Embedded Files
“EVERGREENS”
Advent Midweek 1
Wednesday December 3, 2025
Trinity - Creston
Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our crucified and risen Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ!
Our text for this Midweek Advent Service are from the lessons just proclaimed.
Let Us Pray: Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind that just as evergreens remain green and full of
life throughout the year, may they remind us that eternal life you give is forever. Amen.
Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:
Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas and for the coming of the Lord. During this Advent season,
we reflect upon common decorations that we see all around us this time of year. They can help us prepare for
the coming of Christ. This first week of Advent, we will focus on how evergreen decorations help us prepare
for the coming of Christ.
Look around this time of year, and you will see greenery everywhere—garland, wreaths, trees, and sprays.
We decorate with different kinds of conifer trees—pine, spruce, fir—as well as with broadleaf evergreens like
holly and ivy.
We love to sing songs that celebrate these evergreen decorations, such as “O Tannenbaum” ( O Christmas
Tree).
Indeed, the Christmas tree has become the universal symbol of the Christmas season, for trees are displayed
everywhere throughout the world: in homes, offices, town centers, shopping centers, and public spaces.
Even here in our church sanctuary, we have decorated our church with an evergreen tree and wreaths and
garland. [Point to examples.] This indicates that these decorations have a churchly significance; they point us
to spiritual truths.
Why do we display evergreens in our church and in our homes as Christians? Is it only for aesthetic value—
to make the place look pretty and festive? Or is there a deeper significance?
I. Evergreen decorations used during Advent originated in Europe.
To help us answer these questions, let’s go back to the very origins of the use of evergreen decorations during
Advent and Christmas. Historians tell us that these decorations were first used in Europe during medieval
times.
The use of the Christmas tree appeared in northern Europe around AD 1000. Usually, a small fir tree was cut
from the forest and brought into the house. By AD 1400, Christmas trees were commonly found in German
homes. They were decorated with apples, nuts, pretzels, wafers, and gingerbread.
Furthermore, December 24 was observed as the feast day of Adam, during which a “Paradise Play” was
presented. This drama reenacted the events that took place with Adam and Eve in Paradise as depicted in the
opening chapters of the Bible.
In this play, a fir tree represented the tree of life. Christians associated the evergreen tree with life for this
winter festival.
Around the same time, garland made of green holly and ivy appeared in England during Advent and
Christmas. Christians would decorate their churches, houses, and streets with evergreen branches. They even
wrapped a pole with evergreen garland as a kind of winter maypole. This presented the hope of life in the
dead of winter.
II. Evergreen decorations serve as a symbol of eternal life.
Green is a symbol of life because living plants are green. In cold climates, many plants lose their green in the
winter and appear to be lifeless. But evergreen plants such as fir, pine, and holly trees retain green leaves in
the winter. They have become a symbol of life when other plants appear dead.
Moreover, evergreens are a symbol of eternal life. This is because they are ever green. They prevail over
death, even in the dead of winter. Remember that the fir tree symbolized the tree of life for Christians in the
Middle Ages.
In the Bible, the tree of life offered eternal life to all who ate its fruit. Accordingly, Christians since the
Middle Ages have decorated their homes and churches during Advent and Christmas to remind them of the
gift of eternal life that Jesus’ advent offers.
III. Evergreens point us to Christ’s first advent.
Christ’s first coming was to restore eternal life that had been lost when our first parents fell into sin. In
Paradise, Adam and Eve had access to the tree of life, as depicted by a fir tree in the medieval Paradise Play.
But they forfeited that eternal life by sinning. Thorns infested the ground as a symbol of the curse and of
death (Genesis 3:17–19).
Jesus, the Second Adam, came to restore life that was lost in humanity’s fall. In His advent two thousand
years ago, God the Son came as a human being to give His life so that we sinners might receive eternal life.
Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
He brought life to us through a thorny crown and a sacrificial death on the cross, exchanging His life for the
death that we deserved. The evergreen holly branch is associated with Christ’s death because its thorny leaves
remind us of the crown of thorns He wore on the cross. Its red berries remind us of the drops of blood that fell
from His head as He hung on the cross.
His death destroyed death, and His resurrection restored life. Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the
life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me
shall never die” (John 11:25–26).
Through Christ’s first advent, you and I have the gift of eternal life. God the Holy Spirit indwells us and
empowers us with His life. He compares Himself to an evergreen tree in Hosea 14:8: “I am like an evergreen
cypress; from Me comes your fruit.” God is our never-failing source of life and fruitfulness.
IV. Evergreens point us to Christ’s second advent.
But that’s not all. Jesus’ return will inaugurate a new creation in which sin and death no longer exist. In the
Bible, evergreens are associated with the new creation, which brings the reversal of sin’s curse and the
blessing of eternal life.
Recall that evergreens are associated with the tree of life, which we will have access to when Jesus comes
again. The final chapter of the Bible describes that scene: “On either side of the river, the tree of life with its
twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.
The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything
accursed” (Revelation 22:2–3). The tree of life is everbearing, evergreen, bestowing the fruit of everlasting
life. This life is ours because of Christ’s first and second advents.
Evergreen decorations made of pine, spruce, fir, and holly trees are plentiful during this season. They convey
a powerful message: evergreen symbolizes everlasting life.
That’s what Advent and Christmas are all about: the eternal life that Jesus won for us at His first coming,
which we will experience fully at His second coming.
So, every time you look at evergreen decorations, remember their message: Jesus has come and will come
again to give you everlasting life!
Amen.
The Peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord
and Savior. Amen.
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