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Have you put up your Christmas tree yet? How many of you have your trees up and decorated? How many of you use real trees? How many use artificial trees? We're all well aware of the arguments on both sides of the tree issue. Going out to cut your own real tree has been a family tradition that has provided many of us with rich Christmas memories. For some it just wouldn't be Christmas without a slightly irregular, but wonderfully scented evergreen tree. On the other hand those who have artificial trees find Christmas preparation a little less stressful, as well as environmentally sound. Trees have always fascinated people. They have appeared in image and poem and story from the earliest days of human civilization. From the Bible we hear the praises of the strength and beauty of Lebanon's cedars. The trees of sustenance, the fig and olive, are central to Middle Eastern concepts of wealth and security. But more than this, trees have stood as symbols of something larger and more enduring than the momentary flickers that make up a human lifetime. A tree can easily watch three generations of humans live and die. One bristlecone pine in California, estimated to be 4600 years old, has been living on this earth since the days of the Pharoahs. Little wonder that trees evoke such a sense of awe. When some Native Americans experienced a spiritual low, they revived their vitality by standing with their back to a tree, preferably an oak, absorbing its strength and power. I remember absorbing the strength of a tree once when I was a teenager. I was a sophomore in high school when a group of friends decided to sled down a steep forested slope one Saturday morning. Our only path was a 3' wide trail which wound its way through the trees. We managed to maneuver the trail on sleds one at a time. But someone got the notion that we should try a train...a chain of sleds hooked together. I thought it was a great idea until I realized that I was going to be the caboose! When you're the caboose you give up something very important: your right to steer. So we started down the hill and did fine until we hit the first curve. I was detached from the chain and whipped off the trail. With my head as a battering ram I mowed every small tree in my path. Fortunately a larger tree enabled me to stop my out-of-control trajectory. I severed a 3 inch tree completely using nothing but my head! While I do respect trees, instead of revitalizing, sometimes trees can bring you down. How about a bit of Christmas tree history? Did you know that in medieval times the church celebrated "Adam and Eve Day" on December 24? That's right. On "Adam and Eve Day" common people play-acted the story of Adam and Eve. But before the presentation, the actors would parade through town with "Adam" carrying the Tree of Life on which apples were hung. Thus the first Christmas trees were born. But it wasn’t until several centuries later that Christmas trees as we know them appeared. Early in the 17th century, in Strasbourg, France evergreen trees were decorated at Christmas. This custom spread from there throughout Germany and then into northern Europe. In 1841 Albert, the German-born husband of Queen Victoria, first introduced the Christmas tree custom to Great Britain. He had the first decorated Christmas tree set up in Windsor Castle. The first Christmas trees in the New World were introduced by Hessian soldiers in 1776. Later German immigrants brought the tradition into wider use in the US. The custom of decorating a community tree began in the early 1900's and you know the rest of the story. But let’s return to this ancient Adam and Eve celebration for the focus of this message titled, "Christ the Apple Tree", is in identifying Christ as the Second Adam. From the apparently dead and withered stump of Jesse shoots forth the green, new growth of a completely new being...the Second Adam, the Messiah, Jesus. The birth of Christ itself is the REAL Christmas tree, the true Tree of Life being made real in our world. Contrary to popular belief Jesus was not born on December 25. Christmas was adopted by the church primarily to Christianize European pagans who were already used to a festival of winter solstice. Because Christmas is celebrated in mid-winter, we have often let the evergreen image overrun the message of the apple tree and the Second Adam. Christ brings the possibility of eternal life back to all humanity. It is said that when William Blake was a boy, he saw a tree full of angels, like golden birds come home to roost. He made the mistake of telling his mother and was promptly and soundly spanked for being blasphemous. But where better to see angels than in a tree...a Tree of Life...a tree that beckons to our souls, especially at this time of year, to come and adore it. That tree of life, that new tender shoot out of the stump of Jesse, came to its fullest expression, however, in a wondrous and terrible way...on a tree of death. The life of Second Adam, Jesus the Christ, came to full fruition on a different tree...the cross of Calvary. And so we celebrate the birth of Christ by decorating trees with apples of life, even while we remember that it will also be a tree that will serve to crucify him. Did you know that this tree is not a Christmas tree? It is a Chrismon tree and is a fairly new tradition in Christianity. Here’s the story. The practice of having a "Chrismon Tree" began with Mr. George Pass, who was a pastor, but also a grounds keeper and furnace man. In 1940 he was employed by Mrs. Frances Kipps Spencer (who was the originator of the Chrismon name in 1957). At Christmas he had visited Mrs. Spencer to exchange Christmas gifts. While at her home he noticed some discarded gift wrap, and asked if he might take the paper to make ornaments for his church's Christmas tree, as his church was too poor to purchase ornaments. Mrs. Spencer was moved, and actually gave Mr. Pass her own Christmas tree ornaments. For some years afterward it was hard for Mrs. Spencer to buy ready-made ornaments for her tree. So each year she would make her own ornaments, using a variety of materials. She became a semi-professional ornament maker, and was asked by her own church, Ascension Lutheran in Virginia, to decorate their tree. She didn't want to just use colored balls and other secular ornaments, so she began making decorations using the colors white, gold and silver that were symbols about Jesus Christ, and the meaning of Christmas. In 1957 she began the actual Chrismon ministry. The practice soon caught on with other Christians and many churches, and today the Chrismon Tree is a common sight all over the United States. "Chrismon" is a combination of two words, "Christ," and "monogram." Monogram, of course, means initials, or symbols for a particular person. The Chrismon tree bears symbols or monograms about Jesus our Savior. There is an old story about three trees talking among themselves about their futures. The first said it would like to be made into a cradle, so that it might go on living as a support for the new fragile life of a baby. The second tree wanted to be made into an ocean-going ship so that it might go on living carrying important cargo and seeing new lands. The third tree longed to stay right where it was, existing only as a tree, but growing ever taller and pointing ever higher to remind everyone that there was a God in heaven who loved them. But soon there came woodcutters who cut down these trees, and apparently also their dreams. The first tree was not made into a cradle, but was fashioned into a feeding trough, a manger for animals. But this manger was sold to a family in Bethlehem, and on the night that Jesus was born, this simple feed box became the cradle of the newborn Savior. The second tree was built into a water vessel, but only a tiny simple fishing boat. But a man named Simon Peter bought the boat, and on one warm afternoon when the crowds pressed in, Jesus climbed aboard this small craft so that he might preach. The third tree was not only deprived of its dream to remain standing, but its wood was fashioned into a horrible instrument of torture, a cross. But it was on this cross that Jesus was crucified, transforming that symbol of cruelty into an eternal reminder of God's eternal love for all of us. We all have our Christmas dreams. Many of them were born out of our childhood when we yearned for a perfect world. But dreams die. Visions fade away. Ideals don't always materialize. But the spirit of a baby born in Bethlehem will never die. This spirit is life and joy and peace! This Holy, holy, spirit can be a reality in your life and mine if we make room in our hearts for Jesus. |
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12/10/00 - Christ the Apple Christmas Tree
