Christmas Trees: Authentic Worship?

Christmas Trees: Authentic Worship?

Christmas trees are a beautiful, warming tradition of the holiday season. Everyone seems to be aware of their pagan origins, yet few care. Should we care? It seems that Christ did. In His interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well she tested him regarding the mixed religious practices of her people. The Samaritans claimed to fear and worship the God of Israel, yet they invented their own ways of worship with pagan symbols. Christ stood against this type syncretism and exhorted her to worship “in spirit and in truth”. We can’t appropriate pagan traditions and use them to worship God. Symbols carry the meaning imbued by their historical use. We take that history into our homes when we display them. We ought rather to worship authentically, according to God’s direction.