Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in Ordinary Time before Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year. I wanted to make sure that the celebration did not pass unnoticed in the midst of my preparations for Thanksgiving and Advent even though I must confess, it is not a celebration that is very much on my radar screen.
I thought that this celebration must date from the Middle Ages, but discovered recently that Pope Pius XI added it in 1925. He intended it as a day to celebrate and remember Christ’s kingship over all creation, as well as to remind us that all humankind must submit to Christ’s rule.
As you can imagine, this celebration, especially in recent years, been a somewhat controversial day among those Christians who consider the language of kingship outdated or oppressive. For many, the images of kings and kingdoms conjure up thoughts of tyrants. But the kingship of Jesus takes on a very different form than does the kingship of earthly rulers. He came as a vulnerable infant and carried that vulnerability into his kingship of servanthood as we hear in this, my favourite “kingship” song.
Jesus comes to us not as a great conquering military leader who oppresses and abuses the conquered. Rather, he comes as a servant king, the Prince of Peace, the One whose reign proclaims peace, justice, liberation, and above all, service. Jesus turned the whole concept of lordship and kingship on its head:
You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to become great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:42-45, NAB).
Images of God, as Lord and King seem foreign in a democratic, individualistic society. But our all-powerful God, is also all-loving, and all-merciful. God’s heart aches to once more be in a loving relationship with his creatures. This is what Christ’s kingship is all about. We must submit to Jesus as our Lord and King, but it is a submission that paradoxically brings with it liberation, freedom from sin and a life of wholeness for us, for others and for God’s world.
I love this powerful image of Jesus as King and the kingdom of God as a place of hope that Foy Vance gives us here:
Jesus knew the popular images of kings and lords and redefined them. In God’s resurrection world, in order to be a ruler of all, Jesus must become a servant of all. Jesus demonstrated this servanthood in his life and miracles. Even the Incarnation is an example of this: God the Son, King of all creation, humbled himself to become human, even sharing the ultimate fate of his captive subjects: death.
Interestingly, most references to Jesus as king occur during the Passion story. The symbol of Christ’s kingship is not a crown but a cross. The Son of God became human and died a horrible death on the cross to release his subjects from captivity. The One who is the true king of our world made this ultimate sacrifice out of his deep and abiding love for the world, a world constantly in rebellion against him. Christ’s kingship is not like a king with a jewel-encrusted crown in purple finery on a gold throne wielding an oppressive rod of iron. Rather, he is the crucified God with a crown of thorns hanging half naked on a cross of shame to set us free from our bondage.
No collection for Christ the King Sunday is complete without this inspiring description of Christ the King of Kings by SM Lockridge.
Here is a prayer that I wrote a couple of years ago for Christ the King Sunday:
Let us praise Jesus Christ our king
for the wonderful things he has done.
He sends out his word to heal us.
He satisfies the thirsty with the water of life.
He fills the hungry with the abundance of his kingdom.
Let us praise Jesus, redeemer and renewer of all things.
May we always trust in his goodness and love,
And have faith in his grace and mercy,
May we always believe he cares about justice and righteousness,
And draw our life from his eternal purposes.
Let us praise Jesus Christ our king and saviour,
May we be filled with the hope and promise of his coming,
And give our lives to follow him.
May we be gripped by his kingdom ways,
And walk with assurance and trust into his grace and peace.
Other Resources for Christ the King Sunday
- Prayers for Christ the King Sunday here
- Service of Worship for Christ the King Sunday
- Other resources for Christ the King Sunday
And after all that serious stuff you might like a little light liturgical dancing for Christ the King Sunday:
Collecting rocks – a path to remembrance
Have you ever noticed how often the Israelites collected rocks to build cairns as memorials for significant events in their history? Joseph built one after his encounter with God. The whole nation of Israel built one after they crossed the Jordan. Memorials, reminders, places to come and and remind us of the faithfulness of God in the past and encourage us to hope for God’s continued faithfulness in the future.
I am also a collector of rocks. As a child I loved to gather specimens when we went on long road treks over the summer holidays. And in Australia there are some wonderful rocks to collect – sapphire chips, opals, agates, and even flecks of gold. But in the last few years it is not these precious stones that have caught my attention. Now like the Israelites I gather rocks that mark significant events – and I give them names as memorials to remind me of my encounters with God.
