GOD BLESS OUR CHRISTMAS TREES
My daughter Therese was two years old, and we were setting up the Christmas tree in our den.
Therese’s eyes were even more aglow than the Christmas tree. The look of awe and sheer joy in her eyes was breathtaking. It rekindled in me the many magical Christmas tree moments in my life.
That is why I was amazed when we visited George Washington’s family home in Mount Vernon, Virginia. It was all decorated as it would have been when our first President lived there.
The Christmas decorations in the home of “the father of our nation” were beautiful. But where was the Christmas tree? I looked and looked, but there was no Christmas tree. I mean zip, nada!
I asked a colonial dressed docent about this, and she told me that there was never a Christmas tree in the Washington home. “Having a decorated Christmas tree in the home was generally something that happened only later in American history,” the docent said.
It appears that having a fully decorated and lighted Christmas tree in one’s house came from German and Scandinavian immigrants to America. In the 1800s this custom really caught on and became as American as…..well, as apple pie. As I have shared, I was adopted into a Jewish family, and for several years, we had a Christmas tree— we called it a “Hanukkah bush”— in our den.
The origins of the Christmas tree go back to Pagan times. The decrease of sunlight during this time of year was even more striking in the Scandinavian and northern Germanic regions. Evergreen trees did not lose their leaves or look like they were dying. In annual cycles with the Pagan gods, it was the religious custom to bring Evergreens into one’s home or local shrine.
What I find intriguing is the ingenuity of early Christian missionaries in Scandinavia and northern Germany.
They could have tried to get rid of these Pagan symbols in people’s homes. Instead of them doing that, the missionaries decided to Christianize the Evergreen trees. They called them Christmas trees, and they said that they represented Jesus’ birth. They also said that the triangular shape of the trees represented the trinity.
I think that we in the New Thought movement could learn a lot from this. In many cases, instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I think it would be better to take a symbol or ritual and emphasize the metaphysical meaning behind the symbol or ritual.
At Unity in the Seven Hills, we are doing just that this Advent. We are taking the story of Bethlehem and exploring the metaphysical meanings behind this beautiful tapestry. (If you have missed the Sunday talks in this series please click here)
A great definition of metaphysical meanings is: What is the real spiritual lesson a symbol, story, or ritual is trying to convey? It is going beyond the literal or physical levels.
For me, the magic and meaning of Christmas trees really recently came home by reading some wonderful modern stories. The first one was written by a dear friend who went through Unity Institute and Seminary with me. Rev. Sheree Taylor Jones is currently pioneering a New Thought community in Austin, Texas (named Celebration of Spirit). Her story is in a beautiful Advent booklet put out by Unity World Headquarters. You can get a copy of this delightful booklet in the U7H bookstore. It is called The Sweetest Christmas.
I know from our student days that Christmas trees and decorations mean a great to Sheree. It was 2003, and she was making a trip to England to be with her British boyfriend, Graham (who is now her husband, and I also consider him a dear friend). This would be the first time that Sheree would be meeting Graham’s family.
Now, Graham’s family was very different from Sheree in terms of Christmas preparations. They didn’t have a Christmas tree and felt that the birth of Jesus should be celebrated quite differently from the usual “soup to nuts.”
When Sheree enter Graham’s home she saw, what she called, “the ugliest Christmas tree.” it was a silver artificial monstrosity which leaned to one side. The lights and decorations didn’t match, and the whole thing looked like pathetic a “Charlie Brown Christmas tree.” Needless it’s to say, she hated it.
But then, Sheree learned about all that her boyfriend had done to get this tree— when he knew next to nothing about Christmas trees! Friends loaned him lights, decorations, and in fact the tree itself. Graham’s relatives let her know that they never had seen him go so much out of his way for a girlfriend as he had done for Sheree.
Sheree started to feel so well loved, and she started to see the real spirit of Christmas embodied in that artificial “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree. Sheree grew to love this tree that leaned more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The second Christmas tree story comes from Nancy Saint John, of San Diego. I read it in The Joy of Christmas, which is a once a year magazine that I highly recommend. It is published by Guideposts Ministries.
Nancy worked as a children’s librarian with her good friend Jackie. One year Jackie gave Nancy two Christmas tree ornaments, which were little red winter gloves. The first glove had the word Friends on it, while the second glove had the word Forever written on it.
This would be the first Christmas for Nancy since the death of her friend, Jackie. She remembered the surprise and sorrow she felt, when Dale — Jackie’s husband— called to say that Jackie had made her transition.
Nancy and Jackie were not only children’s librarians together, but they were also puppeteers who performed in many different venues. It was very sad for Nancy when she trimmed her Christmas tree and put Jackie’s Friends Forever ornament up on her tree.
I must say that the classes given at Unity in the Seven Hills, by Pamela Smith, on angels, mysticism, and metaphysics really put me in tune for what happened to Nancy. She was walking by the Christmas tree and she smelled the perfume that Jackie often used. Nancy had a real sense of the spirit of Jackie and that her friend was there. The perfume smell – – which was nothing like a pine scent – – was in the Christmas tree.
A few days later, Nancy, called Dale and told him about this experience. Dale asked her what evening this happened on? It turned out that during that exact same evening Dale had the sense that somebody was skipping down the hall as Jackie often did. He, too, had the strong sense of Jackie’s presence that evening.
“Jackie hadn’t disappeared from my life,” Nancy wrote. “We were friends forever. And ever”— just like it said on her Christmas tree!
This season, may you feel the awe, magic, and mystery of Christmas trees, Nativity scenes, and holiday lights. May they draw us closer to the Christ that is inside of all of us, and may they help us to remember this is who we really are.
