Spiritual connections: Whose bright idea were Christmas trees anyway?

Now that both our Christmas trees are watered in their stands with a fresh cut on their stumps and adorned with lighted decorations, it’s time for me to sit back in my grandfather’s rocking chair to remember, recollect, and reflect on Christmases past and enjoy Christmas present.

The store-bought Fraser fir tree in the living room, which my wife Julane picked out, is centered in the picture window. The balsam fir tree I cut high on the Minnesota River bluffs stands in the family room beside the fireplace. Without exception, this has been our year-after-year Christmas tree acquisition and placement plan, and we don’t think we’re that unusual. Think about the Rockefeller Center tree in New York City or the White House tree in Washington, D.C. – they make a big deal about where theirs are cut and where they stand.

But where did the idea for the Christmas tree tradition originate? You might expect multiple stories about its origins, but evidence suggests the tradition dates back to the 15th and 16th centuries in present-day Germany.

Protestant reformer Martin Luther believed pine trees represented the goodness of God and that their spruce fragrance was heavenly. While walking through the forest at twilight, he saw stars shining through the evergreens like candles. Inspired, Luther began the tradition of bringing an evergreen into the home at Christmas and placing a lighted candle on each bough.

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”Not very safe,” you say. You’re correct! Every Christmas, my father retold stories from his youth in the 1920s and ’30s, before the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). A large, freshly cut Christmas tree with lighted candles on its boughs was placed at the front of the church. At the midnight Christmas Eve service, during the singing of “Silent Night,” lanterns around the sanctuary were dimmed, and the tree’s candles were lit while the church custodian stood nearby with a bucket of water and a wet towel for fire prevention.

But at our house, the tree in the picture window is decorated with strings of golden Christmas lights, golden garland, and a myriad of matching ornaments, all in the same color. Every year, these ornaments are meticulously placed by my wife, Julane – until this year, when our youngest grandchildren, Oscar, 8, and Wylie, 6, did a beautiful and creative job. They only needed help placing the golden angel on top.

On the other hand, the idea for the family room tree is that each ornament marks events from over the years, with photo inserts, names or memories printed on glittering colored balls, garlands of popcorn threaded on a string, and multi-colored Christmas lights.

It seems to me that Martin Luther gifted the world with a simple yet profound idea: stars in the heavens shining through evergreen trees to welcome the season. As usual, we’ve complicated the concept.

So, be mindful of the “wonder” in the Christmas story that brightens the world in these shortest, darkest days of the year. The idea of brightly lighted Christmas trees is to bring great joy to the world!

Editor’s note: Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) contributor Pastor Rod Anderson also serves on the EPLN Board of Directors. He was the senior pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie.

Interested in contributing a faith-based column to EPLN? Email editor@eplocalnews.org.