Jesse Tree Symbol #20: Micah's Bethlehem Prophecy

Jesse Tree Symbol #20: Micah's Bethlehem Prophecy

Micah 5: 2 – 5
Matthew 2:1-6

Bethlehem is the LITTLEST town. 

And THAT is the town form which comes the GREATEST savior!!

The small.

The unexpected. 

The prophet Micah is the same one who calls us again and again to justice and mercy for the oppressed and the underdog... 

because God doesn't affirm things like pride. God doesn't care about our power or our popularity or our riches... and those things end up being harmful anyways.  

(pay attention to verse 2):
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

Jesse Tree Symbol #19: Habakkuk's Tower

Jesse Tree Symbol #19: Habakkuk's Watchower

Habakkuk 2:1-3; 3:17-19

Matthew 24:36-44

Habakkuk is my favorite prophet--hands down. He's frustrated with the scene of injustice all around him. He's discouraged and angry... and he's in God's face about it! Talk about honest prayer:

"O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

   and you will not listen?

Or cry to you ‘Violence!’

   and you will not save?" ~Habakkuk 1:1

In a modern translation, Habakkuk says
"Seriously, Lord? What's up with how broken this world is?" Come and fix it! I'm waiting! ...in fact, I'll stand here on this watchtower and WAIT. 

We don't need Jesus when everything is fine...
but things AREN'T fine. (even when we try to pretend or live in denial/isolated privilege)

The advent question is what are we waiting for? What/who are we specifically praying for Jesus to save?

"Lord, how long must I wait for this..." 

Because God hears Habakkuk.

And Habakkuk's cry of frustration becomes a song of praise.
Everything is perfect and fixed, but even in waiting, Habakkuk learns patience.

Jesse Tree #18: Jonah's Big Fish

Jesse Tree Symbol #18: Jonah's Big Fish

Jonah 1-4
(select verses here)

I think every one of us has had some experience of being in “the belly of the whale”. How dark, lonely and more hopeless could things possibly get?  Homelessness,  abandonment and alienation from family and a support network, addiction, poverty, betrayals and broken promises, dysfunctional and toxic relationships, devastating illnesses, overwhelming grief -the list of the darkest places  in which we have all found ourselves could continue indefinitely. 

     In our human condition, we cry out to God.  Why is this happening to me?  What did I ever do to deserve such a harsh fate as this?  Is there a lesson for me in this horrible, hopeless mess?  May I just tell You, God, I think I got Your message, so could You just make it all stop right now? And by the way, my grandmother was so very mistaken when she said, “God never sends you more than you can handle.”

     The challenge to all of us is to have faith and trust in God when there seems to be no light and no pathway out.  God understands.  God never promised us a smooth, seamless and pain-free life, but He did promise to always be with us, to love us unconditionally and to forgive us completely.  That’s the way out of the belly of the whale.

Prayer: All-powerful and unseen God, the coming of your light into our world has brought us peace. Teach us to proclaim the birth of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Eternal God, Jesus Christ, the coming of light shines in our darkness, giving us joy in our sorrow and comfort in loneliness. Amen.

Jesse Tree Symbol #17: Jeremiah's tears and the righteous branch

Jesse Tree Symbol #17: Jeremiah's tears

Jeremiah 23:5 – 6; 31:31 – 34;   

Romans 11:26-31

*most of the following summary is from
  Jeffrey Kranz’ Overview Bible Project*

The scene:  

God had warned Israel that they would face exile if they continued to turn away and now Jerusalem’s time has come. Once in a while, a king, a descendant of David, would turn the people back to God, but the other kings led the people into all kinds of disobedience. The people worshiped other gods, perverted justice in the land, and ignored God’s laws. 

Yet even as Jerusalem’s destruction looms, God sends a prophet to warn, challenge, and comfort the people. That prophet is a young man named Jeremiah.

Known as the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah  ministers to the Jews for about 40 years, and his career is a sad one. He's the only prophet of God in the land: everyone else who claims to have a word from the Lord is a fake (and false messages of hope are a lot easier to hear than the truth about consequences).

Read Jeremiah and you’ll learn to anticipate Jeremiah’s advice and the people’s response—and you’ll see just how many chances God gives His people to follow His voice and keep His covenant.

