I love Christmas trees. I love the lights and decorations. I love the trees themselves. I suspect that most people feel the same way that I do. Since they are not mentioned in the Bible, are they really Christian? In my mind, the answer is “No.” And, “Yes!”

Evergreen trees have been used for thousands of years to celebrate pagan winter festivals. The green trees reminded them of continuing life and the coming of spring. The first associations with Christmas occurred in northern Europe during the middle ages; two cities in present day Latvia each claim they had the first public tree. The first person to bring a Christmas tree into a house is believed to be Martin Luther. The story goes that one night before Christmas he was walking through the woods and saw how the stars shined through the tree boughs. He went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of Heaven to come to earth at Christmas. The Moravians made Luther’s vision more explicit by attaching lighted candles to the branches.

The first Christmas trees in America were introduced during the Revolutionary War by the German Hessian soldiers who had been hired as mercenaries by the British. They didn’t become popular, however, until the Victorian age. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, was German, and this probably led Victoria to have beautifully decorated Christmas trees erected in Windsor Castle. This was widely publicized, and decorated Christmas trees became very popular, first in Britain and then in America.

I fondly remember the family Christmas trees of my childhood. We were not very prosperous in those days, and we cut our own trees from a group of cedars that grew along one of our fence rows. These were a type of cedar that I’ve never seen since, and they had very fine, hypodermic-like needles (Ouch!). We had one string of lights with about ten of the old-fashioned bulbs and one box of red ornaments. We finished off the decorating by meticulously hanging tinsel. I’m always reminded of these trees by Charlie Brown’s tree in his Christmas specials on TV; of course, this was way before those specials (actually, before color TV). By the way, when we took down the tree, we carefully saved all of the tinsel.

As we enjoy our trees this season, we should keep in mind the religious symbolism we’ve assigned to these originally pagan objects. Like Luther we should think of Jesus who came to earth to save us, and the fact that it is an evergreen tree reminds of life everlasting that came from His death and resurrection. The star or angel at the top helps us remember the announcement of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, and if we have red ornaments, they remind us of His blood that was shed for us. Finally, our lights let us visualize that He is the light of the world. This season we should pause and reflect on how our lovely trees symbolize God’s unconditional love for YOU and me.

Jim