Johnnie Burgess,

In my post my intent was to show that we should not be caught up so much about the day of Christmas being the 25th. IMO the Lord’s Day is set in stone and there should be community worship on Sundays! However, the celebration of Christmas is not so …. because: (1) it was a day made up to take the place of a pagan holiday, (2) there is no command to celebrate the birth of Christ, and (3) there is no specific date set aside in Scripture to celebrate Christmas on December 25 (especially since Christ’s birth didn’t even originally happen in the month of December ….). Thus, IMO the pastors closing their churches on Sundays so their congregations could celebrate Christmas asked the wrong question. Instead of asking, “What shall we do with Church?” they should have asked, “What shall we do with Christmas?” Their answer could have been as easy as moving Christmas to Saturday the 24th and still have Sunday services on the 25th!

I personally would like to see all Christians abstain from celebrating Christmas and celebrate the birth of Christ ONLY. Just test it for let us say three years… There is no need for an exchange of gifts with each other, for no gift exchanged can even begin to compare to the gift God gave. There would be no need to have a Christmas tree (its history is explained briefly below). While I do not think either of the above two trends to be necessarily evil, I can also see great benefit in not being tied to a tradition of each… Imagine taking ALL the commercialism out of Christmas! Imagine all the money spent on gifts, trees, ornaments, and traveling, etc. being taken and feeding and evangelizing the poor (Deut 15:4, 11). However, I am not to optimistic about this plan ever coming into being for there are far too many pagan commercializing christians in our churches ….

The Christmas tree appears to be a descendent of the Paradise tree and the Christmas light of the late Middle Ages:

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From the eleventh century, religious plays called "mystery plays" became quite popular throughout Europe. These plays were performed outdoors and in churches. One of the most prevalent of these plays was the "Paradise play." The play depicted the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, their sin, and their banishment from Paradise. The play would end with the promise of the coming Savior and His Incarnation (cf. Gen. 3:15). The Paradise play was simple by today's standards. The only prop on stage was the "Paradise tree," a fir tree adorned with apples. From this tree, at the appropriate time in the play, Eve would take the fruit, eat it, and give it to Adam.

Because of abuses that crept into the mystery plays (i.e., immoral behavior), the Church forbade these plays during the fifteenth century. The people had grown so accustomed to the Paradise tree, however, that they began putting their own Paradise tree up in their homes on Dec. 24. They did so on Dec. 24 because this was the feast day of Adam and Eve (at least in the Eastern Church). The Paradise tree, as it had in the Paradise plays, symbolized both a tree of sin and a tree of life. For this reason, the people would decorate these trees with apples (representing the fruit of sin) and homemade wafers (like communion wafers which represented the fruit of life). Later, candy and sweets were added.

For many Christians the Christmas tree still retains the symbolism of the Paradise tree. The tree reminds us of the tree in Eden by which Adam and Eve were overcome and which thrust them into sin. But more importantly, the tree reminds us of the tree by which our sin was overcome, namely the tree upon which Christ Jesus was crucified. Is it a stretch to refer to the cross as a tree? Hardly, for this is the language of the New Testament itself! For example, Paul writes in Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree" (quoting Deut. 21:23). And Peter writes, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." Therefore, the Christmas tree is a wonderful symbol and reminder of our salvation and forgiveness through Jesus Christ!

Pastor Richard P. Bucher, The Origin and Meaning of the Christmas Tree

Reformed and Always Reforming,