But the covenant is broken. 

The people are broken.
And people don’t like to hear the truth.

Although Jeremiah’s messages focus on the coming punishment of Judah (the southern split in Israel's civil war), this book is not without hope. Jeremiah promises restoration and return for the Jews. It’s here, in Jeremiah, that we learn about God’s plan to make a new covenant with His people:

“His law will be on their hearts, and they will all know Him. He shall be their God, and they shall be His people. He will forgive their sin and remember it no more .”31:31–34.

Jeremiah also looks forward to a righteous king—”a righteous branch from the line of David”—to arise in the future… A king who is coming to set things right and turn the world to justice...

Pray: Almighty God, we believe in your new covenant—we believe in Jesus—so we often read the prophets at a distance. But the truth is that we are no better than those in Jeremiah’s day. We, too, have broken your law, we have rebelled against your love. We have not loved our neighbors, and have not heard the cry of the needy. May we draw near to you, confessing our faults, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and strength; through Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.

Jesse Tree Symbol #16: Isaiah’s promise of peace

Jesse Tree Symbol #16: Isaiah’s promise of peace (a lion with a lamb)

Isaiah 2:4; 7:14; 9: 6 -7; 11:6-10

*most of the following summary is from Jeffrey Kranz’ Overview Bible Project*

The scene:
King David's years of triumphant rule have long passed. Civil war has slashed the nation of Israel into two: Israel in the North and Judah in the South.  In the days of Isaiah, these nations had fought each other and the surrounding country for a few hundred years, but neither kingdom would stand through the storms to come.

The Assyrians were rising in power, and the Babylonians would soon overthrow them. And the people hadn’t remained faithful to God, so their security as a nation would not last. The North would fall soon. The South will fall later.  God raises up the prophet Isaiah to tell the people this message.

But by God’s grace, the message doesn’t end there.

Yes, the Assyrians will conquer the North and the South into exile in Babylon, but God will also bring Israel back home. Isaiah promises that--one day--God will also rule Israel as Immanuel: God with us. God will judge Israel’s enemies and bring all the nations to God—back to peace.

That’s Isaiah’s message:

God’s judgment is coming, but so is God’s comfort.

In the midst of war and violence, Isaiah preaches that peace is coming.

No other prophet is referenced in the New Testament as much as Isaiah. Isaiah preaches of the coming King who will rule Israel and the nations in justice and peace (the kind of peace where lions will lie with lambs and all of creation is in harmony). He also looks forward to a special Servant of God: one who will fulfill all Israel’s duties and bear their sins.

Here are just a couple verses from Isaiah that have been re-interpreted through the Gospel of  Jesus:

· “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel” (Is 7:14). (see Mt 1:22–23).

· “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

· “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Is 53:6).

Fifteenth Symbol: Elijah's Raven

Fifteenth Symbol of the Jesse Tree: Elijah's Raven

(To keep the Israelite kings and people in line with the covenant, God called up prophets to speak truth to the people. Elijah was a healer, a powerful miracle worker who deeply relied on God, and a fiery speaker who fervently called out to God’s people) 

1 Kings 17

In Jesus’ day, people often compared him to Elijah (Matt 16:13-14)—and, indeed, both were filled by the Holy Spirit and did great things. Both were homeless and spent time in the desert, relying fully on God for provision and daily bread (thus the raven with bread).

Both reminded people of God’s presence in the world and taught us to pray for our daily bread, but Jesus was not merely a prophet who talked about God’s presence. Jesus was God… and still is.   

So when we pray for  Christ to come into our life, it is no small thing. We need the bread of life in order to be spiritually fed.  Weneed God (God’s peace, God’s hope, God’s joy…) in order to be made whole and right and holy. 

Reflect:

· Elijah was willing to go into the desert with nothing. But, by God's grace and a widow's hospitality, his needs were met. Have you ever confused true needs with personal desires? (in other words, do comforts or personal desires ever get in the way of faithful service to God)?

· The widow had very little food, but she shared what she had—and was blessed. How can you use your resources for the blessing and benefit of others? 

· How/when have you experienced ‘raven moments’ (when God provided exactly what you needed)?

