First...a story...
Have you ever wondered
where the tradition of Christmas trees started?
Legends and folk-tales, my friends.
The greatest legend of them all tells of a man called ‘Beautiful Face’,
or Boniface, to his friends. A son of
Devon, Boniface was a Christian missionary, a Bishop who travelled to the
forests of Bavaria - spreading the good news of Jesus, the Light of all the
world.
In the darkness of the Forest, he
came across a massive oak tree. From its
branches were hanging terrible things….bones, and skulls, including even the
skulls of infants. Boniface searched
nearby, and came across a tribe of pagans, the People of the Tree. They believed that something so mighty, the
biggest thing in their entire world, must contain a great and mighty
power. They sacrificed themselves, and
even their children to this tree-god, in the desperate hope of pleasing
it...lest it should destroy them all.
Fear and superstition drove them to madness.
Boniface begged the tribe to
understand that the True God, would never ask of them such a thing. In fact, he explained, the True God sent his
own child to die for us! He would never
ask us to harm one of our children for him.
But the People of the Tree were not convinced. Their fear was too great.
So, that night, while the Tribe
was asleep, Boniface took a mighty axe, and felled the great oak to the
ground. In the morning, the Tribe
gathered around, terrified, waiting for the god of the tree to smite Boniface
for his act. But nothing happened...and
gradually, the light of truth dawned in the minds of the Tribe. They saw the truth of Boniface’s words, and
began to worship Jesus Christ.
But these were
people of the Tree. Without a tree
towards which to focus their worship, they felt lost and bereft. So, in a flash of insight, Boniface bade them
to focus their worship on the ever-green trees of the forest. They had no church, no building in which to
gather - but instead, they could use ever-green trees as a symbol of the
ever-green, never-ending love of God.
Lights in the branches would remind them of Christ, the Light of the
World. And so the legend of the
Christmas Tree was born: a tree to remind us all, that God’s love for all
humanity is new every morning, and never, ever ends.
What we have just heard is but one re-telling of the legend of the Christmas tree. It comes from the 8th century (though I confess that most of the details were made up by me!). Nevertheless, it is one of the earliest mentions of the idea of trees and Christmas.
Some scholars have suggested that there is a connection between
Christmas trees and pagan religions. The
Old Norse festival of Yule is especially referenced – although any written
evidence for the Yule-tree among old Viking records is pretty scant.
The Christmas Tree has a long history, therefore – and mainly
a Christian one. In the story we heard
just now, I suggested that lights in the branches of the tree were reminders of
Christ the Light of the world. But there are many other Christian references to
be explored…
For example - baubles are references to the fruit of the
garden of Eden – the ‘apple’ which Eve ate, and by which disobedience towards
God came into the world. But these ‘apples’
are balanced by many other symbols of light and hope. The star on the top of the tree points to the
Star of Bethlehem. Or if you put a ‘fairy’
on your tree – you are actually referencing the angels who announced the birth
of Christ. Presents, tied to the tree,
are reminders of God’s great gift to the world – in the form of his son. The very shape of the tree is a symbol…viewed
in two dimensions, the tree forms a triangle, and is a reminder of the
Trinity. The fact that Christmas trees
are ever-green is a reminder of the never-ending love of God (as good old St
Boniface suggested in my story). The
fact that the tree is a tree at all
is a reminder that Jesus Christ was hung on a cross of wood, or a ‘tree’ as it
is sometimes described.
In many ways, therefore, the Christmas tree is a subversive
thing. It encompasses the whole story of
God’s rescue of humanity. From the Fall,
in the garden of Eden, to the gift of Christ and his death on the tree, to the hope
that the teachings of Jesus will be light to a dying world, each tree
represents God’s story. And many people
don’t know it! In most homes, and in
most public squares around the world, trees are brought in. A blessing from God is carried into our
lives, without us even being aware that God is at work.
And isn’t that just like God? As the
carol says, ‘How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given’. It is precisely in quietness and peace, in
silent but never-ending love, that God comes to us.
We find him, surprisingly, in a stable in Bethlehem. But we also find him, surprisingly in the
gift of a home to a homeless family, or in the gift of welcome and sustenance
to a refugee. We find him in the quiet
march of scientific discovery, and in the gift of caring medicine which we’ve
seen so much this year. We find him in
the phone-call to the lonely person, isolated by COVID or their own
frailty. We find him in the work of
thousands of charities and volunteers who place the needs of others above their
own. We find him in the gift of time and
learning which teachers give to their students.
Just as the Christmas tree has crept into our homes, we find
that God too has crept into our lives. And
“where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in”.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment