Jesse Tree

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Each year for Advent, we do a Jesse Tree. This is a tree, or a large banner with a symbolic tree, or a branch that is decorated each day, with ornaments or objects that represent Old Testament events from Creation to the Birth of Jesus. The Jesse Tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots." It is a vehicle to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history.

I found a little table top tree and threw some lights on it. I printed pictures to represent each aspect of the history and laminated them.

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We read a scripture that correlates with an event, discuss it, and then hang the ornament on the tree. The pictures are things like the world to represent creation, a ram to represent how God provided a ram to Abraham instead of sacrificing Issac, and other things like that.

The kids love doing this each year. We start on the first of December and go through Christmas day. For more information on a Jesse Tree, you can check out this site.

Comments

  1. Lisa @ Life with 4!December 4, 2008 at 9:43 AM

    I've never heard of this type of advent countdown. How neat to be able to focus on how God brought it ALL together when He sent Jesus!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JenniferDecember 4, 2008 at 12:45 PM

    What a great idea!

    Aren't chocolate toffee crunchies delicious? I usually make 3-4 pans at Christmas. My hubby takes them to work. His friends usually start asking for them after Thanksgiving. I think I'll try one pan with graham crackers and see which we like better.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ElizabethdDecember 4, 2008 at 1:28 PM

    What a super idea, I hadnt come across that before.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mom2furDecember 4, 2008 at 4:48 PM

    What a beautiful idea! I'd never heard of a 'Jesse tree' until recent years. Thanks for explaining it clearly--now I get what it is!

    ReplyDelete

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