{"id":87,"date":"2011-12-14T15:15:14","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T20:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=87"},"modified":"2011-12-14T15:15:14","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T20:15:14","slug":"christmas-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2011\/12\/14\/christmas-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the things in my day yesterday, I ran across a prayer that made me stop and think. The Blessing for a Christmas Tree <\/em>by Bryan Cones, surprised me. Being an artificial tree woman who likes to avoid the allergens and mess of a real tree, I think of the Christmas tree as more of a chore to be checked off the list rather that something to be blessed as a symbol of the meaning of Christmas. I should also note that this is where my liberal Protestant bias comes in since I realize that there are many faiths where a blessing of the tree would indeed occur to followers.<\/p>\n

God of light and darkness,<\/p>\n

Maker of heaven and earth,<\/p>\n

In the depth of midwinter you gather us<\/p>\n

Beneath the tree of light.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These lines speak to me this week as so many students struggle to survive the stress of finals and final projects, as faculty face long stretches of grading, and as staff try to wind up year end closing. For so many the season is one of joy, and yet for so many others it is a reminder of loss and imperfection. It feels like bleak midwinter to many, and yet we look out the car windows to see so many decorated trees of light\u2014and many of us go home to trees in our own living rooms. Don\u2019t worry students, your families will have a tree up to welcome you (unless they are waiting for you to help!)<\/p>\n

Bless all those who gather around this Christmas tree;<\/p>\n

May the gifts it shelters make present your heavenly grace.<\/p>\n

May the lights it holds lead us to the Light of the World.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Never, in my experience have those little white blinker lights reminded me of the Light of the World. They hurt my hands and frustrated me\u2014this year I have \u00be of the tree lit so far\u2014there is a problem with the top section. I have been on strike for the past three days\u2026Light of the World.<\/p>\n

And may the color it bears announce your unfailing love,<\/p>\n

Evergreen in the eternal spring your promise in Jesus Christ,<\/p>\n

Emmanuel, God with us,<\/p>\n

now and forever.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maybe if I had a \u201creal tree\u201d the evergreen smell would prompt a spring reference, but I got a really good sale on the artificial number. So after stumbling across this prayer I am a little more tuned into the real Christmas I mean to be in touch with. I really do need Advent preparation to last another ten days, and I am glad that there are unopened windows on the Advent calendar.<\/p>\n

For so many in our community the stress will start to lift a bit this week. I invite you to replace the stress with waiting and hope. I invite you to enjoy your family or enjoy the peace of family farther away, whichever you need more. I invite you to celebrate a \u201cTree of Life\u201d wherever you see a \u201cTree of Light\u201d.<\/p>\n

Blessings Stephanie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all the things in my day yesterday, I ran across a prayer that made me stop and think. The Blessing for a Christmas Tree by Bryan Cones, surprised me. Being an artificial tree woman who likes to avoid the …<\/p>\n

Christmas Lights<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stephanie"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-1p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}