Skip to main content

The Ornaments: The Christmas Tree Analogy pt. 5

When we think of Christmas trees the primary thing I think most people think of is the lights and ornaments hanging on the branches. They are colorful and catch our eye. In many respects, the tree is there solely to support the beautiful and eye catching ornaments. They are the center of attention in many cases.

In our analogy of the Christmas tree for theology and faith, the ornaments serve much the same function with one major exception; the tree does not exist to support the ornaments. They are often the thing that everyone gravitates towards and gawks at. The ornaments are usually the things that get our blood boiling and start arguments, and they can quickly consume all of our attention. This forgets the fact that the living tree supporting them is actually far more important.

So what do I mean by ornaments? These are the hot button issues of our time or particular place. For example, in the Churches of Christ the question of instrumental music is unquestionably a flashy ornament that garners a lot of attention. We often argue over this question whilst forgetting that it hangs on the branch of devotion and worship, which grows from the trunk of discipleship, which in turn grows from the root of Jesus being our King and Savior, worthy of praise. 

The ornaments hang on the branches but aren't really a part of the tree. Ornaments change over time, some more frequently than others. They tend to attract attention and debate, but in truth they are just a very specific issue attached to the larger Christian faith. A good example of changing ornaments is that of divorce and remarriage. This was at one point not too long ago the central, debated issue in a lot of churches. Now issues like gay marriage have taken its place.

The other issue with ornaments is that because people gravitate towards them they will often make the whole faith about having the right decorations on the tree without making sure the tree itself is healthy and growing. This leads to a lot of Christians, I fear, having a faith akin to Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. It's weak, small, and unable to hold more than one ornament.

I genuinely think this is one reason that many leave the faith. We make it about the ornaments when the tree can't actually hold them. The roots haven't grown deep. The trunk is thin and frail. The branches are flaccid and weak. Start piling ornaments onto a weak tree and the tree snaps. 

Is it important to have discussions about the ornaments of our faith? Yes. However, it is far more important that we focus on growing the tree. This starts with the roots, the fundamentals of the faith whose name is Jesus. The trunk and branches naturally grow out of this. When we are rooted firmly in Christ and growing in discipleship, then we can address the popular issues of our day because we will have the strength and capacity to deal with them in a Christ like manner.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...
3 comments
Read more

Proverbs, Wisdom

Wisdom is an essential part of living a godly life. The ability to make good judgments and identify potentially sinful situations are skills all Christians should have. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes that it is the duty of parents and older Christians to pass on these skills and train younger generations in wisdom. The book of Proverbs is a book all about wisdom. The various authors of the book are trying to pass on the things they have learned to a younger generation. They want all that come after them to know that true wisdom comes from God. Background Like the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs is a collection of various sayings and proverbs from many different people. The primary author we associate the book with is King Solomon, who wrote the most out of any single author, but he is just one of several writers. It is a very interesting book in this regard. The book of Proverbs can be tricky because it isn't always consistent in how the text flows together. Some...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Theology?

Greetings all! For the first true post I have decided to cover what will be one of the defining aspects of this blog; theology. I know that when I was growing up theology wasn't a word that was used in the churches I attended. In fact I don't recall ever hearing the word until I was in high school, and even then it was used negatively like theology was a bad thing. Theology is inseparable from Bible study, Christian living, and being a disciple of Jesus in general. It is an indispensable part of being a Christian. The thing is we haven't always treated it that way. We have allowed our theology to fall by the wayside, believing it to be useless or not appropriate. So what is theology exactly, and why is it so important? What is Theology? The word theology simply means "the study of God." The goal of theology is to reveal who God is, and when we know God we also come to know ourselves, sin, the world, and so on. What we've done in the past (and this may ju...
1 comment
Read more