Advent Readings

I've been working on a special plan for our Advent readings. I am going to use a combination of THREE different books. 

The first is The Advent Jesse Tree Devotions by Dean Meador Lambert. This book is going to serve as the main blueprint for our readings. I've never used this book in the past, although I heard about the idea of using a Jesse Tree from a couple different sources last year. The book explains that "The Advent Jesse Tree seeks to tell the story of God's redemptive plan for the world through 25 symbols from the Old and New Testaments. the symbols trace the heratage of Jesus Christ from the beginning of creation." 

The book suggests making ornaments that symbolize each lesson, and it also has suggestions for songs that you can sing with your family for each lesson, which I really love! We are not going to have a separate tree for the Jesse Tree ornaments, but rather, I will make or find ornaments for our regular Christmas tree.

There are 25 lessons, but I am going to skip 5 of them, because I need flexibility in our reading schedule to skip a day here and there... I know that this season is going to be busy, and I want to make Advent readings a priority, but I also want to be realistic with my goals. 

The second book is The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This is seriously the BEST book out there for teaching kids about God's redemptive plan, and showing how the Old Testament points to Jesus over and over again. The way that Sally Lloyd-Jones words things is truly amazing! I am a word person.. and an auditory learner, and I think my little Jamesie is, too.. This book is totally for us! I could write an entire blog post on how awesome this book is, but for now I am just going to say, if you don't have this book, buy it now. You will not regret it. 

Last year I found this advent reading schedule using The Jesus Storybook Bible, and we used it for our readings. I'm so excited, because I wanted to incorporate the Jesse Tree idea into our advent experience this year, and the more I compared the two books, the more I realized how wonderfully they compliment each other! 

SO, I created my own reading schedule with readings from both The Advent Jesse Tree Devotions book and either The Jesus Storybook Bible OR The Family-Time Bible in Pictures for each day that we do one of our 20 lessons. So, each lesson has two readings... I might do morning and night... or I might just read them both at the same time.. depends on the day, and how things are going. The Jesse Tree devotions are really short, and they don't have any pictures or anything, so the other two books will help to bring the Jesse Tree devotions to life.

Which brings me to my third book - The Family-Time Bible in Pictures by Kenneth N. Taylor. Although I love love love the wording in the Jesus Storybook Bible, nothing compares to the amazing pictures found in this Family-Time Bible. I used stories from this bible for Jesse Tree lessons that don't have a coinciding Jesus Storybook Bible story, but it is worth looking at the pictures in this book for every story you read this advent season, even if you are not reading the words from this book. This book will come in handy for your little visual learners (Josiah). 

Ok, so now that you've gone to Amazon and bought all of these lovely books, here is the schedule that I created that coordinates Jesse Tree lessons with stories from the other two books. Feel free to use it how you like, or adapt it to fit your family's needs!

EXCITED!!

Notes: 

*This reading schedule is meant to start on the first day of advent (which is THIS Sunday, Nov. 27th) and end on Christmas Eve. There are 28 days total, but only 20 lessons, which will leave us plenty of flexibility for if we need to miss a day here and there. My goal is to get the 20 lessons read, and leave time for discussing and understanding, over the course of the 28 days.

*JSB stands for Jesus Storybook Bible

*FTB stands for Family-Time Bible in Pictures

*I purposely switched the order in which we will read Jesse Tree's "Angels Proclaiming the  Coming of Christ" and "The Light of the World" for two reasons. One is because it flows better with the stories out of the Jesus Storybook Bible this way.. And the second reason is because I want to be done with our readings by Christmas Eve, so that Christmas Day can just be a rest day, so in order for the "Light" lesson to fall on Christmas "Eve-Eve," I needed to switch the two lessons. "Light" is the theme of our annual Christmas Eve-Eve celebration, during which we always have breakfast for dinner, drive around town to admire the Christmas lights, and camp out in our living room, under the Christmas Tree :)

HERE'S THE SCHEDULE:

Lesson 1: Nov. 27, 2011 – Jesse Tree: The Light in Creation / JSB: The Beginning: A Perfect Home (Genesis 1-2) p. 18

 
Lesson 2:  Jesse Tree: The First Sin / JSB: The Terrible Lie (Genesis 3) p. 28

 
Lesson 3: Jesse Tree: Inside the Ark / JSB: A New Beginning (Genesis 6-9) p. 38     

                                                             

Skip Jesse Tree’s Call to Abraham         

                                              
Lesson 4: Jesse Tree: Isaac and the Lamb / JSB: The Present (Genesis 22) p. 62             

Skip Jesse Tree’s Jacob’s Ladder 

 
Lesson 5: Jesse Tree: Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors / JSB: The Forgiving Prince (Genesis 37-46) p. 76                          

  

Lesson 6: Jesse Tree: Moses and the Ten Commandments / JSB: Ten Ways to be Perfect (Exodus 16-17, 19-40) p. 100          

Lesson 7: Jesse Tree: Canaan, the Promised Land of Blessings / JSB: The Warrior Leader (Joshua 3, 6) p. 108                     

Lesson 8: Jesse Tree’s Ruth and Boaz / FTB: Unselfish Ruth p. 112                                                                                                                           

Lesson 9: Jesse Tree: King David / JSB: The Young Hero and the Horrible Giant (1 Samuel 17) p. 122               

Lesson 10: Jesse Tree: Josiah Finds the Law / FTB: Good King Josiah p. 166                                                          

Skip Jesse Tree’s Prophecy of Shoot from the Stump of Jesse                                                                                                

Lesson 11: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of the Lion and the Lamb Resting Together / JSB: A Dream of Heaven p. 342         

Lesson 12: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of the Prince of Peace / JSB: The Captain of the Storm p. 236                               

Lesson 13: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of a Gentle Shepherd / JSB: The Good Shepherd (Psalm 51, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 23) p. 130                                                                                                                                                                                     

Lesson 14: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of the Suffering Servant / JSB: Operation “No More Tears” p. 144                           

Skip Jesse Tree’s Prophecy of the New Covenant                                                                                                          

Lesson 15: Jesse Tree: The Prophecy of Bethlehem / JSB: A Teeny, Weenie…True King (1 Samuel 16) p. 116      

            

Lesson 16: Jesse Tree: The Exile / FTB: The Fiery Furnace p. 171                                                                            

Skip Jesse Tree’s The Return to the Land                                                                                                                 

Lesson 17: Jesse Tree: The Star / FTB: The Wise Men Visit p. 191

Lesson 18: Jesse Tree: Angels Proclaiming the Coming of Christ / JSB: He’s Here (Luke 1-2) p. 176                        

Lesson 19 (Christmas "Eve-Eve"): Jesse Tree: The Light of the World (p. 86) / JSB: The Light of the Whole World (Luke 2) p. 184                

Lesson 20 (Christmas Eve): Jesse Tree: The Birth of Jesus / JSB: The King of all Kings (Matthew 2) p. 192                                           

Christmas Day: Take a Sabbath - Rest and Enjoy!

UPDATE: Ok, I love this idea! If only I had all the time in the world......