I have a serpentine rock picked up on the beach on the island of Iona where Columba came ashore. I call it my rock of faithfulness because when I hold it in my hand I am reminded of all the faithful followers of Christ, like Columba who have gone before me.
fossilized shell
I have a limestone rock from the South coast of Australia. It has the fossil of a shell in it. This is my rock of endurance. I am reminded that this shell comes from a creature that lived thousands of years ago. It has endured because it was transformed into the limestone rock.
Another rock I picked up on Camano Island north of Seattle. Limpets cling tightly to it reminding me always of the need to cling closely to God.
Malachite from backyard
I even have a rock that I picked up in our backyard – a beautiful specimen of malachite – unexpected because this is not a native rock to the Pacific NW. I call it my rock of unexpected surprises because it reminds me that God often comes to us in unexpected and unanticipated ways.
Probably the rock I have held in my hand most frequently is the one I call my rock of remembrance. It is streaked with veins of dark and light intertwined in an intricate pattern. It is a constant reminder to me that the dark and light sides of life are woven together inextricably. They cannot be separated or the rock would crumble into nothing.
Collecting rocks has become an important part of my prayer life. I love to hold a rock in my hand meditating on the part of my faith journey it reminds me of. I find myself praying in gratitude, in repentance or just in sheer joy at the faithfulness of God.
We are forgetful people.
God understands this far better than we do. God prompted the Israelites repeated to remember their God who rescued them from Egypt and faithfully led them through the wilderness:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!” (Numbers 15:37-41)
I was never more aware of this than when watching the film The Way recently. This powerful and inspirational story stars Martin Sheen who plays Tom, an irascible American doctor coming to France to deal with the tragic loss of his son. He embarks on the historical Camino de Santiago pilgrimage where his son died.
There is a tradition on the camino to bring a stone from home and rub all your fears, hurts and sorrows into the stone which you can place at the base of the Cruz de Ferro. Others pick up a stone along the way or write a wish on paper. They deposit them at the cairn of Cruz de Ferro where a huge mound of rocks with their prayers, and hopes and suffering have accumulated over the centuries. This is a holy spot whose sacredness spoke to me even from a distance.
You may not want to collect rocks as I do. You may never have walked the Camino de Santiago, but I am sure there is something you collect that reminds you of God and of your faith journey. Memorials root our prayers in the faithfulness of God. They provide anchors of stability that lead us onward towards the heart of God. Remembering the acts of God in our past is one important way that we connect to the acts of God in the present and learn to trust in hope for the promises of God in the future.
What is your response?
What are the memorials that mark your life? Gather them together in the place where you pray. Sit quietly looking at them.
Is there an object that stands out for you today? Pick it up. Hold it in your hand. What memories spring to mind? Allow them to flow around you. Listen for the whisper of God’s voice speaking to you through the object. What new things might God say to you today about faithfulness, endurance, remembrance or other aspects of life? Write these down and sit quietly basking in the presence of God.
Are there new insights God is giving you about your current situation? Write these down.
What about the future? Is God speaking to you through your memories about new ways to trust? Write these down too.
Repeat the exercise each day throughout the week. Write down what God says to you
Today I am facilitating the Stop the Madness: Return to Our Senses in Advent Retreat. A day like this always reminds me of the wonder of life and the preciousness of every moment, which was partly the inspiration for this prayer.
I also came across a quote by Elie Wiesel yesterday which resonated in my mind and added further inspiration.
Lord thank you,
For every moment you give
is a moment of grace.
Lord thank you,
For every hour you provide
is an offering of love.
Lord thank you,
For every day that you create
is a gift of life.
May we remember these gifts
are meant to be shared.
For our lives no longer belong to us.
They belong to you
and to all who need us desperately.
Christine Sine https://godspacelight.com/
In the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours, Evening Prayer, also know as Vespers, always includes the Magnificat. Each day, the Magnificat is preceded by a short verse or “antiphon” that links the prayer to the feast of the day or the season of the year. In the last seven days of Advent (December 17-24), the antiphons before the Magnificat are very special. Each begins with the exclamation “O” and ends with a plea for the Messiah to come. As Christmas approaches the cry becomes increasingly urgent. In past years, I attended the O Antiphon service at St Marks Cathedral in Seattle. It was a very moving experience, but to be honest, I did not appreciate it as much as I should because I had no idea what the O Antiphons were.
