Christmas Traditions: O' Christmas Tree

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

Thy leaves are so unchanging
O' Christmas Tree, O'Christmas Tree
Much pleasure thou can'st give me
O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree
Thy candles shine so brightly

 O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

How richly God has decked thee!

O' Christmas Tree! O' Christmas Tree

How richly God has decked thee!

Thou bidst us true and faithful be,

And trust in God unchangingly.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

How richly God has decked thee.

I am setting out to do a series of post on the different Christmas traditions that people celebrate all over world and try to discover how these traditions became traditions. I hope you thoroughly enjoy my attempts to understand why we do what we do during this time of the year. First up: The Christmas Tree. 

We have to leave America for this one, as we have to with most American traditions. The Christmas Tree, is widely credited to Germany in the 16th Century. The legend goes that Martin Luther -- the theologian, not the civil rights activist -- was walking home after preparing a sermon on a wintery night. He stumbled upon some beautiful evergreens that stirred his heart to worship amidst the twinkling stars in the night sky. Luther wanted to recapture and celebrate the scene and quickly wired a tree with lighted candles in his home for his family to enjoy. As the years passed, trees became more elaborate and decorated, but the meaning is still there. People still gather around the Christmas tree in awe and wonder of its magnificent beauty. In a world plagued with busyness, the young and the old will still come to stand in amazement at an illuminated Christmas tree. It continues to have a worship effect 400 years later.

So why, essentially, are we so fascinated and engulfed by the Christmas tree tradition that we will go through all of the trouble and annoyances of either cutting one down or retrieving it from the attic and decorating it with every ornament and ounce of tinsel that we own? Every year. And we love it. Why?

I think this is deeper than we realize. God has "set eternity into a man's heart" (Eccl. 3:11) and I believe the reason we do certain things in our lives has elements of God and eternity in them, even without us initially knowing it. Our hearts cry out for God to fill this eternal gap, even when we don't realize it. We are engulfed and amazed by a common tree at a certain time of the year. Why?

Throughout history, the hefty evergreen has been a constant symbol of hope throughout the bitterness of the long winter. Evergreens do not die, or fade, or lose any of its needles despite the cold. They gave people of all different generations hope in the promise that the spring will come and with it new life.

The Bible doesn't take long  to bring a tree into its grand narrative. Two trees actually: "The Tree of Life in the middle of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" (Genesis 2:9). As long as Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life they would live forever in perfect relationship with God, but he commanded them, "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). They, of course, disobeyed God and sin entered the world. Ever since, as descendants of Adam, we have all been trying to get back to Eden, back to the tree, and back to life.

God didn't just bring trees into His story, but he also enters. Jesus came to bring us back: "For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). As Adam's disobedience by a tree brought death, Christ's obedience by a tree brought life:

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24)

Trees, especially the mighty evergreen that we use for Christmas, are a symbol for life. Jesus created the tree and then allowed his body to be slain on his creation to pay for our sins so we could enjoy life with him forever. A forever that will again include the Tree of Life that will be "the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). Only through Jesus will we get back to the tree of the life.

So maybe a Christmas tree fills our hearts with wonder and awe, not because it's pretty or bright, but because there is something more. Something deeper that gives life to our soul and hope to our brokenness. Maybe there's a reason we're so drawn to Christmas trees. Maybe it's not about the Christmas tree at all. Maybe its about a person. A Creator. A Savior.