Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

I was walking to the auditorium the other day to retrieve something out of the sound booth when I skidding to a halt in the foyer. There was a tastefully decorated Christmas tree set up in our foyer. I have no idea where that came from or how long it has been there. I’m not the most perceptive of people, so the tree may have been there for 3 weeks for all I know. It is large enough to touch the ceiling, and set up in a corner of the lobby—so I should have noticed it. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw it.

You see, when I grew up it was taboo for the church to acknowledge the Christmas season. There was no mention of it at church, except to insist that there should be no mention of it at church. Oh, it was OK to set up a tree at home; it was great to exchange gifts at home. But the Bible doesn’t mention (“authorize”) Christmas as a religious day honoring the birth of Christ. So we thought it was wrong to give any religious significance to Christmas as a special day. (It was OK to preach about motherhood on Mother’s Day, but that was different somehow).

We were free us to participate in the crass commercialization and major materialism of the gift-giving season, but we were not free to give it any religious significance. In effect, we were multicultural before multicultural was cool. Today many approach the season with “Happy Holidays” and decorate with winter themes and avoid any hint of religion. Well, that was basically our approach long ago. We were trendy before it was trendy!

Well, I’m glad we have a Christmas tree in our foyer. No, Christmas decorations are not some kind of indicator of spirituality. But when I think back, our old “Bah, Humbug” view of the holidays was not very helpful. This is the one season of the year that people are thinking about the story of Jesus. I think we need to celebrate that. So, I’m glad I can preach on the birth of Jesus (without spending 5 minutes defending why that is OK). I’m glad we can sing carols like “Silent Night” and “Angels We Have Heard on High” during this time of the year (we sure don’t sing them any other time of the year). And I’m glad we can point to “the reason for the season” without feeling obligated to point out that December 25 is a traditional (not historical) date and Christmas is a traditional (not Biblical) season (although I’ll probably point that out too).

But maybe the most important part about redefining Christmas is what I’m going to talk about in tomorrow’s blog.