Grace for All

Is there room available in your heart, in your life, for the Christ child?  Have you cleaned and prepared the guest room, with clean sheets and fresh flowers, fluffy towels and soft blankets?

No matter, and never mind.  Whether or not you have made space, whether or not you are expectant and ready, rest assured.  The baby will come.  He will find rest on piles of dirty laundry, empty dishes in the sink, unopened mail on the table.  He will lie, wrapped in rags, in a barn, in a trough where the animals have fed.  He will lie in wait for you.

He will come, not into the beautiful, clean and comfortable places in your life, but right smack dab into the soiled mess.  And in his purity and gentleness, he will transform that mess into something lovely, something right, something redeemed.

He will come. He will make a way. He will find his own room.  He will fill it with grace and then, it will be grace-filled.

This is his way. It always has been.

Just don’t miss him. Pause long enough to make your way to the stable, to see him lying there atop the dirty sheets and towels. Close your eyes for a moment and listen for the angels. Otherwise, you might miss the miracle, just as countless did on that long ago night in Bethlehem.  

Sweet Jesus, still our restless spirits and calm our hearts. In all of our anxious preparations, let us not miss the miracle of your love and grace in the here and now. Amen.

Today’s devotional was written by Greta Smith and read by Leslie Ragland.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Listen to the Scriptures read this past week.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

It seems that worry, fear, and anxiety reach out to us around 6:30 each evening, through the Evening News, right around dinner time. 

• All those innocent people hurting, suffering, and dying!
• Children and babies in harm’s way
• Disasters, murders, bombs, and terrorism
• Wars and rumors of wars!

We hear all the bad news, and we get anxious and worry. 

A while later we go to bed and we toss and turn, late into the night.

We need comfort and some peace of mind.

In John Chapter 14,:26-27 - Jesus is comforting his disciples, preparing them for the future where he will no longer be with them physically.  He says,

What an amazing offer from Jesus, this PEACE – the peace that passes all understanding available for the taking!  We each hold the key to that PEACE!  Yet, we often fail to use it!

Jesus is that Key.  He is with us, but we ignore Him or get busy and forget about Him!  Yet, he is always there – holding out the offer of PEACE!

I read two opinion pieces in the news this morning:

One was an angry commentary, centered on belittling and defaming someone whom the author detests. He used hate speech, as he blamed this person for much of the evil around the world.

The other article was a fact-filled critique of the atrocities and evils of war, the deaths of innocents, and the ways hatred drives these evils.  It asked for PEACE and a stop to the killing.

Both articles condemned the death and destruction, but one was so hateful that it terrified me with the hate it encouraged.

I hate war.  The death of innocents and the feeling of helplessness in the face of evil makes me physically ill.  But hate breeds hate!

         The hate-filled article left me deeply sad.

         The other left the door open for HOPE and PEACE!

To paraphrase Jeremiah 6:14 – “peace, peace, we cry, when there is no peace.”

We must be these peacemakers if we want PEACE.  We must promote peace in thought, word, and deed.

And by promoting God’s peace we will receive the ultimate reward of being called sons of God as we reflect the image of our Savior, Christ Jesus.

Please give us the courage to not only find your Peace, but to share it in thought, word, and deed.  Help us to be model witnesses for Christ, walking and talking in a way that shares your Peace that Passes all Understanding with the whole world.  We ask this in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Bernice Howard

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

When I was a girl I heard these words read at Christmas and wondered why so many names? Why so many images? Prince of Peace? Really? I was a bitter and sarcastic kid, and my response to this passage was probably something like a popular talk show host says “How is that working out for you?”

My bad attitude grew worse the longer I lived at home. The loud background noise of daily conflict seemed to be everywhere I turned. I felt precious little peace. Conflict at home was constant, with squabbling parents who seemed to be stuck in constant strife. There was conflict at school, or more accurately, schools, because there was always a new school, a new teacher, and hardly ever anything but being the new kid. And I felt conflict within. Thinking about how I fit in, what I should do, and how to feel and how to think.

My home life and struggles just didn’t match up to the promises of Isaiah. I kept searching for the Prince of Peace, hoping for some peace of my own. Learning to study the Bible as an adult, I read this passage differently and felt comfort and hope for the future.

This season of waiting, the season of Advent, when we, in our time, know that Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy, reminds me of those days of waiting from my youth. Waiting for peace, waiting for a time of hope. Waiting.

After a time, I accepted that my parents did the best they could with the skills they had, and that gave me hope. I accepted that faith in Jesus would bring me peace, and it certainly did.

Would that peace I now feel be as powerful to me if I had not experienced the conflict and turmoil of my early life? I don’t know. But I do know that as I grow through those feelings, and accept that in God’s world, it is He who provides the peace we need. Accept Him and we truly find peace.

This devotional was written and read by Julie George.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

“Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!” These words echoed in my head this past spring as I was fortunate to have traveled to Israel.  One of the most memorable places was Bethlehem, which, of course, now is neither the “little town” nor “lying still” as in the carol we love to sing. It is a bustling, diverse city.

However, as others can witness, kneeling to touch the star located in the Church of the Nativity, where tradition says Christ was born, is humbling and standing in “Shepherd’s field” stirs your imagination as you gaze upward.

While it is not the small, quaint village imagined in my childhood or often depicted in art, it still gave me new eyes and tugged at my heart. I felt different there.

Israel is a place sacred to several religions and many feel different and find solace there. 

How sad that we cannot also find peace.  

