The Jesse Tree Celebration

Our very own Jesse Tree!

One of the most exciting things for me this past month has been my family group's celebration of the Jesse Tree.  Now, before I get any credit whatsoever in sounding cultured I must confess that my first thought upon being told we were going to have one this year was "What on earth is that?" followed closely by "Jesse... Jesse... I know he was one of those Old Testament guys... Yeah, that's all I've got."  So I promptly awayed to a computer and (of course) consulted Google.  Oh Google.  I did come to learn by experience though as well, I am happy to say. 

The Jesse Tree is a celebration of advent.  It is, in a way, a more "Christian" version of the Christmas tree than the common one (which I have no beef with).  The Jesse Tree celebration is not intended to be in lieu of the more common Christmas traditions.  It's a way of celebrating the coming of the Christ child into the world by following the Old Testament events that led up to His arrival some two thousand years ago.  An additional bonus for me was I got to brush up on some of my OT.  Woot woot!  Now some people celebrate the Jesse Tree every day of advent with an OT event, but because our group meets weekly we condensed our celebration into weekly readings of the events.  Both are common practices.

The bible is chalk full of references to trees.  They symbolize life, rebirth, etc.  In Isaiah 11, the Prophet records "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots."  This passage is one of the prophecies made of the coming of Christ, a branch from the root of Jesse (Jesus was a descendant of Jesse).  Thus the Jesse Tree is so named.

For each OT event celebrated by the Jesse Tree, there is an assigned ornament.  Traditionally, children make these.  This is one of the ways the JTC involves the whole family.  The kiddos get a chance to put that creativity to good use!  Boy did we have some beauties this year, I wish I had pictures.  I did contribute and make a couple ornaments, because I'm a dork and I have yet to grow up.  Props still to the kids though, they're little Van Goghs and Picassos in the making (sans the ear issue).

There are twenty-eight events and/or themes in the Jesse Tree.

1. Creation; symbolized by a dove ornament
2. The first sin; symbolized by an apple
3. The flood;  symbolized by a rainbow or an ark
4. God's promise to Abraham to make his descendants "as numerous as the stars;"  symbolized by a field of stars
5. The offering of Isaac where Abraham trusted God and God provided a ram in place of Isaac to be sacrificed; symbolized by a ram
6. Jacob dreams of a ladder to heaven and God promises to continue the promise through Jacob's line that he made to Jacob's father Abraham; symbolized by, well, a ladder
7. God's providence in Joseph's life, even though he was mistreated by his brothers and sold into slavery he was in Egypt when a famine struck and was able to provide food for his family; symbolized by Joseph's coat of many colors
8. God's leadership through Moses to deliver his people from the Egyptians; symbolized by a burning bush (this one didn't have to burn without burning up the bush, in fact it didn't have to burn at all because that would be a fire hazard...)
9. The Passover, where God instructed the Israelites to spread lamb's blood on their doors one night to protect them from the death of the firstborn plague.  Also the Exodus out of Egypt; this is symbolized by a lamb (baaa).
10. The Torah at Sinai, where God gives Moses the tablets of the Torah; symbolized by (le gasp!) the tablets of the Torah!
11. The fall of Jericho which allowed the Israelites to finally enter the promised land; symbolized by a ram's horn trumpet.
12. God used Gideon, an obscure guy from the tribe of Manasseh, to free Israel; symbolized by a crown.
13. David, a shepherd for the people; symbolized by a shepherd's crook
14. Elijah and the prophets of Baal.  Baal's prophets could not convince Baal to burn the offering to prove his power, but even after Elijah ordered a stone altar to be built and the sacrifice to be drenched in water, Yahweh (God) burned the whole dang thing; symbolized by... a stone altar!
15. God's faithfulness and deliverance to Hezekiah; symbolized by an empty tent.
16. Isaiah's call to holiness, where he has a dream in which a coal of living fire is touched to his lips; symbolized by fire tongs with "hot" coal (once again fire hazards prevented the real deal, as it did with Elijah's altar.)
17. The Exile of the Israelites from the promised land; symbolized by tears ;(
18. The Israelites waiting to return; symbolized by a stone watchtower
19. The return and rebuilding in the promised land; a city wall is the symbol
20. John the Baptist prepares the way for the Christ by calling Israel to repent of their sins; symbolized by a white shell
21. Mary's visit by Gabriel, who tells her she will be the mother of the Christ; symbolized by a white lily
22. The joy in Elizabeth, Mary Jesus' mother's cousin, who became pregnant after being barren until she was considered too old to have children.  Chronologically, this happened before John the Baptist prepared the way because, well, Elizabeth was pregnant with him.  Jesus still cooking too. The point is the joy; this is symbolized by a mother and child.
23. Zechariah doubted when Gabriel told him his wife, Elizabeth, was going to have a child.  He was struck mute until the birth and naming of John the Baptist (though they didn't name him the Baptist at that time...).  He named his son via writing; symbolized by a pencil and tablet.
24. Joseph was in strange predicament when the girl he was essentially engaged (okay, pledged) to turned up pregnant and there was no way he was involved.  Gabriel visited him also and told him it was all good and Joe trusted him; this symbol was a carpenter's hammer.
25. The three Magi learned of the Christ child who was to be born and set out to worship him; this is symbolized by a star.
26. The birth of Jesus the Messiah; symbolized by a manger.
27. Christ the son of God; symbolized by the Chi-Rho (XP) symbol

