The Christmas Tree is Down
Saturday’s Verse:
From 1 Corinthians 14:40 ESV
"But all things should be done decently and in order."
It is easy to be sad when the Christmas tree goes down. Something is lost, it seems, when the colors go, and the lights are packed away. The music that pealed on Christmas morning is silent in ordinary January. The house is like a ruined Christmas card, incomplete and forlorn.
The Church tells us that Christmas has not been unmade when the ornaments have been packed away. Christ has not been placed back in a box, with the nativity set. Angels did not sing “all glory, laud and honor” to a decorated tree and colored lights. Their song was of a different sort of beauty: “Unto you is born this day a Savior.”
The manger and stable were not made of candles and greenery. They are made of the Word: the promise of God, sealed and true. “To you is born this day a Savior.” The promise holds still when the days are bare. Christ is still Emmanuel, God with us. Even when the house is stripped of trim and greenery.
Luther said that faith holds on to the Word of God. It is not made happy or unhappy by what we see, hear, or feel. Therefore, happiness is not found by hanging on to a season, but by hanging on to the gift that season proclaims. Christ is come. Christ is here. Christ goes with us into winter mornings, workdays, and quiet evenings.
So we can be happy now. Not because everything looks bright, but because everything is held in God’s grace. The tree is gone, but the mercy of God is not. The light of Christ still shines, even when the tree is gone.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus, when the joy of Christmas seems a world away, remind us that You remain near to us. Teach us to seek our happiness not in seasons, but in Your abiding presence. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
The photo above was created by Grok.