This Sunday we begin the Season of Advent. The season of Advent is made up of the four weeks preceding the celebration of Christmas. Advent is marked by the joyful expectation of the Lords thee fold coming.
His coming in flesh at his birth the second coming at the end of time and the third coming in word and Spirit into our hearts and our daily lives.
This season encourages us to be constantly alert as we watch and wait to identify Christ’s presence in our lives.
Today the colour for our church vestments is purple. Purple reminds us to make a new beginning in our lives, as Christ is reborn in our lives through repentance and grace.
The Jesse Tree
The symbol of the Jesse Tree, traces the roots of Jesus’ people from the story of Creation to Jesus’ birth. The Jesse tree, encompasses a wide variety of people, events, and circumstances which we celebrated during Advent .
The symbol of the Jessie Tree comes to us from the book of the Prophet Isaiah
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of its roots.” Isaiah (11: 1).
The new shoot is used as a means telling the story of God in the Old Testament and connects the Advent season with the faithfulness of God across 4000 years of history. The branch is a biblical sign of newness and encouragement. And became away to talk about the coming of the Messiah. The royal line of David is depicted as new shoot from a tree stump that has been cut down. God promises that a new king will arise from David’s descendants.
Church art, particularly in the Middle Ages, portrayed the Jesse Tree on candlesticks and in stained-glass windows, telling the story of Jesus’ ancestry. It shows Jesus as a descendant of Jesse the Father of David.
Today it has become very popular for us to trace our “Roots”. The question to whom do I belong and who are my people are questions frequently asked. It has become very popular to trace our family tree.
When we make our own Jessie Tree we will be able to renew and review our favourite biblical characters, and see how within the history of their faith in God and God’s faithfulness to them they were able to renew their lives by God’s grace.
To Make
This Advent we are going to make our own Jessie Tree out of cardboard or you could use a dry tree branch. We are going to make decorations out of cardboard depicting the ancestors of Jesus and special events in the Old and New Testament in which God revealed himself to his people.
Each week I am going to send you a symbol depicting an important event that stands for important people or events either in Christs life or connected to him before his birth.
Thank you Revd Peta May for today’s Sunday School lesson.
