever think of Joan Gardner as a young Mary dressed in her blue satin robe and singing “Away in the Manger.”  We also admired Dorothy Turner-Lacy even more after reading “Straighten Up and Fly Right.” And we were amazed but not surprised when Jean Modlin, President of the Marshall Faculty Wives Club, let go of her fear and let God work through her and others during the Christmas season after the Marshall Plane Crash on November 14, 1970.

I know that it seems strange to be talking about saints in an Advent devotional. Advent means arrival. Advent signifies the beginning. But what is special is that saints have already had their advents and their departures. They learned by watching others and practicing. They passed on much of that information. They were loved and returned that love. And sometimes they wrote about their lives. During this Advent season, take time to remember those who are no longer with you. Share with others your memories. Pass on a favorite recipe. Share a favorite joke. Do not forget to Name That Saint!

Prayer: 
Dear God, this is the 25th Anniversary of the Johnson Memorial Devotional Project. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for inspiration. Thank you for each person who has shared and/or read devotionals. And thank you for Kim Matthews. She has been devoted to this project for twenty-five years. In Your name I pray. Amen

Becky Warren