The Jesse Tree Series: The Temple-Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

THE JESSE TREE SERIES:

What does Saturday of the third week of Advent entail for our Jesse Tree?

RETURN AND REBUILDING THE TEMPLE.

SCRIPTURE: Heb1:1-14

THE PERSON: NEHEMIAH

The Book of Nehemiah is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Told largely in the form of a first-person memoir, it concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws (torah). The events take place in the second half of the 5th century BCE, and the original core of the book, the first-person memoir, may have been combined with the core of the Book of Ezra around 400 BCE, although further editing continued well into the Hellenistic era.

The book tells how Nehemiah, at the court of the king in Susa, is informed that Jerusalem is without walls and resolves to restore them. The king appoints him as governor of Judah and he travels to Jerusalem. There he rebuilds the walls, despite the opposition of Israel's enemies, and reforms the community in conformity with the law of Moses. After an absence in Susa he returns to find that the Israelites have been Backsliding, taking non-Jewish wives, and stays to enforce the Law. 
  
THE EVENT/THEME: THE TEMPLE:  During our reflection time today, let us ponder on the theme of return and rebuilding in our lives.

We may wish to

1.            Offer a prayer asking God to show us our ruins and to repent of them

2.            Rediscover the sacrament of Reconciliation and the restoration of the respect for the Sabbath.

3.            Make a practical commitment: As today's theme is Return and Rebuilding the Temple, we may wish to:

·                     Take some time to reflect during this busy time of preparing for Christmas.  If reflection time is not part of our spiritual life, then we may wish to consider how it may help us and schedule it in our daily lives.

·                     Remove any unholy practices from our temple ( our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit) and our parish church ( perhaps respectively encourage others to go outside to talk so that others can pray in peace).

·                     Consider the true meaning of the Sabbath and how we might be able to restore the Sabbath in our lives.

SYMBOL 21: THE ANGEL HERALDING THE BIRTH OF JESUS 

Let us remember the prophet Nehemiah. The prophet is changed with the removal of unholy practices from the Temple and the restoration of the respect for the Sabbath.as we prepare our twenty first symbol (twentieth cut out symbol) and place it on the tree.