Lord, you sent your Son into a troubled world and the world did not know him. As we experience another Advent, our world is still troubled. Please help us see Bethlehem and Christ’s coming with new eyes. Help our hearts to feel that tug and be changed. Indeed, may the world feel that and find peace. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Susan Daves.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

One of the most memorable moments for my family was a Christmas almost sixty years ago.  My siblings and I decided to reenact the Christmas story for our parents in the basement of our home. We chose the basement because one of our plans was to wrap a sheet around our little sister, Mary Lou, dressed as an angel, and lower her from the top of the basement steps to the floor below for her grand entrance. Our parents nixed this plan as soon as they heard about it, stifling our creativity but probably resulting in a much safer presentation.  Instead, Mary Lou "appeared" from behind a bamboo screen to two shepherds dressed in pajamas (brother Wil and me) while sister Alice narrated from the gospels. 

The picture you see was at the moment of that appearance of the angel to the shepherds.  On one hand, it's a really cute picture of siblings enacting the Christmas story for their parents (especially the good-looking shepherd on the left, which was me).  

On the other hand, it depicts the moment of the first and one of the most important Christmas messages, "Fear not."  The angels would go on to proclaim the message of the arrival of the Christ child but that message could not be delivered until the shepherds first heard and embraced the message of  "Fear not."

In the Advent season, the "Fear not" message is just as relevant today as it was to the shepherds tending their flocks and suddenly visited by an angel.  As we light the Advent candles we will hear messages of peace, hope, joy and love.  In a space where these truly live, fear cannot remain.  This is welcome news when world events and personal challenges constantly push us towards worry and anxiety.  If we can first hear and embrace the message of "Fear not," then we will open ourselves to receive the rest of the Christmas message.

So during this Advent season, remember to fear not unless, of course, your three-year-old is being lowered in a sheet from the basement stairs.

Dear Lord, help us to hear the message of the angel, to put aside our fears, and to trust in your grace. Amen.

This devotional was written by Charlie Barton and read by Herb Sadler.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

In 1863, when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned “Christmas Bells,” his personal and communal world were wrought with grief.  Henry’s second wife of 18 years had died two years earlier in a house fire, a freak accident started with a candle.  America was at war, and none remained untouched by the pervasive loss of life, and the decimation of land.  Henry’s own son had returned home, mortally wounded in battle. This was after he had enlisted in the Union army without his father’s knowledge, and left home without a goodbye. Henry was feeling the weariness of war and of personal grief.  Where can one find peace in the midst of battles, both inner and outer? 

Henry pondered this, first writing: 

Wrestling with the dissonance between those old familiar carols and his embattled, embittered world, he responds:

In Henry’s dialogue with the Christmas bells, the bells have the final word.  

Right will prevail. Peace will prevail. 

It is possible for the world to be at peace and for me to experience inner turmoil. But this poem also reminds me that it is possible for the world to be in turmoil and yet for me to find inner peace–peace that makes no sense, peace that passes understanding.  It is a peace that is born of faith, faith that what is unseen and eternal transcends what is seen and temporary.

God, this day, grant us peace. We long to receive your peace, a peace that is not as the world gives, but a peace that drives out fear, that we may serve you with courage. Amen.  

Today’s devotional was written by Greta Smith and read by Amy Large.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Advent 2023

Week 3 - Peace

This familiar passage, like all of the Beatitudes that begin Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, typically uses a minimum number of words to say a great deal. 

Those who make peace among fellow human beings–even those who try without apparent success–are called “children of God.” That is something that we would all like to be called. Children of God.

What is also typical of the Beatitudes is that the few words give us much to consider. Just what is peacemaking in a world that is full of disputes, hatred, and conflict?

Many of us are content to confine our peacemaking to saying that yes, we love our neighbors as ourselves. We may go further and actively avoid conflict, trying never to start an argument or to participate in one.

But is this real peacemaking? These words of Jesus seem to call us to go beyond our own feelings of comfort in saying that we love others and we avoid conflict. Instead, I think they call us to action. 

God calls us to make peace, not to avoid conflict. He calls us to bring his message of grace and love to others. He calls us to attempt in every way that we can to bring people together, to listen to what people have to say, to find common ground on which to stand. 

Peacemaking is not easy and in our world and is rarely successful. Yet when we use our feeble efforts to make peace, we can be confident that we are doing so with the strength of God behind us. In today’s world, few things are more important than our efforts to make peace.

Prayer: Our father, show us ways every day that we can act in your name, and make peace among our brothers and sisters, so that we may be truly called the children of God. Amen.

This devotional was written by Jim Stovall and read by Leslie Ragland.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Listen to Scripture readings from the previous week.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

I grew up in a church tradition that didn’t celebrate special holidays like Easter and Christmas. I was only vaguely aware that there was such a thing as a church year. Every Sunday was a celebration, the only “authorized” special day. Many of the families celebrated Christmas, but only as a secular holiday around Santa Claus and Christmas trees. I was more likely to hear about Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer than about Jesus, and song leaders made a point of singing “Silent Night” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” at times other than Christmas.

In the years that I’ve been around Methodist churches, I have really come to appreciate the way that deep involvement in the church calendar brings you closer to Jesus—His birth, His life, His teachings, as well as His death and resurrection. I respect those who do not keep such seasons, but I am glad to know the annual joy of the spiritual anticipation that is Advent.

Father, thank you for the rhythms and the forms that bring us closer to you. May we each find our own way of celebrating and support each other in the journey! Amen!

This devotional was written and read by Donn King.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.