“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” — Isaiah 9:2
Do you like to look at Christmas lights? Many families at Christmas time drive around looking at the yard displays their neighbors put up for the holidays. I think it’s fun to do that. If there are youngsters in the car you can anticipate spontaneous ooh’s and ah’s like at the 4th of July fireworks, especially if there’s an extravagant amount of color, variety of lights or displays of the nativity, Santa and his sleigh, or large inflatables that are the trend these days.
My parents were big into Christmas decorating, though more on the inside of the house. Mom’s favorite color is blue, and she would put plastic candles with blue bulbs in all the windows, and we would have a large, festive wreath on the front door with a blue spot light on it. With the door illuminated in blue instead of red and green, I wonder how many people thought we were celebrating Hanukah instead of Christmas, though.
When my father-in-law was younger, he went clear over the top with outside decorations. He had a Santa with sleigh and reindeer, lighted icicles, bushes with multi-colored mini-lights, and an absolutely huge evergreen that he adorned with the large, traditional C9 bulbs. That tree was easily 50 feet or taller, and to have lights enough to cover it required modifications to the light stringers.
My wife’s dad retired from Dayton Power and Light, where he worked for decades as a lineman before being promoted to supervisor. He knew everything about electric, including that the standard stringers sold at Fairley’s or Murphy Benham Hardware could only be strung three in a row, four max.
So, he made his own. Using insulated copper wire and scads of electrical tape, he engineered lines of lights enough to cover the tree. The amperage was so high he couldn’t plug it into a standard outlet, so he wired it directly to a higher amp breaker in his barn. I don’t know if this is true, but somebody told us that Airborne pilots would look for his tree at Christmas as a landmark to the runway.
So you see, my extravagance with Christmas lighting comes naturally from my parents and in-laws. When we bought our current home 12 years ago, I had big evergreens from Chaffin’s Christmas Tree Farm moved into our side yard so I’d have trees to decorate. Yes, seriously, I had trees transplanted just to put lights on at Christmas — Blue Spruces, Canaan Firs and Norway Spruces.
This year I’m lighting 10 trees in all, some smaller ones that I’ve planted in recent years and some from the tree farm that are now 30 feet tall. I think they look pretty good. We live on North 134, about a mile past the drive-in theater if you want to look for yourself. Honk your horn if you like it.
From our first Christmas as newlyweds 37 years ago, Robyn and I have included one significant decoration to remind us, and others, of the true meaning of Christmas — a cross. Originally, I stapled mini-lights to two 2” x 6” boards painted green, nailed together in the shape of a cross. Then about 30 years ago, I made a real cross from a small cedar tree we cut down while clearing a lot at Lake Cumberland. I station it each year in front of the decorated trees, and have garnished it with a variety of garland, lights, bows and spotlights.
I’m trying to communicate that the festivities surrounding the birth of the Christ Child are made significant by Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Christmas is about the cross, actually. Had Jesus not been crucified and subsequently raised from the dead, there truly is no reason to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
And aside from Jesus, Christmas is nothing more than a commercial windfall for retailers — another Halloween-type season at best. Though I thoroughly enjoy all the festivity that comes with the holiday, it would be shallow and valueless without Jesus. Yes, He came as a Baby, but left as Savior and Lord.
That’s the message of Christmas.
Our cross this year is covered with bright, white LED’s, with red LED’s where Jesus’s hands and feet would be on the cross. The symbolism is obvious, the purity of Jesus and the blood shed during the crucifixion. There is a red velvet bow where the cedar logs intersect on the cross, which hopefully helps link the true meaning of Christmas with the other holiday traditions.
Just as the Bethlehem star lit the original Christmas, we want Jesus to be illuminated by the Christmas lights of Wilmington. Amen? Here’s wishing you a merry CHRISTmas!
Next Friday I’ll share about how our Christmas shopping, wrapping and exchanging gifts is like the original Christmas. And it’s more than gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Dave Hinman is Pastoral Elder at Dove Church, Wilmington.
