Advent Day 5 - Jesus is the Bright and Morning Star

Star! Have we ever seen a star on the Christmas Tree! OK.....naturally we have. Often the Star is the crowning glory of the tree. Many families have traditions of when the star is put on the tree and some even have traditions of who puts the star on the tree.

One of the things about winter in Montana is that it is dark....a lot! The other morning I was driving to work in the dark and was looking at all of the beautiful stars in the sky....but one was shining just a little more brightly than the others....the morning star. When you see that morning star....you know that it won't be long before the sun is up and shining.....and that gives you HOPE!

I think that it is amazing that the prophets foretold the coming of Jesus and Peter thought so too!

2 Peter 1:19
And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts

That was then......but guess what.....there was (and is more to come)....

Revelation 2:28
And I will give him the morning star.

Revelation 22:5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

So if you don't already have a tradition of having a star on your tree....how about making a batch of star cookies and contemplating that Jesus is the Bright and Morning Star.

Day 4: Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega


Alpha and Omega are letters that are at the beginning and end of the Greek alphabet.



One of the ways we can celebrate Advent is with a "Jesse" Tree. This is a Christmas tree that you put a new ornament on every day as you celebrate the Advent. If you had a "Jesse" Tree you would have put lights on it the first day, little loaves of bread the second day lilys and roses the third day and today the letters A and Z and my precious sister's oldest grand-daughter and she (herself) colored these pictures...which will be turned into ornaments to add to their tree.



Revelation 1:8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”


Revelation 22:13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”



So today, December 4th I am contemplating...How is Jesus both the start and the finish, the beginning and the end? Where was Jesus before He was born in Bethlehem? Where is Jesus now? I am amazed at how knowing these things gives me the greatest hope.....What a joy it is to know that he IS and WAS and IS TO COME!!

Day 3: Jesus is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley.

I had my GREAT neices help me with this Advent project and I want to share a beautiful picture that Baila Silvy drew of a Lily of the Valley.

Song of Solomon 2:1 2:1 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys

I'm going to be honest....I'm not sure of the meaning of Jesus being the Rose of Sharon or the Lily of the Valleys, maybe you can help me with that. I do know that when I lived in California I had a garden of hundreds of roses, many of very unique origin. Montana has very extreme weather conditions. My cousin Chrisy says that we do extreme gardening here and I really must agree with her. After we had been here three or four years I was feeling really heart sick, I was so missing my roses. I got us, got a cup of coffee and went out onto the deck, below me the whole hill side was covered in wild pink roses. It amazes me still, because it was a real gift and the only one that knew what I was feeling in my heart was MY Jesus! So when I think of the fact that Jesus is the Rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley I think of that day and that timely gift of wild roses.

Incidentally, there are no wild roses in that spot today....don't know if John accidentally zapped them with weed killer, but I really think that it was a gift that was just meant for that summer!

Bread

For Advent Day 2, should have been December 2....but I'm NOT going to let my tardiness stop me this year! *wink* Jesus is the Bread of Life

Picture colored and turned into an ornament for the “Jesse Tree” or regular Christmas tree is a loaf of bread. You can also have a small loaf of bread that you can break and eat together. Baila, my great neice helped her little brother color this picture of bread and I especially like it because she included the verse that was chosen even before Zeph's birth to include. Every little one is precious to our Lord and Savior.

The verses that tell us about Jesus being "The Bread of life" are quotes that he made...

John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Questions/Discussion: What does Jesus mean when he says we will never hunger or thirst? How is Jesus the Bread of Life? How are we fed spiritually? Let me know what you think!

Bread

For Advent Day 2, should have been December 2....but I'm NOT going to let my tardiness stop me this year! *wink* Another name for Jesus is the Bread of Life

John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

When we were kids we lived in Papua New Guinea...because it was a British Colony we were exposed to many customs that were more British than American.....one was the infamous fruit cake. Have you ever had a piece of fruit cake....I'm certain that it is healthy....it tastes like it. All of that to say that after we moved to Montana we met a lovely neighbor that makes a Christmas bread every year. It is excellent and I love to get it year after year. It is a sweet white bread with candied fruit in it that reminds me of the old fashioned fruit cake.....oh but it is sooo much better.

Maybe her Christmas bread can remind me each year that Jesus told us that HE IS the bread of life......and he wants us to make him a part of our lives.....he wants to be our sustenance.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

There are a lot of books out there that celebrate Advent plus Advent Calendars of all different types, sizes and costs. Perhaps I just wasn't looking because I'm only just beging to discover these in the past 5 years or so. One I really like for parents of small kiddos....was actually out of print for a few years, but is now available again. The Book is "Celebrate with Joy" by **** Check out their website by clicking here!

One of here suggestions is to concentrate on one aspect of Christmas for you Advent Celebration for the year.

So I'm going to look at the different names of Jesus.

DAY 1 -- JESUS - THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

What does this mean? I'd love input from anyone who access' my blog on what you think about this.

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Years ago (I've been told) that the Christmas tree would be put up and decorated during the advent season, but candles would be added the last day as a reminder that Jesus is the Light of the World....I guess that we can understand why that would be a bit of a scary thing. I remember one of the ornaments that we hung on our Christmas tree every year when I was a kid was a light bulb that was from one of the very first Christmas tree light sets....it was the size of a regular light bulb too! How things change.

Another memory I have is that being a missionary's kid in PNG we just to take lanterns and go walking to the nearby village singing Christmas Carols. I guess that in essance was us sharing the 'light of the world'.


What memories do you have of "the lights of Christmas".

There is another good book that I got one Christmas by Ace Collins called "Stories behind the best loved Songs of Christmas" It's got lots of Christmas Carols which I will tell you about over the next few weeks (if you choose to join me). However, I didn't find one that talked about Jesus as the light of the world....can you think of any?

Now off to make some Christmas fudge with the grandkiddo and my sweet girl!

Christmas is coming

Well, while I have Jolene here I have taken advantage and asked her to help me figure out this blog thing.

"Christmas is coming!" Christian is running all over the house yelling this at the top of his lungs. What a fun thing to see, complete unabashed joy and excitment that Christmas is almost here!

Lately I have been thinking about the things that I remember about the many Christmas' that I have experianced and the traditions are the things that I treasure and remember the most. Since my children have grown up and moved out and on....it's bittersweet because the house is quieter and often when it's time to light the advent candle I find that I am doing it alone....not that I am feeling sorry for myself...just that ADVENT is such a wonderful season to celebrate with all of those that you love.

That is why this 'cybergranny' has decided to try to start a new tradition and celebrate with any and all who wish to join me in celebrating this Advent season....on the web!

Even though I got this idea in September, I am still 'late' getting it going....I had meant to post Day on on December 1st...but I have decided that I'm just going to make up for lost time and post several until I'm caught back up.

My family didn't have an Advent tradition, other than whatever the study was at church that year. I didn't realize that Advent is for learning about and the who, what, where and why of Christmas.

So here I go because........"Christmas is coming"