· What ‘desert places’ in your life need new life rooted into them now?

Fourteenth Symbol of the Jesse Tree: David's Crown

Fourteenth Symbol of the Jesse Tree: David's Crown
(In the days after the judges, the people cried out for a king, and God anointed David: a shepherd boy who sang psalms on the harp and--for the most part--led the people into faithfulness.) 

1 Samuel 16:1-12; 

Acts 13:16-25

On one hand, David’s place in Jesus’ family tree sets the example for a good king—one after God’s own heart who will lead the people both in worship and lives of kingdom justice. I’m sure Jesus grew up hearing stories of his great-great-great-great ancestor who was a brave warrior and a shepherd (compare 1Kings 34-34 and John 10:11-15). But David was also human. He sinned. And he repented (see his 51st Psalm).

So through the pain of King David, God paints the picture of what true repentance and forgiveness would look like. David sets the scene for Christ, but also reminds us of why we need Jesus to be our savior.

Symbol 13 of the Jesse Tree: Samuel's Lamp

Symbol 13 of the Jesse Tree: Samuel's Lamp

Symbol 13 of the Jesse Tree: Samuel's Lamp
(In the early days of worship, a young boy was serving in the temple. It was late at night--the lamp was lit--when God called him. He grew into a great prophet and eventually was the one who anointed David as king.)

1 Samuel 3:1-21, 1 Samuel 7:3-17

Matthew 19:14

When we think of prophets, we think of great spiritual giants who spoke with boldness and spent pious hours in prayer... but Samuel was a child. And he was asleep and--get this--HE DIDN'T RECOGNIZE GOD'S VOICE. 

What kind of a prophet doesn't recognize the voice of God???

It's humorous, actually:

God calls and Samuel wakes up. The kid gets out of bed, walks up stairs and wakes up the priest--only to be confused at the response. ("No, I didn't call you. It's the middle of the night. Go back to bed!") This happens a few times before anyone figures out what happens. 

God is either frustrated and sad that no one gets the gravity of the situation ("the word of the lord was rare in those days") or God is cracking up because the whole thing is hilarious ("psssst. Samuel! Samuel! pssssssst!!").

...but I wonder how often I miss it too.
How often do I sleep through the holy gravity of God's presence in the world?

What keep you from hearing God's voice? What do you need to set aside or wake up from--in order to recognize that God is calling?

Pray: Dear God, today we are listening for your call. Perhaps you have something special for us to do. When you call, we will answer, "Here I am." Amen.

Twelfth Symbol of the Jesse tree: Ruth's wheat

Jesse Tree Symbol #12: Ruth, shaft of wheat
In the days of the Judges, famine left an Israelite woman named Naomi widowed and without both her sons. As she moved back to her hometown, one daughter-in-law (Ruth) stayed with her. This penniless foreigner--this outsider--Ruth was cared for and brought in to the Israelite family tree... the roots of Christ

 Ruth 1:6-9,15-18; 2:1-12 and 16

Matthew 1:1-5

"From Outsider and Stranger to part of the Family of Christ"

Testimonial by Gealean Murray

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound… At once I was lost, but now I'm found…  These words pulled from perhaps the most recognizable hymn in history.  However, these are perhaps the most recognizable to my own heart.  For a long time I found myself wandering through life without Christ in my daily life.  The all-consuming solitude was astounding to say the least.  While I was raised in the church and attended on the holidays, a regular part of the Easter and Christmas crowd, I failed to make the connection in both my church and my heart.  I was brought home by the mission of Margaret's Memories.  The faith and strength that I saw Nicole Remo both exude and endure during her pregnancy with sweet Margaret resonated with me.  I faithfully came to volunteer for the cause. 

Meanwhile, my own life lay in shambles.  A marriage crumbling.  Two small and beautiful children.  Once a homemaker, now struggling to provide for the family.  It was through the church--through the bonds made in Circle of Grace while assembling boxes on behalf of the Margaret's Memories mission--and through church family who looked past me being a foreigner, and happily accepted me in as a worker bee in the buzzing, productive hive of the Church, that I felt whole again.  And this resonates with me.  With each new visitor, each member, each person who enters our doors… We as a church can provide them a sanctuary--both figuratively and literally--in which they can feel Christ's love.  Sometimes this is as simple as extending a greeting.  Other times it's as complex as sharing a deep pain.  Regardless, it's our calling as Christians to see people as potential buzzing bees that fit into our hive, and to invite them inward. 

