| Linda Carroll | |
| Advent 2007 - Children's Sermon | |
| Isaiah 11:1-10 | Romans 15:4-13 |
Preparation: Use free clip art for all artwork. For each family: On purple paper, print a large bare tree, at the bottom print "The Jesse Tree" then below print "'A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.' Isaiah 11:1". Search through clip art for 28 (or 27 if not using manger) symbols of Old Testament people or events. Shrink symbols to about one square inch and put all on one page. Print page and stick to sticky-back magnet sheet. Cut out symbols as small as possible. Place symbols in small metal box. Create an explanation sheet for each of the symbols. Place tree, tin box and explanation sheet in envelope. By having 28 symbols, the children can use their Jesse Tree as an Advent calendar. If you have a Jesse Tree at home, bring in ornaments to show children.
This is the season of Advent, the time when we get ready to celebrate the mystery of Christmas. There are lots of ways to get ready for Christmas. You can decorate, shop, bake and...you can go to church. In church, we get ready by remembering bible stories from long before Jesus was born and stories right up until the time he was born.
In today’s second reading, Paul wrote to the Romans, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction…” Then he mentions the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come..” Do you know what that means?
Our first reading also mentioned Jesse. Isaiah 11:1 “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. “
Isaiah was talking about Jesus, but who is Jesse and why should we care about his tree stump? Jesse was the father of David. Do you remember the story of David and Goliath? Later David became the greatest king Israel ever had.
Do you all know what a family tree is? A family tree is a picture with names of family members on it that shows how everyone is related. It looks like a tree. [Explain using a family in church.]
Jesse had several children. One of the branches on his tree would have said “David”. David’s branch would have divided into many. If you followed David’s branch in just right way, you would get to Joseph…as in Mary and Joseph. Joseph’s branch would divide and there you would find Jesus.
The prophets, who speak the word of God, said that the Messiah (Jesus) would be from the "line of David" or "the house of David" or as we already heard "from the root of Jesse". We could start Jesus’ family tree with Jesse’s father, Obed or Obed’s father Boaz, or Obed’s mother, Ruth. (She has her own book in the bible!) We could go back so far that we would include the entire Old Testament.
Jesse’s family tree reminds us that the story of Jesus started back in the Old Testament. The stories in the Old Testament teach us about God, his people and the need for the Messiah. So we could say that all these stories lead us to that first Christmas in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. In fact, these stories help us get ready for Christmas this year.
In our house, we have one door that is covered in brown paper with a bare tree drawn on it. It is our Jesse Tree. During Advent, we hang ornaments on the tree that remind us of Old Testament stories. [show samples]
For each of your families, I have a Jesse Tree for your refrigerator. This Jesse Tree has enough ornaments than you can use it as an Advent calendar. There are 28 ornaments because Advent does not always begin on Dec. 1. Each of these ornaments represents a story from the Old Testament plus the manger for Christmas Day. [show some]