In Celtic times before they came to know Christ, people celebrated
the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. There sun God would regain
his strength and bring life again. People would decorate with evergreens and celebrate
the coming spring. Cutting down a small tree and decorating it with cookies and
other goodies and the exchange of presents were part of the celebration.
Christians forbid the Christmas tree until Martin Luther turned the pagan
holiday into a celebration of Christ birth called “Christmas”. The tree became
the Christmas tree. But Christmas trees did not become popular until the 1800’s.
Now some kind of tree can be found in homes, churches, and public parks.
Light is important to Christmas as well. The winter solstice
is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Burning candles reminded
people of the coming light of spring. Kathy and I went to a wonderful light
display in Duluth on Friday, what a magnificent display it was.
Today our celebration of Christmas has a tree, decorations,
presents and lights.
When John was writing his Gospel light was very important because
it was a word used by Gnostic’s who claimed special enlightenment or spiritual knowledge
that made them more spiritual. So John uses their words to express the truth of
Jesus. So you find our passage in John the Word, became the light of men that
shines in the darkness. In 1 John 1:5 “God is light and in Him is no darkness
at all.” In Mathews Gospel tells us that Jesus called believers the “light of
the World.”
In the Gospel there is a tree, John tells us Jesus started out
caring His cross, and Luke tells us in chapter 23:26 that when Jesus could no
longer carry it the guards laid it on Simon of Cyrene. The roads were decorated
by people who were mourning and lamenting. I can see a man with a withered handmade
whole, a man healed of leprosy, men who were blind now see their healer taken
to the cross. So many lives changed and touched by God.
In the Gospel there are gifts, John 1:9-14 through Jesus God
gave the gift of salvation, the right to become children of God.
In the Gospel there is a tree, made into a cross,
decorations made of people whose lives had been changed, and gifts of the Spirit
of God. So long ago just outside the city of Jerusalem there was a tree, there
were decorations, gifts and lights.
Our Christmas today has a tree, shaped like a cross, it is
the place where we are healed and new life begins. A tree of hope, a tree of
healing, a tree of promise, a tree of life.
There are decorations made of the things God has done, in
the lives of people we have known, lives saved and touched by God, each and
every one a beautiful work of art by God.
There are gifts of the Holy Spirit, gifts to be used to
build God’s kingdom, gifts of healing, forgiveness and encouragement. Many
gifts waiting to be unwrapped.
But most of all there are the lights. You are God’s
Christmas lights, set upon a hill, placed upon a stand, meant to give light to
world around you.
The winter solstice has passed, soon decorations will be
taken down and put away. But God’s Christmas we must never put away. We must
leave it out for all to see, every day. Remember every day.
There is a tree. There are decorations. There are gifts. And
you are God’s Christmas lights! Burn brightly my friends.
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