Devotions - Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship

Devotionals from Goshen College

Dec. 25: The quietest day By Tamara Shantz, assistant campus pastor SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:41-52 (NRSV) Scroll down for complete Scripture. DEVOTIONAL: Our text for this Christmas Day transports us from the story of Jesus? birth to one of our only accounts from Jesus? childhood. As I read over this passage, I wondered what parenting Jesus...
Dec 24

Dec. 24: Light bursts into the darkness By Greg Yoder, a senior music major from Perkasie, Pa. SCRIPTURE: Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV) Scroll down for complete Scripture. DEVOTIONAL: Advent is a season of wonder, stillness, waiting and watching. Growing up with a pastor for a mother, I experienced richly the period of waiting and watching that is the...
Dec 23

Dec. 23: Light on the earth By Emily Yoder, a sophomore nursing major from Bird in Hand, Pa. SCRIPTURE: Psalm 148 (NRSV) Scroll down for complete Scripture. DEVOTIONAL: During Advent, we typically focus closely on the coming of God?s gift, his son Jesus. We praise him for that and show our gratitude in different ways. God...
Dec 22

Dec. 22: When God breaks in By Jake Shipe, resident director SCRIPTURE: 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 (NRSV) DEVOTIONAL: In today?s Scripture we find Hannah, Samuel?s mother, bringing him a robe as she and her husband Elkanah made their way to the temple to make the annual sacrifice. When we meet Hannah in the story she is...
Dec 21

Dec. 21: Arise, shine; for your light has come By Duane Stoltzfus, professor of communication THIS WEEK’S THEME: Arise, shine; for your light has come DEVOTIONAL: Shortly after nightfall, as if someone had flipped a switch, the rain suddenly turned to sleet and the roadways to ice. I was driving to my parents? house in New York state, a...
Dec 20

Dec. 18: Music in the heart By Odelet Nance, director of multicultural affairs SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:39-45 (NRSV) Scroll down for complete Scripture. DEVOTIONAL: I hear music of Christmas everywhere. In the stores, in businesses and on the radio, the sounds of Christmas ring loud and clear. Music can be transformative and transcend barriers. One my favorite...
Dec 17

Dec. 17: Is it possible to let God down? By Andrea Kraybill, a junior art major from Elkhart, Ind. SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10:5-10 (NRSV) Scroll down for complete Scripture. DEVOTIONAL: Words have different interpretations depending on who is saying them and who is listening. Some go out of fashion, yet remain remnants of the past in our ears: twain, verily...
Dec 16

Dec. 16: Let your face shine, that we may be saved By Maria Byler, a senior social work major from Goshen, Ind. SCRIPTURE: Psalm 80:1-7 (NRSV) Scroll down for complete Scripture. DEVOTIONAL: Have you ever been waiting for something so long and so hard that you just ache? Maybe you are hungry, and anticipating a wonderful meal later. Maybe you know...
Dec 15

Dec. 15: Abandoned only for a season By Jennifer Speight, a junior English major from Cleveland, Ohio SCRIPTURE: Micah 5:2-5a (NRSV) Scroll down for complete Scripture. DEVOTIONAL: Have you ever felt completely alone? Abandoned, even? Small and insignificant? I have. This summer, while participating in the college?s Ministry Inquiry Program, I went through a period of abandonment...
Dec 14

Dec. 14: Save By Deb Brubaker, professor of music THIS WEEK’S THEME: Save DEVOTIONAL: I remember the Advent wreath of my early years, centered on the kitchen table. It was made with fresh pine branches, encircling five candles on a red metal plate purchased on a summer trip to Minnesota. Each night our...
Dec 13