A Journey Toward Home: Soul Travel for Advent to Lent uses one of the O Antiphons as a focus for reflections each week, so I talked about this a little in my post Behind the Scenes and included this youtube video which provides a good introduction to the O Antiphons. Many of us are not familiar with this tradition which is best known in Catholic and Anglican churches, so I thought that a little repetition and a little more detail might be appreciated. You may even like to find an O Antiphon service to attend in the last week of Advent this year.
Most familiar today from the Advent hymn, O come, O come, Emmanuel (in Latin, Veni Emmanuel) which is a lyrical paraphrase of these antiphons, the seven traditional “O Antiphons” are actually more than a thousand years old. They have long been used at the very end of Advent (Dec. 17-23) in the liturgical prayer of the Church, as Antiphons for the “Magnificat” sung or recited during Vespers (the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours). They are referred to as the “O Antiphons” because the title of each one begins with the interjection “O”. Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture.
The first letters of the titles are taken backwards form a Latin acrostic of “Ero Cras” which translates to “Tomorrow, I will be there”, mirroring the theme of the antiphons.
Saying the O Antiphons as a family, whether during grace at meals, in front of the manger scene, or in front of the Christmas tree, is a wonderful Advent devotion. Listen to the appropriate chant below and spend some time in silence drinking in its beauty and the wonder of Christ’s presence within it. To make the devotion even more fruitful, read and meditate together on the Scripture texts on which the antiphons are based.
December 17: O Sapientia (Is. 11:2-3; 28:29): “O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O come to teach us the way of truth.”
December 18: O Adonai (Is. 11:4-5; 33:22): “O Adonai and leader of Israel, you appeared to Moses in a burning bush and you gave him the Law on Sinai. O come and save us with your mighty power.”
December 19: O Radix Jesse (Is. 11:1, 10): “O stock of Jesse, you stand as a signal for the nations; kings fall silent before you whom the peoples acclaim. O come to deliver us, and do not delay.”
December 20: O Clavis David (Is. 9:6; 22:22): “O key of David and scepter of Israel, what you open no one else can close again; what you close no one can open. O come to lead the captive from prison; free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”
December 21: O Oriens (Is. 9:1): “O Rising Sun, you are the splendor of eternal light and the sun of justice. O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”
December 22: O Rex Gentium (Is. 2:4; 9:5): “O King whom all the peoples desire, you are the cornerstone which makes all one. O come and save man whom you made from clay.”
December 23:O Emmanuel (Is. 7:14) : “O Emmanuel, you are our king and judge, the One whom the peoples await and their Savior. O come and save us, Lord, our God.”
- Nadia Bolz Weber provides a good introduction in her article He is Coming The Great O Antiphons.
- And Catholic Culture suggests some helpful activities to incorporate in the celebration of the O Antiphons.
- The Roman Catholic Lectionary website spells out the O Antiphons and provides Biblical readings for each of them.
- Anna Johnson provides a helpful service for the O Antiphons as well.
- Fisheaters has mp3s of the O antiphons
- You may also like to download this O Antiphon companion booklet
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Here in the U.S. Christmas music is already blaring in many of our malls which means that by the time the season really arrives we will be heartily sick of I’m dreaming of a white Christmas and other popular tunes. Just thinking about the array of Christmas music that is available is a daunting task and how to keep it fresh and renewing throughout the season is even more challenging.
I have found that focusing my own music choices on Advent themes rather than the Christmas carols that the secular culture grabs onto really helps me to keep my spiritual focus. I love Advent chants, especially Gregorian chants, and also contemplative music so obviously this is the focus of my suggestions here.
My favourite Celtic style musician is Jeff Johnson. His Selah service meditations on Psalms are beautiful to listen to at this time of the year to help us maintain our peace. His Christmas album A Quiet Knowing Christmas is also one of my constant companions.
This Gregorian Advent chants was my introduction to Advent chants and remains one of my favourites. It is available on Amazon but here is another recording of Advent chants I have also really enjoyed.
Another I highly recommend acquiring is a set of Advent chants recorded by The Benedictines of Mary “Advent at Ephesus” These hit the top of the classic music lists a couple of years ago and it is easy to see why.
