One of the fun family traditions we keep during Advent is the Jesse Tree. A couple of weeks prior to Advent (i.e. during St Martin’s Lent), the kids gather up a few branches, which I decorate with some cheap, battery powered star-shaped lights that I got from Amazon. Then for each day of Advent, we read a kid-friendly bible story and the kids take turns hanging an ornament on the thee, which depicts that story. This is a great way to anticipate Christmas by counting the days of Advent (actual Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas and has 22 to 28 days, not the secular Advent, which always has 24). The children really look forward to this each evening after supper and it has the added bonus of introducing them to the Christian narrative in scripture, despite much of society’s reservations about imposing a belief structure upon a child…

The stories start right from Genesis, the creation story and foreshadowing that the Son of Man will bruise the serpent’s head, through to Isaiah, and the prophesy that the Messiah will be from the root of Jesse, to the birth of Christ, which is the final ornament. I know that some people in the West have issues “indoctrinating” children into a religious heritage, but our whole purpose as parents is to guide and shape our children, from their habits (e.g. “For the umpteenth time, use your fork”, ) to their thinking (e.g. “Trying is far more important than failing”). And if their mental well-being is fair-game, then their physical and spiritual well-being is well within my purview as a Dad; I firmly believe that each of these three aspects of our personhood strengthens the other two.

Whether or not the children grasp the stories at this point is a different question. Children can absolutely understand the concept of a story. Symbolism and metaphor are foundational to how humans of any age understand the world. And as an Anglo-Catholic, I do NOT believe that the Bible is the literal word of God as fundamentalist Christians do: To me scripture reflects layers of meaning that must be approached contemplatively, as both a means to contemplation, such as reciting the psalms, or Lectio Divina, and a message in and of itself. Scripture also reflects the fallibility of the authors, and is only one component of the Christian tradition, along with the church’s ritual (e.g. the liturgy), and it’s oral traditions (e.g. the lives of the Saints). Nonetheless, the fact that the children won’t get the symbolism and deeper meaning behind Jonah and the Whale for example, isn’t important at this point. They’re being introduced to the story, which is the first dip into a life-long plunge into a depth of meaning, guidance, and purpose.

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he [Emmanuel] shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: - Isaiah 11:3-4