Our Advent Celebration: The Jesse Tree
We've celebrated the Christmas season with an advent Jesse tree for the last 3 years. Each year it gets better! This is my post from the first year we did it in, I am sharing again in case you are interested in doing it too. Here is a link to all my ornaments in my Flickr album: Jesse Tree Ornaments
As Christians, Christmas should be a huge celebration. Not in the commercial way of buying as many presents as we can for as many as we can...but in meaningful celebrations with our families and in our hearts. Our joy at celebrating Christ's birth should be infectious. I love this season, I start listening to Christmas music in early November- and most of the time I can't quit until late January. It is a time meant for families to gather around and share of the most amazing miracle of all time: when God come to earth in the form of a baby- a human. God stripped Himself of all his power to be like us, thus tipping the scale in our favour. Without this amazing birth, we would still be lost, still offering the sacrifices of animals that could never cover our sins.
The meaning of Jesse Tree is from the verses in the bible in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 and then Isaiah 11:1-10. The following section of the verse speaks of the Christ coming to the world by way of Jesse, and his descendants- thus the "Tree of Jesse".
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
10 “ And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.” -Isaiah 11:1-5 +10
The Jesse Tree is intended to guide you through the 29 days that lead up to Christmas as a journey towards a deeper understanding of all that took place leading up to the birth of Christ through the Old Testament and then into the beginning of the New Testament. Each evening before bed we do the scripture reading for that day and then the boys take turns getting to hang the specified ornament on the tree. They beg for it to be "time for the Jesse Tree" and love it when it is their turn to hang the ornament. We did it last year for the first time and I learned so much. It deepens my faith in Christ each time. Going through the scripture of all the ancestors that lead up to Christ and seeing all the prophesies fulfilled to the letter really build our faith. We look forward to doing it every year as a tradition of the true meaning of Christmas with our family.
Table of Scripture Readings and Ornaments for The Jesse Tree
Click on the links to get to the ornament that I made to represent the symbol. That way, you can get an idea of what to make for your Jesse Tree Advent Celebration. Or if you want to see all of my ornaments go to my Jesse Tree Flickr album.
(I grabbed this table from The Voice it was the most detailed that I have found )
Table of Scripture Readings for the Story
| Date | Persons | Events/Themes | Scripture | Symbols |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Sunday |
Introduction of the Jesse Tree | 1 Sam 16:1-13 Isa 11:1-10 |
The Tree | |
| Mon Wk 1 |
God | Creation | Gen 1:1-2:3 | Dove |
| Tues Wk 1 |
Adam and Eve | The First Sin | Gen 2:4-3:24 | Tree with Fruit or Apple |
| Wed Wk 1 |
Noah | The Flood | Gen 6:11-22, 7:17-8:12, 20-9:17 | Rainbow or Ark |
| Thur Wk 1 |
Abraham | The Promise | Gen 12:1-7, 15:1-6 | Field of Stars |
| Friday Wk 1 |
Isaac | Offering of Isaac | Gen 22:1-19 | Ram |
| Sat Wk 1 |
Jacob | Assurance of the Promise |
Gen 27:41-28:22 | Ladder |
| Second Sunday |
Joseph | God's Providence | Gen 37, 39:1-50:21 | Sack of Grain or Coat |
| Mon Wk 2 |
Moses | God's Leadership | Exod 2:1-4:20 | Burning Bush |
| Tues Wk 2 |
Israelites | Passover and Exodus |
Exod 12:1-14:31 | Lamb |
| Wed Wk 2 |
God | Giving the Torah at Sinai |
Exod 19:1-20:20 | Tablets of the Torah |
| Thur Wk 2 |
Joshua | The Fall of Jericho | Josh 1:1-11, 6:1-20 | Ram's Horn Trumpet |
| Fri Wk 2 |
Gideon | Unlikely Heroes | Judg 2:6-23, 6:1-6, 11-8:28 | Clay Water Pitcher |
| Sat Wk 2 |
Samuel | The Beginning of the Kingdom |
1 Sam 3:1-21, 7:1-8:22, 9:15-10:9 | Crown |
| Third Sunday |
David | A Shepherd for the People |
1 Sam 16:1-23-17:58, 2 Sam 5:1-5, 7:1-17 |
Shepherd's Crook or Harp |
| Mon Wk 3 |
Elijah | The Threat of False Gods |
1 Kng 17:1-16, 18:17-46 | Stone Altar |
| Tues Wk 3 |
Hezekiah | Faithfulness and Deliverance | 2 Kng 18:1-19:19, 32-37 | An Empty Tent |
| Wed Wk 3 |
Isaiah | The Call to Holiness | Isa 1:10-20, 6:1-13, 8:11-9:7 | Fire Tongs with Hot Coal |
| Thur Wk 3 |
Jeremiah | The Exile | Jer 1:4-10, 2:4-13, 7:1-15, 8:22-9:1-11 | Tears |
| Fri Wk 3 |
Habakkuk | Waiting | Hab 1:1-2:1, 3:16-19 | Stone Watchtower |
