Christmas Traditions
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 12/11/2011
Last Sunday I shared with you a little about my Christmas traditions growing up and there are so many different Christmas traditions that most of us share in common. As I mentioned last Sunday, hanging stockings by the fireplace is a tradition that dates all the way back to Saint Nicholas himself in the third century. Maybe one of your traditions was to set a plate of cookies out for Santa and his reindeer like my sister and I did. Some families have the tradition of watching the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, on Christmas day. Or maybe you prefer A Christmas Story, where little Ralphie wants one thing for Christmas—an official Red Ryder BB gun.
Maybe you make it a tradition to curl up by the fireplace and read the nativity story from the Gospel of Luke. Many people make a habit of attending Christmas Mass or a Christmas Eve service. Most of us enjoy the traditions of food and family.
We have a somewhat unusual tradition at our house. A few years ago we decided that whenever it was someone’s birthday that we would start celebrating first thing in the morning. So for my birthday and Yeshua’s birthday, which are both coming up this week, we’ll have cake and ice-cream for breakfast. In order to help the kids identify Christmas as a celebration of Jesus’ birth, we’ve made that part of our Christmas tradition as well. On Christmas morning, we’ll get up early, sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and then have cake and ice-cream for breakfast.
Maybe you grew up with some strange holiday traditions, too. Or maybe, you’re just now building the traditions that you hope with remain with your kids for years to come. This morning, I’d like to talk about three of the most common Christmas traditions and how they relate to our Christian faith. The first of those Christmas traditions is the tradition of treats.
• THE TRADITION OF TREATS
Food is an important part of any family festivity, isn’t it? And no holiday is complete without an assortment of cookies, cakes, and candies! About two years ago, Ashley, the kids, and I went to spend Christmas with my family in Charleston. There were about thirty or so aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and grandparents there and we knew we wouldn’t have the money to buy presents for all these people, so Ashley decided to bake a bunch of goodie and give little gifts bags full of treats to everyone in the family. She started baking a week ahead of time and I thought she was never going to leave the kitchen. She made literally hundreds of tasty treats—all cover in chocolate. There were chocolate covered peanut butter Ritz, chocolate cover Fritos, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered cookies, etc. The house smelled like chocolate for a week and I was her official taste tester, so I think I gain about 10 pounds that Christmas!
We’ve all got our favorite treats this time of year, but there is one Christmas treat in particular that can be found in nearly every household and can be used as a strategic opportunity to share the message of Jesus—the Candy Cane!
The very first Candy Canes weren’t really canes at all; rather, they were straight white sugar sticks often used as pacifiers for teething babies. But in the latter half of seventeenth century, tradition tells of a church choirmaster in Europe who persuaded a craftsman to make sticks of candy bent at the end to represent a shepherd’s staff. The choirmaster then passed them out as a special treats to boys and girls who came to Christmas mass.
It wasn’t until the early twentieth century, right here in America, that color was added to the Candy Cane—the traditional and most popular color, of course, being red. As the Candy Cane has evolved over the years, it has become a wonderful symbol and tool for sharing the story of Jesus at Christmas time.
First, the shape of the Candy Cane—a shepherd’s staff—can remind us of the shepherd who bore witness of Jesus’ birth. The Bible says that on the night Christ was born:
There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:8-12 NIV)
The shepherds hurried to find the place where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were staying, bowed their knees, and then hurried off just as quickly to become the first heralds of the new born King.
Furthermore, the Candy Cane’s white color can remind us that Jesus lived a pure and sinless life. All throughout Scripture, the Bible uses the color white to symbolize purity and freedom from sin. For example, David cried out to God in Psalm 51, “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:5 NLT). Unlike David and the rest of us though, Jesus never had any sins. He always did what made God proud. He lived the perfect and pure life that we never could. And, in fact, it’s by his blood that we are washed and made clean.
Finally, the red stripes of the candy cane can remind us that the baby lying in the manger was born to bare the penalty for our sins. Prior to his crucifixion, Jesus was sentenced to be flogged—beaten with a leather braided whip, interwoven with sharp bone and metal fragments. Unlike the Jews, who limited a scourging to 40 lashes, the Romans had no such rule; rather, Jesus was whipped until the guard wore out his arm. Seven centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah predicted, “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed” (Isaiah 53:5 NLT). Another translation say, “And by His stripes we are healed” (NKJV). The red stripes of the Candy Cane remind us of the blood that Jesus shed on our behalf.
