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Advent booklet offers reflection and Scripture
By LINDA M. LINONIS
CANFIELD
Beulah Eastman combines her faith and knack for writing in service to the congregation at Canfield Christian Church, 123 S. Broad St.
The wife of Pastor Jay Eastman has compiled Advent and Lent devotional booklets for the past three years or so. She said she selects a theme then researches Bible verses that illustrate it in various ways.
This year’s Advent devotional theme is “Mary, Did You Know?” Eastman said she was inspired by the song of the same name, a modern Christmas classic written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene. The song has been recorded by many artists representing various music genres.
Eastman said she found Scripture passages to complement and expound on some of the questions asked in the lyrics. For example, “Mary did you know that your baby boy will some day walk on water?” She continued that the miracles Jesus performed, such as making the blind see, the lame walk and the deaf hear, are supported by passages in the Bible.
“I don’t believe Mary had any idea of what was to come in Jesus’ life,” Eastman said. Jesus was a baby, then a child and young man, she added, and He was God’s son.
So the answer to the recurring phrase in the lyrics, “Mary did you know” is probably “no.” In the devotional, Eastman points out when the angel of the Lord gave Mary the message of what was to come, her response dealt with the practical. She asked how it could happen when she and Joseph were not married. But Mary must have come to understand who her son was because she asked him to do something about the situation at the wedding in Cana when the wine ran out.
The divine acts Jesus made happen were miracles He performed in what Eastman described as “His full life.”
“Advent is an anticipatory time,” Eastman said. “We’re looking forward to Jesus’ coming.”
Eastman said she hopes the daily devotions prompt readers to think about Jesus, His life and accomplishments. “What they get out of it means a lot to me,” she said. “I get satisfaction knowing that those reading the devotions may be getting closer to Christ. If that happens, it’s worth all the effort.”
The Eastmans celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last January and are looking ahead to their 51st. Pastor Eastman is retiring and will conduct his last service Dec. 27. They met at Kentucky Christian College, now Kentucky Christian University.
Eastman said she was inspired about her life’s work by a minister’s wife when she was young. “The minister’s wife, Mildred, at my home church was the most loving, giving person,” she recalled, adding she wanted to follow that example.
She has served in various roles at churches where her husband has pastored including youth choir director, Sunday school teacher and superintendent. She even filled in at a service for him.
Eastman said she enjoys writing; she wrote a book, “Rachel’s House,” a fictional story about a family in southern Ohio. Eastman also had a column, “Dear Bumbles,” in the 1980s for the Ripley Bee, a community newspaper in Ripley, Ohio. She writes a “Personal Reflections” column in The Clarion, the Canfield Christian Church monthly newsletter. She also has done public speaking, and she and her husband plan to continue that in the future.