| Sat Wk 3 |
Nehemiah | Return and Rebuilding |
Neh 1:1-2:8, 6:15-16, 13:10-22 | City Wall |
| Fourth Sunday |
John the Baptist | Repentance | Luke 1:57-80, 3:1-207:18-30 | Scallop Shell |
| Mon Wk 4 |
Mary | The Hope for a Future |
Luke 1:26-38 | White Lily |
| Tues Wk 4 |
Elizabeth | Joy | Luke 1:39-56 | Mother and Child |
| Wed Wk 4 |
Zechariah | Anticipation | Luke 1:57-80 | Pencil and Tablet |
| Thurs Wk 4 |
Joseph | Trust | Matt 1:19-25 | Carpenter's Square or Hammer |
| Fri Wk 4 |
Magi | Worship | Matt 2:1-12 | Star or Candle |
| Dec 24 |
Jesus | Birth of the Messiah | Luke 2:1-20 | Manger |
| Dec 25 |
Christ | The Son of God | John 1:1-18 | Chi-Rho Symbol |
Just so you know, this is our third year with the Jesse Tree tradition, and I still have 5 ornaments left to make! Be easy on yourself, the ornaments are great for the kids and to remember- but not mandatory for a good devotional time with the family around the tree. I did some the first year, another bunch of ornaments the second year.
What Christmas traditions are you doing with your family? Did your family do any with you when you were young that you are continuing?
I Don’t Think it Was a Dare…(NEWS!)
Life can look like a barrel of monkeys at times- reach your hand in and you never know what will show up....or is someone planning things a little better than that? As fun as the monkeys would be, I have to say now more than ever I believe in a plan, a purpose and a God who always gets His timing right.
I've summed it all up before, the last 3 years of my life pretty much- you should go read it so you can see how incredibly cool what just happened is. When God called us to Spain, I put my biggest dream of moving to a farm, living on some land, bee keeping, goat raising, blueberry harvesting away. Less than a month ago Brad's Uncle asked us to move out to the farm and live there. It is larger than we'd ever need, the house, the land, and the God that I serve, by large in all of the aforementioned- HUGE. Not only is it a dream-- but it was one I had no idea how God would remedy. I've told Him often, either grant this wish or take it, I'll be content with either. But when we were asked to move to the family farm my brain popped and my image of God shattered, He is a very weird God- in an extremely great way. It won't be any time super soon, things have to get prepped and primped- but it will be in about 6 months.
So when that happened, I pretty much looked straight into heaven and thought to myself (and probably right at God too) saying: "Huh God, you are good, always good, I wonder if I am pregnant now too". I don't think it was a dare, and I know God didn't take it that way...but I am currently pregnant. Yep, sometimes people say things happen by coincidence, I think that they must be some of the most oblivious people in the world. Farm and baby in the same month,that is no coincidence.
If you don't believe God can do it, I dare you...give Him the chance. He doesn't love me any more than He loves you. God is just purposeful in how he loves us, weather through complete joy filled blessing, or trials that will bring the heart that He desires in us, which is bigger than any earthly blessing. God is stinkin' AWESOME!!!!
It also is no coincidence that I just started memorizing Hebrews 11 on Faith.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
In approximately 6 months we will be farm dwellers, and use the land (oh that is thrilling!!! AHHH!!!) and in the first couple weeks of June I'll be having a baby. That is a lot of news for one post.
Here is the summary with links if you'd like to be more clued in:
First we were excited to be missionaries, and have more BABIES!!
We waited and waited...
Then He said "NO", to the missionary thing and I wasn't getting pregnant.
Learned the humility that that required. (for both things)
And then I thought I just would never know why God did what He did.
Now I do.
Modern Gospel: Easier to Believe, a God Easier to Love, and a Whole Lot of Nothing.
"God will never let you go hungry". "God will never let anything happen to you". "As long as you have enough faith God will come through". "God loves it when you are happy". "God really wants to heal you, you just need to have faith".
There are so many lies we tell ourselves, our children and everyone that we come in contact with. Seriously, when did God say He wanted the people that to serve Him to be happy? Or that we deserve to be comfortable? That His blessings always come sugar coated in the form of a gift, and not a trial? What Bible are you reading!?!?!
