my heresy

A couple of days ago a Judge in Toronto decided to remove the Christmas tree from the courthouse lobby. She believed that it was offensive to have a Christian symbol in the courthouse, since the law is biased to religion. As you can imagine, this brought many Christians to an outrage stand, proclaiming that this was new assault against believers in the war against Christianity.

First, the judge is not very smart. The Christmas tree is not a Christian symbol. Second, it's a pagan practice of the winter solstice, called Yule. How did the Christmas tree become a symbol of Christianity and part of the faith?

In the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to teach the Word of God. He did many good works there, and spent much time in Thuringia, an area that was to become the cradle of the Christmas Decoration Industry. Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The converted people began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had previously revered the Oak. By the 12th century, it was being hung, upside-down, from ceilings at Christmastime in Central Europe, as a symbol of Christianity.

The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.

Based on the history of the Christmas tree, can we say that it’s part of our faith and worth fighting for? No. The Christmas tree is just a tradition, just as Christmas is, since we don’t know when Christ was born. He was probably born in September, and in 350, Pope Julius picked December 25 to celebrate birth of Jesus.

So the question is, why such an outrage about something that is not part of our faith?

Posted by G on Saturday, December 16, 2006 at 2:50 PM | Permalink