Ever Decorate a Jesse Tree? (December Activity)

A Jesse Tree? What's that, you ask? Well, it's kind of like a Christmas tree, only decorated with pictures or symbols which correspond with a Bible story from Genesis up through the stories of Jesus' birth. We came across this concept a few years ago and since it was an answer to prayer that we would find family Christmas traditions which kept the focus on Christ, we decided to try it out.

It's been a beautiful tradition and one we look forward to sharing with our children every year, so we thought this blog would be a great forum for sharing it with you. Here's a few more details so you can know what to expect to see from December 1 through December 25:

Why is it called a Jesse Tree? Here's a clue from Scripture: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1-10 NIV)

How does it work? Every day we will post a Scripture passage that is to be read aloud that day. Accompany the Scripture will be a picture that symbolizes what is going on in the story. These are the pictures that we printed and framed for hanging on our Jesse tree, but you can color or make your own picture as the Spirit leads. If you have children who like to do crafts, consider getting them involved in the ornament making.

How are the Scriptures selected? In short, we're not exactly sure who originally decided what stories to read. In our research, we came across a website that we used as our model. Here's the link (which also contains a more detailed explanation of the Jesse Tree) http://www.crivoice.org/. Under the "search this site" link on the bottom of the left-hand column, type in "Jesse tree".

Since it was too confusing to use the chart based on Advent Sundays, we modified the readings so we would have one reading per day from December 1-25. If you prefer to stick to the what is probably the liturgically-correct way, click on the above link and follow the chart at the bottom of the Jesse Tree section.

How will this work? Every morning, beginning December 1 and continuing to Christmas Day, we'll post the day's Scripture reference, a picture and idea for creating your own picture and a snippet of Scripture using different Bible translations.

About the Scriptures. Since many of the Scripture passages are long, we'll include a snippet of the passage. We used http://www.biblegateway.com/ to get the different translations. If you don't have a Bible on hand, feel free to use this free resource to print out the entire Scripture passage, or use the Bible translation with which you are most familiar.

About the pictures. We used Microsoft Office Clip Art Gallery to download these photos as it is a free service when using it for personal use. If you like the idea of photographs, consider checking out that resource to find and print your own photos.

We pray the Jesse Tree tradition will capture your interest and imagination in the days leading up the day commemorating Jesus' birth. If you try it out, or have already tried it in the past, we would love to hear your comments. Please include any thoughts in the comments section of this post.

Love and joy in Jesus,
David & Andrea