Advent: Sitting Around the Jesse Tree

Sitting with my brother,

Sitting with my sister,

Sitting ‘round that Jesse Tree...

As we return to school after Thanksgiving Break, we enter the season of Advent, the beginning of the church year for most churches in the Western tradition. It is a time of expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing.  We wait for the Anointed One, the Messiah who will bring peace, justice, and righteousness to the world.  

Advent is a special season at Mustard Seed School.  As we wait for Christmas and the birth of Jesus, we come together around the Jesse Tree.  Together, we tell the stories of God in the Old Testament and we hang ornaments on the Jesse Tree to remind us of the people, prophesies, and events leading up to Jesus’ birth.  The ornaments connect the Advent season with the faithfulness of God across the centuries.  

Each day in worship, we will remind ourselves of the lineage of Jesus as we speak the words of Isaiah 11, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”  On the first day of Advent worship, we will begin with the story of Jesse, and the anointing of his son, King David.  On Dec. 20, our final day before Christmas break (and the day of Las Posadas!), we will meet Mary and Joseph as they search for a place to stay.

In these weeks leading to Christmas, grades K-8 will worship together at 8:30am in the gym.  Students and teachers will use creative skits and and dramatic readings to tell the stories.  It is a time of great joy and anticipation.  

O come, O come, Emmanuel!