I have to laugh, if not I'd cry, when I hear people tell their kids that God will never let them go hungry. Really? Why not? Maybe because you are American, or because you have a credit card, you have a wealthy family that will take care of you or so much in savings that you could buy your way out- but certainly not because God said it to be true. How can we say this when most of the world is hungry, and many of them believe in Christ? We tell our kids these lies, these lies that God is going to keep and then wonder why they find God so different when they hit those college years and God just doesn't come through the way we promised He would. He never promised, we did that all for Him. We are liars, thus making Him one by association.
What about trials? Okay, brace yourself: trials are the single biggest blessing from God- when do you hear that? They are though. They are the times when you are closest to God, the most dependent on Him and the least secure in yourself and what you have to offer. God cuddles, embraces and would love to fill in every gap of need with Himself- but we so seldom allow that or even want it, we have other things that make us "happy". Even those of us who brace for trials have a problem, we power through them, beat them back by our own strength reading self-help books, coping and "getting stronger because of it"- that is not what God intended either. God just wants us to give up, to surrender to Him the day no matter what it has, to not trust ourselves, to not power through but just to lean into Him and not resist His embrace. Through each trial HE should become stronger in us. Why? because the bigger you are, the smaller your God is, "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less" (John 3: 30).
Why are so many disillusioned with us churchies? Well because we tell them "God is going to make your life better", and when they see the trials that come they think we are the biggest liars there ever were- and God gets clumped into our sorry little lot. But why do we feel the need to add a spoonful of sugar to our message? WHY? I guess maybe it is because we don't trust the real God. We have made God who we want Him to be, we've stolen the divine nature of Jesus Himself and allowed ourselves to make up who He should be in our heads. We rob God, ourselves and those we come into contact with when we do this- but it is a church epidemic. We don't let God make us, we make Him. It is easier that way.
We are mis-representing Christ, we are preaching the modern day gospel, the gospel that it would be easier to believe, a God that would be easier to love, and a life that would be worth crap even on the best of days. There are so many well intentioned but incredibly ignorant preachers, teachers and church-goers who steal God's glory, Jesus' power and the divine mystery of the Holy Spirit and give you a placebo, one that leaves the taste buds with a fruity taste but with nothing substantial to nourish the spirit within each man that cries out.
God does heal, He does desire us to be filled with faith, He longs for our love, He desires to be our hope, He wants us to trust Him- but not because He is predictable, or loving on OUR TERMS but simply because He is God and we are clueless. He is God, He is not how our minds entrap and create Him, He is God and I have just recently come to terms with the fact that I know so little about the one I should know the best.
Day 6: Be With Him.
Walk with God today, ask Him what He is asking of you and where improvement needs to be made. Or just walk along side Him enjoying the immensity of His presence and don't talk at all. That's why today my words are few, I want to lean into Christ to rest.
Sometimes when I am having a hard time hearing God I write in my journal to Him, then I sit and await an answer- even no words is an answer. So often He will just surround me and I know how He feels, sometimes He gives me words of encouragement, others he has something He wants me to know, or something to leave behind.
I love the following song, God stills me each time I hear it. Close your eyes and listen.
Previous Posts on Prayer and Fasting:
Day 5: That Quiet Grinding
Day 4: Define Me.
Day 3: Grace
Day 2: Giving Up.
Day 1: Starting Out
Allowing Blank Space.
Consider Change
On fasting.
Day 5: That Quiet Grinding
They aren't the large stones, or even the smallish ones, pebbles are the ones you might not feel when you start your run and yet by the middle of it they will make themselves known. Pebbles left in a shoe throughout a long run will rub the skin raw, causing blisters, creating a wound-taking the runner out by their mere presence -no matter how small.
What pebbles do I have in my running shoes, which after only a few miles will create sores and fill each of step with agony? A little character issue swept under the carpet here, another there, little thoughts, little words, bad attitudes hidden with white smiles, all these and many other 'little' things create problems in your spiritual walk.
Last night at our church's prayer meeting several of the leaders wept over the pebbles that they had allowed to be left in their lives while being too lazy to remove them, not even really feeling them-but for the repercussions these setbacks where having somewhere deep within.
We weren't made to run with that constant grinding, that nagging pain shoved down and ignored but out of embarrassment of its disclosure and the humiliation of its existence we leave them right where they are smiling at others through the pain. We all have these pebbles, we all have weakness. Jesus wants to remove your shoes, peel off your blood-stained socks, clean the wounds, let the air get to them and rinse away the pain as well as the guilt.
What if He chose a christian friend to do it? What would that exposure of your unkemptness show them? Just that you, as much as they need a good washing in the love of Christ. Be vulnerable, remove your fake smiles, let down the masks that glisten, be transparent, in that there is freedom.
Time to peel off the bloody socks.
Previous Posts on Prayer and Fasting:
Day 4: Define Me.
