Thursday, the Third Week of Advent - "Christmas Tree Lights"

John 1:1-10 (NIV)
¹  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
²  He was with God in the beginning.
³  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
⁴  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
⁵  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
⁶  There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
⁷  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
⁸  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
⁹  The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
¹⁰  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  

Luke 7:22-23 (NIV)
²²  So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
²³  Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

It's a snowy day outside - some 16+ inches by days end.  The snow is pretty, and because of the droughts last summer, much needed.  I awoke early this morning...it was very dark, but the street light showed the intensity of the snow falling.  I left the lights down, and turned on the Christmas tree lights.  It was one of those wonderful moments.  It was quiet, while still dark, the lights of the tree lit up the room.  The storm outside sets the white of the snow against  There's always been something glorious about the lights shining in the darkness.

Among the many myths, or stories, surrounding the Christmas tree is the story of St. Boniface, the 8th century missionary who brought the Gospel to the German tribes.  One of the "gods" of the pagan tribes was in a pagan god named Odin.  Odin was a Norse god, connected to warfare, conquest, as well as Shamanism and was the father of the Norse god Thor.  The Germanic tribes were rooted in their belief of the magical powers of Odin AND the belief that he lived on in the giant Oak trees of the forests.  Legend has it that one Christmas Eve, Boniface became so incensed with the worship of an Oak tree and the impending sacrifice of a young boy to that tree, that he took and ax and chopped it down in front of the tribe.  They stood and waited for the gods to come an strike Boniface dead; but nothing happened.  Boniface preached the gospel and reminded them that the "gods" of wood and stone did not exist.  Only God, the creator of those things was real.  He told them that this season is the celebration of life, and that God sent his Son into the world to bring light and life to darkness and death.

Centuries later Martin Luther would be on a prayeful Advent evening walk and see the starlight glisten through the evergreens, and the idea hit him to put the tree in his home and put candles on the tree to celebrate Christ the Light and Life of Christmas.

These stories, or legends, of Advent and Christmas should not be diminished.  We live in a world full of darkness and desperately needs the light of life.  When John the Baptist inquired of Jesus' work, Jesus replied with "go back and report what you've seen and heard - healing from sickness and disease, the resurrection of the dead, and the gospel preached to the poor".  It is life that he is witnessing to.  Life that goes beyond our life here, a life that is rooted in the eternity of who God is - the author of Life.

As a child I remember hearing the song "O Christmas Tree" sung in German - "O Tannenbaum"  No one knows who the author really is, but the melody is an old German folk song.  The best known version of the song was written by a German composer in the early 1800's.  The English translation that is best known was translated as "O Christmas Tree".

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
How lovely are your branches!
In beauty green will always grow
Through summer sun and winter snow.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
How lovely are your branches!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
You are the tree most loved!
How often you give us delight!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
You are the tree most loved!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your beauty green will teach me
That hope and love will ever be
The way to joy and peace for me
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your beauty green will teach me.