Each Wednesday, a devotion is posted here, sent via email to our email list and also posted on our Facebook page. If you would like to be part of our email list please contact the church office. In addition, check out past Devotions on our Facebook page. 

I often receive feedback that the devotions are rich in content and are complex. Reading devotions whether short and concise or longer and complicated should never be read once quickly. All types of devotions should be read multiple times using contemplation, reflection and pausing. In those spaces of contemplation and reflection we experience the Holy Spirit interacting with us. Sometimes, individuals will reach out and provide their thoughts and reflections on their devotion. My intent has always been to create a dialogue. So read these in the way that best works for you to experience the Holy Spirit and create a dialogue with others in our community.

Wednesday March 12, 2025

Hi St. Andrew’s UMC Community…

It’s mid-week. How is your week going? Are you considering the meaning of Lent, or are you allowing your worldly worries take the place of considering Jesus in your life? Today we consider nameless woman, and what we can learn from them.

The Nameless Women

Exodus 38:8

There is website called Nameless Women in the Bible (https://sharonwilharm.com/nameless-women-in-the-bible/); and frankly, almost all of the women are described in terms of wrongdoing, or being used, or manipulated. The subject of Women in the Bible is complicated at best, due to the patriarchal nature of the writings, and the cultural time. However, today’s devotion focuses on the serving women in the tabernacle.

In Exodus 38:8, we read about these nameless women who gave their possessions to build the Tabernacle’s washing basin. These women are crucial, and critical, to ensuring the that the Tabernacle (or God’s house) is complete. Without them, a necessary piece would be missing. And yet they are nameless. Why?

When in your life have you felt nameless, or that you don’t matter? When in your life have you felt used for what you have, and that you need to give it up for others? These women’s sacrifice is enormous, and yet their names are a mystery.

Where in your life have you sacrificed greatly for others? How does that make you feel? Did you feel nameless in your sacrifice? Or, in sacrificing, did you feel worthy and powerful that you had the option, and the choice, to sacrifice?

Often times in life we may feel like we have to give up something, and sacrifice for another. In those spaces when we give, we are actually hurting ourselves. When have you sacrificed for another while simultaneously hurting yourself?

We know nothing about these nameless women. Did they provide and sacrifice out of abundance or scarcity? Did they sacrifice, and in essence, hurt themselves? Or did they sacrifice in ways that honored their worth?

These nameless women remind all of us that providing and sacrificing is not only a part of following God, but a time to honor one’s worth. Where is God calling you in your life right now to sacrifice something you have to help another while honoring your worth? These nameless women are challenging, and difficult to mimic, and yet they remind us that giving up something we find useful or precious for God’s use, is one of the components of following God.

Lent is a time in which we are to ponder God in our lives and Jesus’ sacrifice by “giving up something”. Maybe these nameless women teach us that giving up something, so we can connect with God in new ways, is the precursor to celebrating Lent.

Dear God, help me to be like these nameless women. Who sacrificed while honoring their worth. Who gave to honor You. Help me to live as these nameless women did, following You in all ways. Amen.

(image from: https://sharonwilharm.com/nameless-women-in-the-bible/)

by Rev Dave Piltz