Day 3: Grace
Day 2: Giving Up.
Day 1: Starting Out
Allowing Blank Space.
Consider Change
On fasting.
Day 4: Define me.
[Raw Clay] Photo Credit
If I really grasped what I looked like in raw clay form I would be more apt to let you work in me Lord. I think I am much more beautiful and useful in my natural form than raw clay, but you know the truth-that only when I allow Him to mold me am I truly worth anything. Without His hands changing me I am formless, and then when I shove Him away after I feel I look a little better I am flawed.
This is what I read today in the bible and I thought it so fitting to what I have been thinking already this week:
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. Jeremiah 18:1-6
When God wants to weed out character flaws, time commitments, or a wrong mindset I am to listen. When He longs to plant seed I am called to allow for it the best habitat of growth in me-not starve it out or throw it aside because of the work involved in the nurturing. It doesn't matter if I don't understand why, or for how long or what the end goal of God is. That is not my concern. I am only to be obedient at his first command, his first touch.
Define me Lord. I can't define myself.
Previous Posts on Prayer and Fasting:
Day 3: Grace
Day 2: Giving Up.
Day 1: Starting Out
Allowing Blank Space.
Consider Change
On fasting.
Day 3: Grace.
Over the last three years I feel like God has taught me nothing but grace, grace, grace. There is so much to learn, and unlearn. I like what Manning says in The Ragamuffin Gospel, " The News of the Gospel of grace cries out: We are all, equally, privileged but unentitled beggars at the door of God's Mercy" (p. 26)
I have grown up in the church, hardly missing a Sunday other than for sickness. As a child we went to church most nights of the week, I was a pretty good kid while growing up, never got into too much trouble, but all this I realize now doesn't earn me anything. The real Head Honcho Sunday school teacher doesn't award gold stars for perfect attendance because He can see the heart. So much of growing up was doing what I didn't want to do when there was much 'better' stuff going on.
A while back I decided I'd test Jackson (our 6 year old) on grace. " Who do you think God loves more, a person who constantly disobeys Him or a person who is very obedient?" Without a second thought the answer was, " the one who is obedient." I agree that that does make sense in our humanness, but we are not governours and that is the wrong answer. God loves us all the same if they grieve Him or not, if they attend all the meetings or not and He can do that because His Son made the willing sacrifice for us. Why on earth be faithful then?!
We earn nothing, but gain everything by being faithful. When first coming to the realization that it was all for nothing I held on a little to what I thoguht I should have earned from it. My gold stars!! Don't take them!! It is hard to see that, "our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace" (p. 18). There it is said, personal discipline and self-denial are not the magical combo to God's love, realizing what you really are and falling at His feet is.
The blessing that comes from obedience is the lack of regret, a pure heart and the good discipline to master urges, but not one gold star. Because I am not a kid anymore, I see that there is much more value in not regretting so much more than I do, and knowing what self control feels like. I earned nothing but blessing worth much more than golden stars, and I regret not one single day of my church-going youth.
Of God's nature I constantly try to understand, I won't ever master it, " He is not moody or capricious; He knows no seasons of change. He has a single relentless stance toward us: He loves us. He is the only God man has ever heard of who loves sinners. False gods-the gods of human manufacturing-despise sinners, but the Father of Jesus loves all, no matter what they do" (p.20) It seems the church goers are constantly trying to reconcile the fact that they aren't earning things. I think it is a life-long lesson.
I love this on the nature of our God from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment:
At the last Judgment Christ will say to us, "Come, you also! Come, drunkards! Come, weaklings! Come, children of shame!" And he will say to us: "Vile beings, you who are in the image of the beast and bear his mark, but come all the same, you as well." And the wise and prudent will say, "Lord, why do you welcome them?" And he will say: " If I welcome them, you wise men, if I welcome them, you prudent men, it is because not one of them as ever been judged worthy." And he will stretch out his arms, and we will fall at his feet, and we will cry out sobbing, and then we will understand all, we will understand the Gospel of grace! Lord, your Kingdom come!
Fasting and Prayer: Ask God to reveal the truth of His grace to you in a new way today. If you are into writing things down, write down the people in your life that you should show more grace to and ask God to give you the grace to do it.
Previous Posts on Prayer and Fasting:
Day 2: Giving Up.
Day 1: Starting Out
Allowing Blank Space.
Consider Change
On fasting.
Feel free to share your thoughts, what God is challenging you with or encouragement in the comments.
The Latest Posts:
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- He Wished for Snow for Christmas, He Got it For His Birthday.
- Oh I Wonder, How I Wonder…Who Would You Be, Shiloh?
- Reminding My Heart to Be Thankful
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I (adoringly) HEART—>
