Another very famous Christmas tradition is the Christmas tree with lights and decorations. But first, I notice I have not told you where the word Christmas comes from because you will not find it in the Bible. Christmas come from the words “Christ Mass” which in the Catholic Church is the service held on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning to celebrate the birth of our savior.
The tradition of the Christmas tree and lights was started by one of my heroes in the faith; Martin Luther. Tradition says that Martin Luther was returning late one Christmas Eve through the snow and he saw a fir tree silhouetted against the star light sky. He thought it was a beautiful sight. Later, as he was trying to describe this to his wife and children, words would not work. So he went out and cut down the nearest fir tree and brought it into the house. He then decorated it with lighted candles. When asked about this later in life, Luther explained that the lighted candles demonstrate the light given to the world through the birth of Jesus. The evergreen tree represented the deathlessness of the living God.
This tradition is one that a lot of people have trouble with because they say it comes from the Druids. The Druids were tree worshipers and they would cut down oak trees and bring them into the homes around the same time in December as part of their winter solstice celebrations. As I have said earlier, the tradition of bring a tree into the house and decorating it all points to Jesus, which is the important thing.
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