Three devotional and worship planning resources are available this year that explore what Advent means in relation to problems of global migration and U.S. immigration.

• Biblical Musings on Immigration, produced by the Desert Southwest Annual Conference, is an ongoing weekly series of meditations about immigration, through the lens of the New Common Lectionary.
• A new devotional has been placed on the Conference website for personal or group use this Advent.  Strangers Among Us: An Advent Devotional calls us to remember how the Holy Family walked this earth as refugees.  As they followed the Roman decree -- as they fled across the border to escape Herod's law of the land--even up to the day he testified to Pilate, "My Kingdom is not of this world," they walked as strangers among us. If God invaded our world once unawares, God could do it again.  Today.  Anywhere.  Among any people.  Anytime. If so -- how would God want us to treat the least of these strangers among us?  In our nation of immigrants, the issue of immigration has become a hot topic.  This study is an invitation to ask how God would view our concerns.  As we read the word together in this holy season, let us ask:  What would God do with the strangers among us?  What would God do with strangers and sojourners -- like us?
  
  The reflections in the devotional were written by The Reverend Larry Jent, Co-Chair of the Virginia United Methodist Conference Commission on Ethnic Minority Concerns and Advocacy.  Larry is a person of Cherokee and Sac & Fox heritage. The devotional is recommended by the Virginia Conference Immigration Work Group as a means of reflection during a Christian season where our focus is on the greatest gift ever received-God's son, Jesus.  It calls us to remember the birth of the Christ Child while calling to mind the similar situations of so many wandering without a "home" and seeking a place of acceptance and safety in our country today.
• For the 10th year, the Wisconsin Chapter of MFSA is offering Advent Reflections online.  Daily devotions include reflections on John Wesley's use of scriptural passages in his sermons.