Advent -- a Jesse Tree journey

I had promised, dear friends, to research and publish a list of advent resources. Alas, yesterday, I realized that even if I researched and published it today, you wouldn't have time to make any necessary purchases for it. So ... that's when I got the idea to publish information for an advent display (sometimes referred to as a Jesse tree) here each day.

To do this, I'll be combining information from two resources I own. One is a poster I received in the mail many years ago, and which I have religiously filed away each year after using because I wanted to save it forever. The other is a neat little advent devotional box I purchased at Community's Christmas Bazaar. Both of these resources use scripture and visual images to communicate the redemption story.

For each day in December preceeding Christmas, I'll post (in the morning) a scripture reading and a suggested "symbol" to accompany that reading (my poster has illustrations of symbols, and my devotional box has little leather ornaments with a drawing of an appropriate symbol). How you choose to represent the symbol is up to you. Here's your chance to be as creative as you want to be! (I once knew a lady whose symbols were little ornaments she'd made out of sculpey clay and hung on a miniature tree). I'll be hanging my leather ornaments on a leafless tree branch (I'm aiming for a Martha Stewart minimalist sort of look here). You might want to draw a tree on poster board, then let your kids draw the symbol after each night's reading. Today is day 1, but don't let that discourage you; I believe you can quickly decide what you'll use for your tree and how you'll represent your symbols.

My hope is that this will provide a Christ-centered resource for Christmas -- in the midst of a world that has secularized and commercialized what was meant to be the celebration of His birth.

So ... onto day 1.

Jesse Tree
Day 1 -- Branch

scripture reading: Isaiah 11: 1-2.
God chose Jesse's son, David, to be king -- and it was through this ancestral line that King Jesus -- the one who was promised, the one about whom Isaiah prophesied -- would come. Jesus was born in the line of Jesse 1000 years after David.

key verse: Isaiah 11:1
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."

suggested symbol: tree or tree branch onto which you'll "hang" (or draw, or embroider, or whatever) your ornaments


(NOTE: I just found a jesse tree resource online which provides a coloring page for each day. Some of the days scripture and symbols might not match up with mine, but you still might want to check it out.)