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Tree ornaments convey meaning
When Susan Wessner gives the children’s message on Sundays during Advent, she asks how Mary, the mother of Jesus, might decorate a birthday cake for the Christ Child.
The associate in ministry at Good Hope Lutheran Church, 98 Homestead Drive, Boardman, tells the children that the answer is with Chrismons. which are Christian symbols representing Jesus.
The Christmas tree trimmed with Chrismons at Good Hope is a treasured tradition and an educational resource. It reflects the story of the Rev. George Pass, who visited the home of Frances Spencer in Danville, Va., during the Christmas of 1940. He saw discarded Christmas paper and asked if he could take it for his poor church. He told Spencer the members would make paper ornaments for their tree and use their talents to “glorify God.” Spencer was inspired by the minister’s story and researched Christian symbols called Chrismons.
Betty Thompson, a member at Good Hope for some 40 years, is the woman behind how the Chrismons tree came to be at the church. “The first time I saw one was at [the former] Woodlawn Lutheran Church,” Thompson recalled. That prompted her to do some research, which led her to information that Spencer had compiled into books. “She had a series of four books, and I learned what to do,” she said.
Wessner noted that the word Chrismon is a combination of Christ (minus the letter T) and the “mon” from monogram. A Chrismon is a monogram of Christ.
Thompson said that after the death of her mother, Rose Strawderman, she wanted to do something to honor the woman who had raised five children alone after her husband died in his 40s. “I wanted to do something to honor her and recognize her faith,” Thompson said. “This is a tribute to her faith.”
So about 17 years ago, Thompson asked her husband, Dick, to help by cutting the designs with a Dremel tool. “I got my sisters, cousins, nieces to
help,” Thompson said. She noted they started out with plastic foam forms. “But they weren’t sturdy enough to last,” she said. The format was revamped by using poster board on both sides of plastic foam to make the designs sturdier. And it worked.
Thompson said the family made about four to five of each Chrismon design they selected. The Chrismons are white and decorated with gold. “White is the liturgical color of Christmas,” Wessner explained. “Gold symbolizes the glory and majesty of God.”
There are red bulbs on the tree, representing the blood of Christ and Christ as the sacrificial lamb. The evergreen tree itself symbolizes eternal life made possible by the Savior, and white lights reflect the idea of Jesus as the light of the world.
When the Chrismons tree was new at the church, a booklet, “Chrismons ... For the Glory of God,” was distributed by Thompson’s family noting how the project honored their mother and explaining the designs. Wessner, who is going into her 13th year at Good Hope, said the lessons about the Chrismons remain fresh because the church has “changed faces” with new members and young families who never saw a tree with Chrismons.
“This shows how Betty is a woman of faith ... like her mother,” Wessner said of Thompson. “She appreciates that Christmas is about Jesus.
“It shows how she is a caring woman ... sharing this with the church.”
“If I didn’t have faith to begin with, I wouldn’t have thought to do this,” Thompson said.
The tree on the altar at Good Hope is set up and decorated for the first Sunday in Advent and will come down in early January. “Everybody learns and knows what the Chrismons are about,” Wessner said.
Thompson and Wessner agreed that the tree with Chrismons brings the reason for the season into focus. They noted it emphasized the religious nature of the observance of the birth of Jesus.
“The children go home and look at their own trees,” Wessner said, noting that they want Chrismons for their trees.