With that admission on record, I'm sure an old Catholic missionary would mutter "typical pagan" if he were to observe our seasonal dither. St. Boniface is the man who created the notion of the Christmas tree and he fully intended that it be something we think about, not fight over.

"It is the wood of peace, for your houses are built of the Fir" said Boniface. "It is the sign of an endless life, for its leaves are evergreen. See how it points toward the heaven ...."

History tells us it was over 1200 years ago when Boniface made remarks like that to introduce the Christmas Tree. He chopped his own, and his efforts at the evergreen were a crashing interruption into a culture that was sacrificing children.

A missionary to Germany, Boniface had encountered a people who were hungry for the comfort of the Divine. Following cultic beliefs of a mythic god Thor, they were immersed in spirit worship, magical arts and a contortion of hopes, but still felt a curse was upon them. When the heaviness became too much to bear, they gathered at a huge oak tree whose roots they believed demanded to be fed with the blood of children.

It's not clear where historical fact and legend combine, but the story has emerged that on Christmas Eve, 724 A.D., Boniface and a group of men trudged through the snow to the outskirts of Geismar where a Druid cult was gathered around a giant oak tree. As they crept closer, they listened in on a ceremony where a young boy had been designated as the child to be killed and sacrificed that night.

Just as the cultic priest was about to swing a hammer over the boy, Boniface jumped from hiding, grabbed the death weapon and began shouting no. Determined to test the truth and strength of the God he had dedicated his life to, he declared to those gathered that "the God of heaven and earth is not angry with you, He loves you and sent his own Son to die for you."

Boniface challenged the gods symbolized in the oak to protect their tree and with ax in hand chopped courageously at the trunk of the Geismar oak. Historians differ on whether it was a mysterious wind that arose at that moment, or whether Boniface and his men simply chopped the tree down completely, but on that night, the oak at Geismar was toppled and destroyed. It was an event that forever changed the way God was perceived by the people of Germany.

Boniface told the misguided worshippers that the word God had for them was love, and he reached for a small fir tree and said, "This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be your Holy tree tonight .... See how it points toward the heaven. Let this be called the tree of the Christ Child; gather about it, not in the wildwood, but in your own home. There it will shelter no deeds of blood but shall be surrounded with loving gifts and rites of kindness."

And so the tree of the Christ Child sits in my home and in yours, it's symbol has remained, but what of the meaning which Boniface left for us to think about.

Does the evergreen we'll decorate in the days to come still point us toward heaven ? Are we chasing the hopes of false gods in our world, or are we uncovering the daily discovery of God's love for our lives ?

As I admire my tree, I need the reminder to whisper a prayer that God will point my attitudes and actions toward heaven. As the sturdy wood builds it's presence, I pray that God's peace will build it's home in my heart. As evergreen branches weigh with sparkle and light I pray to remember and act on the evergreen love my Jesus has for me. In these quiet moments the real significance of the Christmas tree draws me closer to the Christ of Christmas.