And another favourite of mine an hour of contemplative music from Hildegard of Bingen Voice of the Living Light
This collection of Gregorian chants is very restful because of the nature sounds in the background.
And I just came across this amazing set of chants recorded in 1930
If you are looking for more traditional Christmas Music here are some that are hard to beat:
The Three Tenors Christmas Concert in Vienna 1999
Andrea Bocelli Christmas songs
Celtic Woman A Christmas Celebration
And for those that want to check out the vast range of what is out there.
Top 40 Pop has a list of their top 100 Christmas songs .
And a fascinating list of 50 top Christmas Songs from TimeOut London.
A great list of classical Christmas albums. from Ranker.com.
If you are looking for an international Christmas:
Some beautiful songs for peace, from Latin America:.
African Christmas by Ed Jordan is a very powerful song to listen to at this time of the year.
Betelehemu – a Nigerian Christmas song sung by the African Children’s Choir
I was not able to find this song on You-tube, but one Asian carol I would recommend is The Hunger Carol with words by New Zealander Shirley Erena Murray and music by Taiwanese hymnologist I-to Loh
Music and More from MSA
Each year I produce an Advent meditation video with background music by Jeff Johnson. These can be viewed online or purchased by in high resolution by download or DVD.
Advent 2013 – Come Home to God.
Advent 2012 – Alleluia – The Christ Child Comes ,
The entire series of Advent videos from 2007-2012
Advent and Christmas is one of the busiest seasons of the year for Mustard Seed Associates as we publish many other seasonal resources.
A Journey Toward Home: Soul Travel For Advent Through Lent by Kristiin Carroccino and Christine Sine, This is our latest resource – a comprehensive guide to Advent through Epiphany with not only daily reflections from 55 contributors, but also weekly gatherings, recipes and more.
Waiting for the Light by Susan Wade, Ricci Kilmer and Christine Sine. This devotional covers the season of Advent with daily reflections and weekly liturgies.
Return to Our Senses: Reimagining How We Pray by Christine Sine
Prayer Cards
In the last couple of years we have produced several sets of prayer cards which are available for purchase. These have been used extensively for prayer, grief counselling, gifts, and congregational distribution.
In 2013 we also produced a series of podcasts hosted by Christine Sine and Ryan Marsh that you may like to listen to.
First week of Advent with Tara Ward and Chelle Stearns listen here,
Second week of Advent with Aaron Strumpel, Dwight Friesen, and Donna and Jim Mathwig listen here
Third Week of Advent with Karen Ward, Tacey Howe Wispelwey and Mary September listen here
Fourth Week of Advent with Lacey Brown, and Tom Sine listen here.
This is part of a series on Christmas/Advent resources. There is a free download available with all the links or follow these links:
What About Simplifying This Christmas
Getting ready for a Blue Christmas
Getting Ready for Advent/Christmas Worship Resources for the Season
Who Will You Invite to the Manger?
Helping Kids Give Back This Christmas
Advent Activities for Families and Kids
Advent Is Coming What Scriptures Will You Read
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At the beginning of the calendar year we make resolutions and plans for entire year. Why don’t we do the same before Advent? After all, for people of faith, the liturgical year and rhythm that revolves around the life death and resurrection of Jesus, should be more important for us than the secular year.
Planning for the Coming Year
This is the time to plan your scripture readings, prayer rhythm and retreat times for the coming year. Get together with your spouse, your family, or a group of friends and do some planning. Here are a few questions to ask yourself first
- Do you want to follow the church calendar with your daily readings?
- Do you want to read through the Bible in a year?
- Do you want a contemplative approach to bible study?
- Is there a specific theme you would like to consider?
- Are there blogs you visit regularly that augment your Bible reading? Is there a focus these blogs offer that can run in synch with your readings?
My favourite scripture reading plan is still the daily lectionary readings that begin in Advent. These cycle on a three year rotation. There is an Old Testament, Psalm, New Testament and Gospel reading. Part of what I love is that the readings from each section of the bible follow the same theme and have helped me to understand a lot about where Jesus drew his scriptures and theology from. However not all the books of the Bible are included so it is good to identify these and work out a way to incorporate them as well in your readings.
