A Christmas story from a King County jail chaplain

Child learns a valuable lesson from a tree-less holiday

Child learns a valuable lesson from a tree-less holiday

Bill Clements

On Religion

As a chaplain for the King County Jail system, I’m blessed to receive some very special insight into the human soul, especially during these Holy Days. Recently a man, I’ll call him Tom, told me a Christmas memory. Tom was 8 years old. His family was deeply religious. This particular year, Tom’s mother focused on some words by the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 10 verses 2 through 4. ( I suggest you look this up. It is worthy of your reflection!) This verse seemed to disdain Christmas trees and so Tom’s mother ordered that no Christmas tree be set up in the family’s house. She tried to help Tom and his younger sister rejoice in the real meaning of Christmas rather than in trees and gifts, tinsel and decorations.

Tom was ashamed. He spent his vacation lying to his schoolmates and neighbors about the lack of a carefully-bedecked tree in his family’s front window. He was terrified of what his friends in the neighborhood might think.The neighbor kids generally went to see one another’s gifts, but Tom kept the other children out of the house with unreasonable excuses. It was Christmas, but he felt no comfort or joy.

The next year, however, a decorated Christmas tree was back without any explanation. He never learned what authority preempted Jeremiah in the matter of the Christmas tree. The interesting thing is that the Christmas he would prefer to forget, he now eagerly discusses. It no longer seems silly or embarrassing or a time to be forgotten. Instead he is thankful for the experience. He wishes he could thank his mother for providing him with a taste of the humiliation that can come from pursuing a passionate conviction in Christ. He wishes he could thank his mom for introducing into his spirit a seed of discontent with all cultural displays of religion, a seed that has since grown tree-sized. He wishes he could thank his mom for the courage she showed in giving him Jesus without tinsel — embarrassing as it was then.

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Likewise, the pains of the first Christmas in Bethlehem were overshadowed by the joy of the birth of Jesus. We may not like discomfort, difficulty, and decisions over which we have no control. Yet for Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, and now Tom, myself, and countless others, these dilemmas have enabled us to focus more clearly on the Christ child and the love God shows at Christmas. So during this Christmas season, amid any problems that arise, look to the manger and see Jesus!

Bill Clements is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, 6001 Island Crest Way. He can be reached by e-mail at Pastor@Redeemerlutheranchurch.us or you can telephone him at 232-1711.