The Life of Jesus Advent Calendar - Day 3: The Wise Men

Introduction

Did you know the Bible doesn't specify the number of wise men who visited the Lord Jesus Christ? I think we traditionally say there were three because there were three gifts - the gold, frankincense and myrrh. It also likely took place any time before Jesus was two years old, as Herod later commands that all male children in that region who were two years old or under be slaughtered.

I have mixed feelings about the carol 'In the bleak midwinter' by Christina Georgina Rossetti, as in the Middle East it would not have been as bleak as we experience in Wales! I do like the melody however, and my favourite verse is the last:

What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb, if I were a wise man I would do my part, yet what I can I give him, give my heart.

I don't have gold, frankincense or myrrh, or even a lamb, to give to the Lord Jesus Christ, but I can give him the one thing we all have, which is our heart. We don't need anything expensive or the social standing of the wise men to come to Jesus, we just need to come with hearts willing to love and serve him.

Assembling your stocking

Once again, this stocking is quite straight forward. I'm easing you into things!

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I chose vibrant colours for the wise men, as if they were wealthy they would have been able to afford colourful fabric. I probably wouldn't choose the colour I have on the left wise man again as it's not very distinct from the red background, but that's where the contrasting orange thread helps.

I used small heart shaped beads to represent the gifts, as it reminded me of the carol I quote above. You can use any embellishments you have lying around, I've used many different ones for mine over the years. If you don't have any to hand, just embroider a gift shape on each one. There's a stitch suggestion for this in my template.

Just like the star in the first stocking, I have used gold thread to give him a little sparkle and shine (if you know, you know).

And that's it! The template you have for the wise men will be slightly smaller than what I have here - one of the outcomes of actually trialling my template!

You can watch a brief video of this stocking being assembled on my Facebook or Instagram.

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