Choose Your Scripture Plan
Here are some resources to help you identify which plan you might like to try. I have tried to put together a list from a wide variety of denominational perspectives:
The Voice is a great source for the daily scriptures of the liturgical year. The site also has one of the most comprehensive explanations of Advent and the symbols we use during the season.
Sacred Space – Daily Prayer with the Irish Jesuits
Pray as You Go – also from the Jesuits. I love this daily prayer for your phone.
If reading the daily lectionary readings is a little much for you check out Lectionary Liturgies which posts liturgies for Sunday worship based on the RCL weekly readings.
biblegateway.com provides a variety of reading plans that can be downloaded as an app.
The Bible App – also provides lots of reading plans for different seasons of the liturgical year as well as those themed around a topic selected by the user.
The Daily Office from the Mission of St Clare and based on the Book of Common Prayer
Daily readings from the Presbyterian Mission Agency USA
BibleStudyTools.com provides several plans for reading through the whole or parts of the bible in a twelve month span.
Reflections from Forward Day by Day
Northumbria Community provides resources for praying the daily office through morning, midday, evening and compline services.
Or if you really want to be challenged this Advent try this Social Justice Advent Guide for Families from the North Carolina Council of Churches. It uses the Lectionary Year A scriptures but it would be easy to adapt these for any year.
And Rachel Held Evans has a post on 28 Ideas for Advent that is definitely worth a look.
This is one of a series of posts on resources for Advent and Christmas. Check out the other posts here.
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I love getting ready for the Advent season and am already planning our activities and decorations for the season so thought you might like to do so too.
This year I will be creating an Advent Come to the Manger wreath. If you decide to do the same please do send us your photos.
Make an Advent Wreath
The most traditional project to prepare us for the new liturgical year is to create or acquire and advent wreath. An Advent wreath typically consists of greenery with four candles, three purple and one pink. Each candle has a specific meaning:
Candle one (purple) represents hope. It is often called the prophets’ candle.
Candle two (purple) represents peace. It is often called the angels’ candle.
Candle three (pink) represents joy. It is often called the shepherds’ candle.
Candle four (purple) represents love. It is often called the Bethlehem candle.
Many advent wreaths also include a Christ candle in the middle of the wreath.
To celebrate with an Advent wreath, you light a candle on each Sunday of Advent. The first Sunday, you light candle one; the second Sunday you light candles one and two, etc. You can often find readings to go along with the candle lightings on the internet or at Christian bookstores. Or find a Christmas book that represents the theme of the week and read it with your children.
There are lots of ways to make Advent wreaths. It is a fun craft to do with kids and adults alike and may establish a new family tradition for you.
Here are a few that I find useful:
Here is a link to a fairly traditional Advent wreath. It does require an electric drill, fine tooth saw and wire cutters so obviously not something to let your kids do on their own.
This short video How to make an Advent wreath uses old coat hangers.
And here is a simple eco-friendly wreath
Or perhaps a junk wheel wreath with mason jar tealight.
And I love this one for making an Advent wreath with children’s hand prints. One of my friends used her own and her husbands handprints for the wreath and gave it to her grandkids prints as an Advent gift.
Go bird friendly with your Advent wreath and Advent decorations. We tried this last year. The gelatine suggested in most of these goes moldy if you leave it inside too long, however we plan to try it again with lard which should be more durable and also nutritious for the birds.
Create an Advent or Winter Spiral
This is not a long standing Advent tradition but is associated with Waldorf schools in the United States. It has similarities to walking the labyrinth and I think is a wonderful tradition to consider establishing for your family.
Kimz Kitchen has great instructions for making an Advent spiral with dough.
Mountain Hearth has the most ambitious of all – a beautiful Advent walk that as they say really sets the mood for a different sort of holiday season filled with more stillness, reverence, contemplation and beauty amongst the prevalent hustle and bustle of shopping, parties, and general busy-ness that surrounds us in November and December.
Create an Advent Garden
This is an idea that I came up with last year when I was feeling a little bored by the traditional Advent wreath which we had used for the last 20 years. I am a keen gardener and decided to create my own mini garden specifically for Advent.
I filmed this short video to explain my process and the reasoning behind it. This was a very meaningful and fun way to celebrate the season. I am planning to replenish the garden each year as an ongoing Advent activity.
