"It Begins and Ends With a Tree"

“It Begins and Ends With a Tree”
Matthew 3:1-12
Pastor Todd Buegler
December 4 & 5, 2010
Lord of Life

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus, the Son of God who is the gift of grace! Amen.

The Christmas tree went up in the Buegler household on Friday, and the decorations went up yesterday. Advent is a season full of rituals and traditions, and one of the most universal of these traditions is the Christmas tree. Every family probably has their own tradition for getting their tree. Some of the more adventurous of you tromp through the woods and cut your own…this year, I saw in the news, for the first time we had the option of ordering a fresh-cut Christmas tree online…hmmm…tempting. In our family, in a scene straight out of a Courier and Ives portrait, we bundle up, and venture out together as a family, and together we wander the aisles of the local Home Depot, where we find out tree or our dreams, and have some high school kid bundle it and toss it on top of our mini-van. Ok, so maybe it lacks something in the “romance” department, but it gets the job done.

The tradition of the Christmas tree comes from Germany, and goes back over 1300 years.

But the tradition of the Christmas tree as we know it…brought inside and decorated, is really only about 500 years old. The trees at the time were called “The Christbaum”, or the “Christ Tree.” Who is credited with first decorating the tree for Christmas? You might be surprised to learn that it was Martin Luther, founder of the reformation and namesake of the Lutheran church. Legend has it that late one night in 1535 as he was walking through the woods, he looked at the trees in the forest, he noticed behind them a beautiful backdrop of stars twinkling through the branches. He cut down an evergreen tree, brought it into his home and decorated it by attaching burning candles to the branches for his children to show them how the stars twinkle through the night.

He said that the twinkling lights on the tree reminded him of the star that hung in the sky on the night of our Savior’s birth. And Luther said that he loved the evergreen as this symbol because while other trees were round in their shape, the evergreen tree is triangular; it points up. It points to God It reminds us that Christmas is about the Christ child. He also loved that the tree was always green…it reminded him of eternal life. For Luther, the Christmas tree told the story of the birth of Jesus. And Luther, who spent his whole life working to move our faith into the home…into the daily life of the family, was literally the one who brought the Christmas tree from outside, into the home.

I love the tradition of the Christmas tree. Not just because of its beauty when it’s decorated and lit…or the evergreen smell that fills our home…or the way it drives our cat completely crazy…I love the tree for the stories that our Christmas tree tells. You see, Lori, who is brilliant at this kind of stuff, began a family tradition for us years ago. Every time we travel someplace as a family, we buy a Christmas ornament from that place. So when we gather to decorate the tree every year, and as we hang the ornaments, we remember our experiences together as a family. Let me show you a few:

Lori isn’t exactly what I would describe as a “Camper.” At all. Years ago, I finally talked her into a short trip into the Boundary Waters. This is the ornament we bought in Grand Marais on our way home to celebrate her survival. Before the trip, Lori told me that she wasn’t actually worried about what might happen to her on the trip…rather, she was worried about my safety. That’s really kind, isn’t it? “Yes,” she said, “because if you get eaten by a bear, what’s going to happen to me?”

Here is an ornament we got when we took a trip to Washington DC. While there, we had the opportunity to go on a congressional tour of the White House at Christmas time with Senators, representatives and their guests. Also on our tour? Senator Strom Thurmond. Decorated for Christmas, the White House was beautiful. This is the official White House ornament from 1999.

Here are two ornaments our boys got from grandparents to commemorate and remember their baptisms. When we hang them up, we talk about the days our boys were baptized. What happened…who came to see it…the promises that God made to each of them…

This one we bought when our family went to Disneyworld last year. We had so much fun…it’s our happy place.

And my Mom gave my brothers and I each one of these ornaments, the Christmas after my Dad died, 12 years ago. It has his name, his date of birth and his date of death engraved on it. Every year when I put it up, I remember my Dad; and I remember the Christmases my family had growing up.

And there are more ornaments…more stories…more memories…Christmas is a season full of stories and symbols…and in our family, these ornaments and the tree on which they hang becomes a symbol. They tell a story…they tell of family, of friends, of how God has blessed us with people and time together…and of God’s extreme goodness.

The Christmas tree reminds me that as Christians, we have a story to tell. And ultimately, the story doesn’t revolve around wrapped presents…or ornaments…or evergreens… There were no evergreen trees at the manger the night Jesus was born. But just the same, the tree is a symbol for us. The Christmas tree, the Christbaum, has come to symbolize that Jesus comes as gift. The gift of Jesus is the most important gift we receive on Christmas. This is the gift that the prophet Isaiah wrote of when he said:
“‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”
And the gifts placed under the tree are given freely to each other as a symbol of the gift of Christ that God gives to each one of us. The most important story that the Christbaum can tell is the story of the “Jesus gift” for you.

That gift is one of hope. That gift is one of grace and love in human form. That gift is one of eternal life.

In the New Testament, one of the Greek words for cross, is the word “Xulon”. “Xulon” is a word that can be translated into English both as “cross,” and as “tree.” And in the New Testament, Jesus’ crucifixion is often referred to as taking place on a “tree.” Acts 5:30 says that “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.” And in 1 Peter 2:24, it says “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.” It was on a tree, stripped of branches, cut, and re-shaped that Jesus was crucified and died.

You see, we can never fully understand the importance of the birth of Jesus until we understand the significance of the death of Jesus. And his story, the story of Jesus…it begins and it ends with a tree.

We remember and celebrate the birth of Christ with a tree…a decorated Christmas tree. But really, the original Christbaum, the real Christ Tree, is the Cross, and it could be found 2000 years ago, on a hill called Golgotha.

Let’s think for a moment about the story of Jesus. Jesus was born on that night in the manger, with a distinct purpose. His call was to live, to teach, to be an example, to heal, to bring hope, and then ultimately, to go to the cross and to die on our behalf, taking on our punishment. And Jesus’ call is for you and I to take this journey with him. For us, the journey begin here…in Advent. We begin gathered around a Christmas tree…we travel together through the story of the Gospels…through the Christmas season, through Epiphany, through Lent and then Holy Week, where on Good Friday, we gather around another tree. We gather at the foot of the cross.

Why does Jesus take this journey? He does this out of love…a love so strong that we can’t begin to comprehend it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” On the tree, Jesus died for all of our sins.

Christmas trees are beautiful things. They are a part of our Christmas ritual. They are a tradition. Rituals and traditions are good things. They remind us of the symbols and stories from our past.

This year, when you gather around your tree, look at it not just as decoration…or as nostalgia. Look at it as Martin Luther looked at it:
• Look at the lights, and be reminded of the star of Bethlehem, guiding the travelers on the way to find Jesus.
• Look at the triangular shape of the tree, and see that it points to God.
• Look at the evergreen color. Be reminded of the resurrection, and the promise of eternal life for you.

Look at the Christmas tree as the place we gather to begin our journey with Jesus, from the Christmas tree to the cross; from his birth to his crucifixion. Remember that the cross…that tree…it was not the end of the story. Remember that through his resurrection, Jesus defeated death. And that Jesus calls us on that journey as well. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we can have confidence that death is defeated for us too.

And remember that all of this…the celebration of God’s grace and love through Jesus…it all begins…and it all ends…with a tree.

Amen.