Eleventh Symbol: Gideon's Pitcher

Eleventh Jesse Tree Symbol: Gideon's clay pitcher
The Israelites enter the promised land, but the next generation stops worshipping God. When enemy armies attack and conquer them, the Israelites turn back to God and cry out. God--in grace--raises up a judges (like Gideon) who leads Israel back to victory. 

Judges 6:11-16, 7:19-23
(or all of 6-8 if you're feeling ambitious) 

The story of Gideon is an underdog story. 

In this story we see a man who is so full of doubt of himself that he does not recognize the Spirit of the Lord sitting right in front of him. For someone who battles doubt and anxiety, this story is particularly meaningful. 

In the verses we see the Lord trying to build up Gideon’s courage by calling him a “might warrior” and telling him “Peace, do not be afraid”. But Gideon doesn’t listen to his Lord right away. We go on to learn how Gideon—the weakest of the weakest, the doubting and full of anxiety, the underdog —defeats  a massive army with 300 men. With no real weapons—only clay pots, torches, and trumpets.

This story resonates with me, because I know that I do my best work for the Kingdom when I push back against the voice telling me that I’m not enough, or that I’m not good enough... 

Sometimes the Spirit of the Lord comes right to us in visible ways and gives us reassurance. And sometimes it’s in the small daily moments that happen without fanfare.  I find such peace knowing that if I am doing God’s work, God will equip me and I do not have to rely on my own strength. So I know that God is going to help me fight my battles, whether they are the size of armies, or 9x13.

Jesse Tree Ten: Rahab's Cord

Symbol Ten: Rahab's Scarlet Cord

Tenth Symbol of the Jesse Tree: Rahab's Scarlet Cord
(Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and into the desert where God took care of them. After 40 years, the next generation took over, led by Joshua who sent spies into the promised land. A prostitute named Rahab believed in God and allowed the spies to escape detection. When the Israelites entered the city, Rahab's tied a red cord to her window so they would recognize and save her family) 

Read Rahab's story in Joshua 2:1-18

Rahab--a prostitue--is an unlikely candidate to be used by a Holy God.  Yet, that is exactly why her story is so profound.

Rahab, according to the Jewish Midrash, likely entered into prostitution at roughly 10 years of age, at about the same time the Israelites escaped Egypt.  (This seems shocking, but even today, children as young as 4 years of age are sold into sexual slavery – but that’s another topic entirely.)

If the Rabbinical estimates are true, Rahab would’ve been a well-established prostitute of the age of about 50 by the time the Israeli spies arrived at her door.  She was, by all descriptions and assumptions, well-known and prosperous.  The flax on her roof and the red cord indicates that she was probably a manufacturer and dyer of cloth – not entirely unlike righteous Lydia, a wealthy woman mentioned by Paul in the New Testament.  

So why not Rahab? Why are we surprised to find that God used her?
Because she was a harlot?  A woman?  An idolatrous pagan?

God proves once again in the story of Rahab that God prefers the broken, the used, the unexpected, and the sinner. 

Rahab, in a godless place with a godless past, believes fully—and so lives fully. She steps out not in competence but in faith. She serves not her admirers but her adversaries.  

Rahab, the scarlet woman, flings a scarlet cord out her window—that one thread everything’s hanging on. And that scarlet cord is her identity—that scarlet line running from the animal sacrifice covering Adam and Eve’s nakedness in the Garden of Eden to the crimson markings of blood on the doorframes of the first Passover to the willing drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane—and Rahab is delivered by that singular scarlet cord and tied into the Jewish family. 

The great-grandmother of Christ many times removed— former prostitute, pagan, and profligate—Rahab finds herself the only other woman besides Sarah to be noted in the heroes’ hall of faith. Rahab, right there beside the fathers of the faith—Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Moses, and Noah: “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace” (Hebrews 11:31, KJV).

