Gò0dNews for Everyone Evergreen Idol Or Reason For The Season? ot long after Thanksgiving, I’ll go up into the attic and pull down an artificial evergreen and stand it up beside the fireplace in our living room. Next will come several boxes of rustic decorations in red-and-black buffalo plaid, stars of jute and wood, tin snowflakes, and an assortment of ornaments my wife and I have collected over our 27 years of marriage. At night, we’ll light a fire, turn on the white Christmas tree lights, and watch every Hallmark movie and Christmas classic we can find. In the quiet moments, I’ll sometimes sit in front of the tree and reflect on the real Christmas story. Our cabin-themed tree replaced a tree decorated primarily in silver-and-gold mercury glass and, before that, a tree decorated in a hodgepodge of ornaments purchased to commemorate costumes our kids wore for Halloween, big life moments, favorite pets, and schoolroom crafts. There was a time when I was hesitant to put up a tree. I loved the beauty and the celebration, but when I was a boy, the church we attended used a passage from Jeremiah 10 to question the practice of decorating Christmas trees. Sure enough, it sounds a lot like our holiday tradition: “A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid
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of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good” (Jeremiah 10:3-5). Thankfully, Jeremiah isn’t talking about Christmas trees. He’s talking about idols, but there is good reason to meditate on his words this time of year. For many people in our world, Christmas trees have become idols. Families skip right by the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. Instead, the beautiful tree has become an altar, where gifts are laid at its base in anticipation of personal pleasure. We exchange gifts too, but I have made it a point to make sure that our home tells the Christmas story. Those stars are the star in the east. The red is a reminder that Jesus shed his blood for us. The black is a reminder of the dark night that came alive with an angel chorus: the snowflakes, an allusion that though our sins were scarlet, we are now white as snow. In the decorating and in the rare quiet moments, it’s good to have a reminder of what we’re celebrating. If your tree doesn’t do that for you, if Christmas is one long gift-and-entertainingfest with no Messiah, I challenge you to hit the pause button. Has your Christmas tree become an idol, or is it a reminder that a Savior was born: the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counselor, God with us?
About The Author
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by Bill Fortenberry
Bill Fortenberry worked 17 years as a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist, and has worked in healthcare communications since 2001. Bill serves as the chairman of the board of managers of Haven Health Clinic for Women and is a men’s ministry leader and small group facilitator at his church, HBC Rome. He and his wife, Lisa, have two children, Ethan and Autumn. A storyteller at heart, Bill writes an occasional blog at kudzudad.blogspot.com.
