Martin Luther Frances Kipps Spencer And Chrismons – People all over the world put up Christmas trees at this time of year. In Southern California, the Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach put up a 90-foot Christmas tree covered in strobe lights and Disney music for thousands of shoppers. (Emily Foxhall, “90-foot Christmas tree comes to trendy Newport Beach,” Los Angeles Times, November 8, 2013.)
People all over the world put up Christmas trees for the holidays. But what does this have to do with the birth of Jesus? Is it just paganism, or can we find Christ in the Christmas tree?
Martin Luther Frances Kipps Spencer And Chrismons
There are many different stories because even ancient people used trees and even worshiped them. One of my favorite stories is about St. Boniface, an 8th century missionary to the Germans. Boniface told them about Jesus Christ, but they worshiped the great oak tree. So Boniface boldly approached the oak tree with an ax and began to chop it down. They were ready to kill him when a strong wind came and blew the tree away. After that, many Germans became Christians.
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Some legends say that St. Boniface later decorated the Christmas tree to represent Jesus instead of his pagan gods. It is unclear whether this is true.
In the Middle Ages, a medieval play about the “Tree of Eden”, a fir tree hung with apples representing Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, was popular in western Germany. Germans put paradise trees in their houses on December 24th, Adam and Eve. On top of this they hung wafers representing Christ’s bread in the Lord’s Supper, then hung cookies and often placed candles with symbols of Christ as light. (“The Christmas Tree.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012.)
Meanwhile, in Latvia, Estonia and northern Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries, there was a tradition of bringing an evergreen tree to the town square on Christmas Eve, dancing around it and letting it burn. Finally, people in Germany began lighting trees with candles on Christmas Eve. Lutheran lore says that Protestant reformer Martin Luther helped popularize the lighting of the evergreen tree at Christmas throughout Germany.
Finding Christ In The Christmas Tree
Prince Albert of Germany, the husband of Queen Victoria of England, brought the Christmas tree to England at the beginning of the 19th century. In the 19th century, Christmas trees were popular all over the world. In Victorian England, trees are decorated with toys and small gifts, candles and sweets. Blown glass decorations became popular in the 1870s. By 1890, electric tree lights became popular for hanging from trees. Artificial aluminum Christmas trees became popular in the 1960s, but were soon replaced by realistic-looking artificial trees.
Many families still like to go together to buy a real Christmas tree. For the past five or six years, John and Pam Carper’s family has had a tradition of traveling to a Christmas tree farm in North Carolina to cut Fraser fir and bring it to Georgia for Christmas. James and Carrie Gilyard also have a tradition of getting a real tree right after Thanksgiving. Their tradition is to put the lights first, then the decorations, the memorable and breakables on top. Finally, they put an angel on it.
Many families will choose a special decoration for each member of the family. We have a birthday ornament for every child. Kevin and Sharon Kendall choose a special ornament for each child in the family each year. They enjoy looking at the decorations to see what history they have.
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This brings us back to our question. While these customs are wonderful, what if the Christmas tree has something to do with the birth of Jesus? Let’s open our Bibles and take a look.
In ancient Israel, the tree symbolized God’s people Israel. Isaiah 5 tells the parable of a vineyard that was planted but did not bear good fruit, so it was cut down. Isaiah says, “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are the plant that He desires” (Isaiah 5:7, HCSB).
In Ezekiel 17 he gives another parable comparing Israel to a tree and says that God will plant a branch on the mountain. “I will plant it on the high mountain of Israel, so that it will have branches and fruit and a majestic cedar tree… Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord.”
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Thus in Psalm 1:3 the righteous man is spoken of as a tree planted by the water, and in Matthew 3:10 John the Baptist says that every tree that does not bear fruit is cut down.
Daniel 4 tells how God used the image of a tree to warn Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to beware of his pride. He spoke of a tree that reached heaven but was cut down, and Daniel said, “That tree is you, O king.” (Daniel 4:22).
So, sticking to the symbolism of life on the tree, let’s consider what we read in the prophecy of Isaiah 11: “Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse and a branch will bear fruit from his root… In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner to the nations. The nations will seek Him, and His place will be glorious” (Isaiah 11:1, 10, HCSB).
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Jesse was the name of King David’s father, so this passage refers to the Messiah who is said to be a descendant of David. Notice the description of Christ in verse 2 and the following:
From the beginning to the end of the Bible we read about the tree of life. In the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2:9 speaks of the tree of life, and in Revelation 22:2 we read that in heaven “there was a tree of life on either side of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit. moon.” The leaves of the tree are the healing of nations…”
Jesus is symbolized by this tree of life because Christ gives us life. And how? Because the death on the cross and the death tree represent it!
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The crucifixion was so gruesome that it was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen and the Jews saw it as a curse. Deuteronomy 21:23 says that anyone executed on the tree is cursed, and Galatians 3:13 echoes this. So when Jesus was crucified, of course it was made of wood, the Jews thought it was cursed.
Again, look at what we read in 1 Peter 2:24: “He bore our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we, having died to sins, should live for righteousness, because by his stripes you were healed.”
So the tree of life became the tree of death so that through faith in Christ we could enjoy life.
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The best Christmas present was hanging not under the tree, but above the tree, the sod tree.
In 1957, Francis Kipps Spencer came up with the idea of a chrism tree at Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia. He wanted a way to display a Christmas tree with Christian symbols in his church instead of bright, shiny lights. So he painted the tree with monogrammed letters and a cross, fish, crown, etc. as covered with other Christian symbols. Today, many churches display only the “chrismon tree”, a Christmas tree with Christian symbols.
Why don’t we have a tradition of seeing and showing Christ on the Christmas tree? Put an angel or star on top. Show the manger under the tree. Place a nail in the ribbon and hang it on the tree to remember the tree where Jesus was nailed. Make a Christmas tree full of Christian symbols. When your family, friends and neighbors see your tree, you can share the meaning of the symbols.
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But there is something more important than what we do with our Christmas trees. This is what we do with our lives. Let’s show Christ in the tradition of the Christmas tree, but more than that, let’s show Christ in the way we carry the cross of Christ in our daily lives.
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About Bob Rogers Hospital Chaplain in Mississippi. Associate Professor of History Department (online). Previously, he was a pastor for 33 years in Mississippi and Georgia. An avid cyclist.
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December 2, 2013 in Books , Christian Life Tagged Bible , Christianity , Christmas , Christmas tree , Faith , Holidays , Christ , Faith , Tradition , Traditions . Add a permalink to your bookmarks. 6 comments. A Christmas tree decorated with Chrismon symbols and other decorations at Oak Level Baptist Church near Holly Pond / W.C. Mann
As we count down to Christmas, we at The Tribune decided to take a look at a few things
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