Rahab knew of the God of Israel, and was in awe of Him, but she didn’t yet know Him.  Still, she risked her own life.   Rahab didn’t let her history, her sin, her past or her reputation stop her from doing what she knew was right, thereby standing before a Holy God so that he may redeem and save her.

When will we stop looking at everyone else’s mistakes, past, and shortcomings and instead see them as God does – redeemed, sanctified, and loved?

Oh and that scarlet cord Rahab threw out that window? In Hebrew, that cord is a tikvah. The same word in Hebrew that means “hope.” You think about that as you tie string around Christmas gifts. 

Today's devotion material taken from the fccdw  and an interview with Ann Voskamp.

Ninth Symbol of the Jesse Tree: Moses’ Tablets and Fire

(Long after Joseph and his brothers move to Egypt, a new Pharaoh enslaves the Israelites. But God appears to Moses in a burning bush and calls him to set the captives free and lead them to worship in the wilderness--to worship with all their lives and follow God's way of life.) 

*Ex 3: 1 – 15*
Deut 5;
 Ex 2 – Ex 4:20
Ex 20: 1 – 17  

“Take off your shoes, for you are on Holy ground.” ~God

Holy Ground. A deep and sacred encounter with the divine Creator. 

For the longest time, I thought holy ground moments were for other people. You know, the biblical people who always seem to be in the right place and do the right things—the ones who deserve to encounter God... But Moses was a runaway murderer in exile. Not exactly the perfect chosen one. (see Exodus 2:11-15)

And Moses’ holy ground moment wasn’t limited to a worship space. He was in the middle of nowhere, in a desert, and God caught him by surprise. 

I do think God calls to us during Sunday morning worship. In fact, I think God is especially present whenever we read Scripture or pray, but I also believe God is with us in moments we don’t expect (isn’t that the meaning of Emmanuel? God with us in deep and surprising ways).  

I recently had my own Holy Ground encounter on the side of a road with a bunch of day laborers in South Florida. I was part of a group designed to call young clergy to appreciate cultural diversity, so we woke up early one morning and met outside the Labor Finders office on the streets of Homestead. A local church had been doing this ministry for a while—not to “evangelize people” as objects, but to meet them as people, to be present, gently sharing God’s love through coffee and donuts. Unlike almost everyone there, I do not speak Spanish so I couldn’t communicate well. I was the one who felt like an outsider in a foreign place, so I stood awkwardly by the coffee table and had very short conversations.  Later in the morning, that rickety table became our altar.

We read Jesus’ parable about the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), confessed our lack of

caring, our blind misunderstanding, and asked for forgiveness. Then we shared the body and blood of Christ to the rhythm of Latino music blaring from the store next-door and the ordinary sounds of street traffic around us. Nadia Bolt-Weber says that “the life-changing seems always bracketed by the mundane” and, indeed, in the ordinary and the diversity in the midst of a people I often do not notice, I received Christ and grace. I learned compassion and experienced God’s grace in a powerful way.  It was holy ground. 

And Advent is a Holy season, so keep your eyes peeled and your heart open.
You never know where and when God will catch your attention.

Jesse Tree 8: Joseph's Coat

Eighth Symbol of the Jesse Tree:

Joseph’s Coat

Genesis 37:1–4; 18–28 (sold for silver coins--just like Christ)

Genesis 45:4–15 (reunited with the brothers who wronged him)

Joseph, one of Israel’s sons, is a spirited dreamer whose story moves from ‘father’s favorite’ to slave, then prison to Egyptian palace /political leader, He grows from an insensitive lad who thought he had all the answers, to a mature, wise man, who learned to trust God. 

God,

we confess that we do not always understand Your ways.

We are easily discouraged when life takes unexpected turns

and our carefully laid plans and dreams come to nothing.

We confess that we are quick to give up when things get
difficult, and quick to question Your presence and Your power.

Forgive us.

Grant us patience to wait for Your good timing.

Open our eyes to recognize Your leading in our lives—

to listen for Your gentle whisper when we least expect it.

And then give us courage to step out in faith and obedience,

trusting in Your leading even when we cannot see the outcome.

We are waiting in this season of Advent,

Root our lives in You

Amen.