Okay I lied, there were twenty-seven.  At any rate, I really enjoyed this celebration.  I intend to incorporate it into my own kiddo's Christmases some day.  It's a great addition to the Christmas season.

Cheers!

RF

Still in love

The countdown to Christmas is in the home stretch.  The season of joy and peace is here.  I love the Christmas radio station, the lights everywhere, and the piles of snow we've managed to retain.  I love the spirit of my childhood that delights in the traditions.  There's a reason that it's called "the most wonderful time of the year," (at the risk of being cliche).  It really is, for some.

Christmas is a time of joy, but for some it's a time of sadness too.  There are people who will be spending the holiday alone, some for the first time and some for the umpteenth time.  There are people who will be missing.  There are people for whom the holidays are only a reminder of just how hard the times have been.  

While I don't pretend to be alone or destitute, just one of the St. Louis Post Dispatch's 100 Neediest Cases is testament to that, I still have my baggage to add to the not so cheery side of the season as well.  It's been a little over five months since my angel Grandpa E's birthday weekend, since he went to sleep in his reclining chair and woke up in heaven.  Some days it feels as if it's been an eternity since I last heard his wonderful laughter, other days it feels like I just heard the news all over again.  Some days I miss him so much it hurts.  It's taken me about a week now to really begin to comprehend that we're about to face a Christmas without him.  It got worse when I went down my Christmas list and realized that I wouldn't be shopping for his present.  In a very real sense, we're all still in mourning.  The wounds are still fresh, not that I expect to ever miss him less.  

At the same time, I'm positively surrounded by love.  In a way, the trio of my mom, brother, and me have been adopted into a "family."  Last month I featured our family group in my Give Thanks series.  In short, they're a group of families from my church who we join for a weekly night of fellowship (and lots of food).  I love them dearly.  Their support over the past year has been truly a God send.  Just the other night we had our Christmas kick off sort of night, with the last of our Jesse Tree celebration and a good old game of white elephant.  At the end of every family group night, we have a group prayer which we all contribute our concerns and thanksgivings.  On this particular night there was a fairly resounding prayer of thanks for the group and how we've really become like a large (albeit slightly eccentric but nonetheless loving) family.  This really touched me, as I looked around the room at all those dear faces.  At heart I'm a family person; I come from a relatively small family and obviously my immediate family is rather fractured.  This is why I felt so touched by my family group the other night;  they've opened their hearts to the three of us and given us that love I've always wanted in a big family. 
Now before the family I'm related to gets overlooked, I cannot say I'm not loved by them.  They may be small, but they're special.  While my parents are divorced, I know they still love my brother and I.

This harsh contrast between the utter hurt of missing my dear Grandpa and the joy from the rest of my loving family is hard to take in.  In the end, it's love that binds both of these.  It's love that fills my family and it's love that makes me miss my Grandpa so much.  While it hurts, I wouldn't trade loving him for a heart that doesn't ache.  After all, in the end, I'm still in love.

Merry Christmas to all, to those who rejoice and to those who mourn.  May all find the light of love somewhere in their lives.

Signed,

RF

My dear Grandpa E, Christmas 2009