Make Your Own Advent Calendar
Advent calendars always seem to represent the more commercial side of Christmas to me with cheap chocolates, wooden toys and glittery paper being the predominant images. However this is a wonderful tradition and there are many ways in which we can make it meaningful for our families
I love the suggestion from the post Celebrating Advent with Children, to make an Advent calendar with matchboxes, placing slips of paper in each one with different activities to do each day.
Another possibility is this recycle bin Advent calendar. – what a great way to introduce kids to the season and to the need to be more responsible. The combination of inward reflection and outward caring is wonderful.
Countdown Christmas Traditions– also has a fun kid friendly Advent calendar. As you click on each day of Advent you read about traditions in different countries of the world.
CAFOD: Just One world in the U.K. has some great Advent liturgies available as well as a downloadable Advent calendar for kids.
Susan Forshey put together this helpful Advent calendar Forty Days of Joy and Love which is a great concept to use for your Advent calendar without investing in funky toys or more unnecessary chocolates.
And here is a really fun one to explore – The Hubble Telescope Advent calendar
Catholic Mom has downloadable instructions for an Advent chain which has some similarities to an Advent calendar, but is especially designed to encourage kids to think beyond themselves at Christmas.
A couple of years ago MSA Board member Jill Aylard Young put together a similar kit called Advent in A Jar which is downloadable from the MSA site.
Explore Christmas traditions and recipes from around the world with your family
If you wanting to establish new traditions to enjoy with your family or friends, read through these descriptions of traditions from around the world and discuss the possibility of adapting some of these as part of your own celebration during the Advent and Christmas season.
The Worldwide Gourmet, has a wonderful array of recipes associated with the Advent and Christmas season in many different parts of the world. Just reading through some of these has my mouth watering. Choose a few to make with your kids and create some special prayers for the countries the traditions come from at the same time.
Set up a nativity set.
This is always a fun activity that tends to grow even more important as we age. Set it up with the manger empty and the wise men at the other end of the room or house. Throughout the Advent and Christmas season the wise men move closer to the manager and of course on Christmas morning the Christ child appears in the manger.
One of my friends has a rich collection of nativity sets from around the world which she sets up in different parts of the house to remind her that the story of Jesus is powerful in every culture. World Nativity has an amazing set of images of nativity sets from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. YonderStar is another site that sells Nativity sets, many of them fair trade. They also contribute 10% of their profits to Nature Conservancy and Food for the Poor.
One creative twist on the traditional nativity set is to give each family member an empty manger on the first Sunday of Advent. A small cereal box covered with bright paper will do as well. At bedtime, the children draw straws for each kind deed performed in honor of baby Jesus as his birthday surprise. The straws are placed in the child’s manger or box daily. It is amazing how much love a child can put into Advent when she or he is preparing for his redeemer’s coming in grace.
On Christmas, each child finds an infant in his manger, placed on a small table or a chair beside his or her bed. Usually it is a tiny doll, beautifully dressed. This custom fills the child with a longing in Advent, and provides an image of the redeemer as the first happy glance in the morning and the last impression at night during the entire Christmas season.
Make a Jesse Tree
The Jesse Tree represents the family tree, or genealogy of Jesus Christ . It tells the story of God’s salvation plan , beginning with creation and continuing through the Old Testament, to the coming of the Messiah. The name comes from Isaiah 11:1, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” (NASB)
Each day of Advent a homemade ornament is added to the Jesse Tree, a small tree made of evergreen branches. These symbolic ornaments can each represent a prophecy foretelling of Christ. Other variations include creating ornaments that represent the ancestors in the lineage of Christ, or using the various monogram symbols of Christianity as handmade ornaments. Before a symbol is hung on the branch, a Bible passage or a story from a story Bible is read.
My Jesse Tree: The Ultimate Guide has a good explanation and lots of ideas on how to make a Jesse tree.
Here is a pattern for making a Jesse tree Advent calendar and another for making a more traditional Jesse tree. The Reformed Church of America has a good set of Jesse tree Advent devotionals
This is part of a series on Christmas/Advent resources:
Getting Ready for Advent/Christmas Worship Resources for 2015
Advent Activities for Families and Kids for 2015
Join Our Advent Photo Challenge
Celebrate With Simplicity This Christmas
Preparing for a Blue Christmas – New Ideas for 2015
Helping Kids Give Back This Christmas
Choosing Your Scripture Readings for the Coming Year
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