Have you ever wondered why we celebrate with the Hanging of the Greens service each year? Have you ever wondered why an evergreen is called an evergreen? Or why Christmas greens are traditionally used to celebrate the birth of Christ and honor the nativity?
The color green represents renewal, new life, new hope, new expectations. The color green represents freshness and rebirth. Green plants such as pine, fir, holly, ivy and mistletoe are called evergreens because they do not lose their leaves during the winter season. In essence, they do not die. Evergreen trees show their full glory all year long. They remain ever-green, ever-present, ever-alive.
It is no wonder, then, that we decorate our sanctuary and hallways with evergreens during the Advent season. Advent is the season of preparation for the ever-coming Christ Child, God’s gift to us as the blessed hope for renewal and transformation of the eternal, of the immaculate, and of the everlasting. The season of Advent is the season of looking toward and forward to the birth of Christ. Because the needles of the pine and fir trees appeared not to die each season, the ancients saw that as a sign of things that last forever. Isaiah tells us that there will be no end to the reign of the Messiah.
Though the celebration of the Advent season and its customs have developed through many centuries and many countries, old customs and observances are refined, renewed, replaced and new ones are added. Some of our customs even have some pagan origins attached to them but, today, many of these customs have been transformed and redefined to enhance and glorify the celebrating of the birth of the Christ Child. What is significant for us today, though, is not what those ancient traditions meant back then but, rather, what they mean for us today.
This Sunday, our church building will begin to show its Christmas apparel. For the first time, our Christmas trees and Christmas wreaths will stand and hang in the sanctuary. For the first time, the light of Christmas will sparkle and shine for us. We are mindful that, although it is not Christmas yet, it will be here soon – very soon.
Be ready, be prepared, and be exited, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)
Pastor Mark