Perhaps the most meaningful connection between the Candy Cane and the Christ Child is that both were born to be hung on a tree. That brings us to another important Christmas tradition—the tradition of trees!
• THE TRADITION OF TREES
Almost every household has a Christmas tree this time of year and it irks me when stores, like Wal-Mart, label them “holiday trees” because the tradition of decorating trees is—and always has been—a distinctly Christian tradition.
Before I get to that, though, you might be surprised to hear that some Christians are adamantly opposed to Christmas trees. When I worked at Family Christian Stores, I encountered quite a few characters, especially around the holidays. One lady in particular took it upon herself to inform me that Christmas trees were an abomination overtly denounced by the prophet Jeremiah. Well, the passage she was referring to is this: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles… For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple” (Jeremiah 10:2-4 NKJV).
While at first blush this passage may appear to denounce Christmas tree traditions, the context precludes that pretext. As I kindly explained to the customer (who is not always right), Jeremiah’s description of a tree cut down in the forest and decorated with silver and gold is a reference to wooden idols—object of pagan worship cut and carved from wood—not Christmas trees.
The truth is—as I mentioned already mentioned—that the Christmas tree is a distinctly Christian tradition. In fact, the modern Christmas tree evolved from two Christian traditions in Germany in the sixteenth century. One was a “paradise tree” which was adorned with apples as a reminder of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. The other was a triangular shelf holding nativity figurines and decorated with a star representing the star of Bethlehem. Eventually, these two symbols merged into the present Christmas tree tradition. What makes this present combination so fantastic is that it can be used as a springboard to share the reason for the season with un-churched family or friends.
You see, because Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life was taken away and as a result death has spread throughout all humanity. But God had a plan. Jesus—God’s eternal Son—stepped out of heaven and into Mary’s arms in a simple stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem. Jesus came to earth to right the wrongs that took place in the Garden of Eden so many centuries before. And because of Jesus, the Bible assures us that one day we’ll get to eat of the fruit of the tree of life once more. In Jesus’ letters to the churches in Revelation he declares, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7 NIV).
So, the evergreen tree adorned with Christmas decorations is a symbol of the everlasting life purchased for us by a brown-eyed baby boy born two thousand years ago.
Of course, it’s what’s under the Christmas tree that most kids are interested in. And that brings us to our last Christmas tradition—the tradition of treasure.
• THE TRADITION OF TREASURE
Presents! Ask the average kids and they’ll tell you, that’s what Christmas is all about. And as commercialized and greedy as it may sound, that’s not entirely wrong. The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas can be traced back to the gifts given to the baby Jesus by the three Wiseman or Magi. The Magi were kings from the East, wise men who traveled a great distance following a star, to find the Christ child and to bring him gifts.
The Bible says, “The star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy. They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:9-11 NCV).
Now, we don’t really know if the Magi arrived the actual day that Jesus was born or not. In fact, in prior centuries Christians use to celebrate the day of the Magi’s visit twelve days after Christmas, on January 6—thus the 12 Days of Christmas. Regardless of when they arrived, however, ever since their visit Christmas has been a time of giving.
And that means Christmas is a time of shopping.
This year, just like every year, millions of people, both children and adults, will open millions of gifts. Some won’t fit. Some will be the wrong color. Many will be returned or exchanged. But there’s one gift that meets everyone’s need, one gift that will never wear out, never break or need repairing. A gift that is appropriate for a small child, or a teenager, or an adult, or a senior citizen. Boy or girl, man or woman, it makes no difference. The presents the Magi brought—gold, incense and spices—were wonderfully extravagant treasures. But the gift we all need, the most valuable gift of all, is the baby lying in the manger.
Christmas without Christ is like a beautifully wrapped box that’s empty inside.
As you give and receive gifts this Christmas, let it be a reminder that—two thousand years ago on a silent and holy night, in the little town of Bethlehem—Jesus gave us the greatest gift of all… he gave us himself.
Conclusion:
While we all seem to have our own special little traditions this time of year, I hope that you’ll take the opportunity this Christmas to share with someone the symbolism of the Candy Cane, the story behind the Christmas tree, and the significance of giving presents at Christmas time. And if you haven’t received Jesus yourself, accepting the gift of everlasting life in Christ, then you’ve missed the real meaning and miracle of Christmas. Don’t miss it!
Invitation:
As the worship team comes forward to lead us in our next hymn, take this opportunity to start a new Christmas tradition by making Christ the center of Christmas!
