Jacob leaned on his staff as he blessed the sons of Israel. Moses held up the staff he had used for 40 years of sheep tending and found that it had become the staff of God. With that staff, he led the people of God out from under brutal oppression and demon gods. With that staff, the sea parted into a walking path and, as a prayer, conquered the Amalekite hordes. David wrote that God staff and rod comforted him in the Dark Valley. Was he remembering Moses’s staff or was he thinking of the shepherd’s staff he had used for so many years as he sought God with all his heart?
Staff carvings
It is said that shepherds of the Middle East would be given a staff when they came of age and took on the responsibilities of a flock. Then, by the fire after bedding down the flock, they would carve into their staff memorable events of their life. David’s staff might have had carved into it the paws of a lion, the paws of a bear, and the sword of Goliath. As David remembered those events and told them to his children, I am sure he might have ended the story with the words of Psalm 103, “Bless the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me!”
The staff carvings in my tree…
I do not have a shepherd’s staff on which to carve pictures of God’s doing marvelous things in my life. But, I do have a Christmas tree.
Pastor Dirk Gieser beautifully “Unboxed Christmas” for us this year. He encouraged us to remember four things in our Christmas decorating and celebrating. First, always “Keep the Trinity in the Tree” – seeing God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the triangular shape of the tree.[1] Second, be sure to see the lights of Christmas as representing the presence of Christ, the Light of the World.[2] Third, realize that the significance behind the ornaments on the tree is not from how much we add, but in what God has done in Christ.[3]
And fourth, he reminded us that what matters most in the gifts we exchange is the thought in the gift, or the heart of the giver. And he urged us to receive all of God’s gracious gifts as singularly about the one precious gift of his Son to be the Savior of our world because of the great love in his heart for us.[4]
It is Dirk’s third encouragement that helps me to see my Christmas tree as the “staff of God” that comforts me.
The ornaments on my tree go back to the beginning of my life 75 years ago. There are two plastic white reindeer hanging on the tree that have been my ornaments from as far back as I can remember. There are pictures of my grandchildren. There are works of art from my daughter’s hand. There are ornaments that Julia and I made on our first Christmas together. There are special ornaments from our parents and from friends. There are beautiful glass instruments that remind me of the church-planting crucible of ministry life we were in as we entered into pastoral ministry in Champaign, Illinois.
These tree adornments are my staff carvings.
They remind me of what marvelous things God has done throughout my life. They display HIS glory and grace across the generations, homes, and communities of our life.
The psalmist wrote a most beloved song one day, perhaps looking at the carvings on his shepherd staff:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me… Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”[5]
Another ornament?
I’m looking for another ornament to represent this year of my life — a life dominated by cancer treatments.
I wrote earlier this year of how God had used the beginning verses of Psalm 23 to calm and comfort me while laying on the radiation table. I wrote that He reminded me that the beautiful lighting and music playing in the background were Green Meadows and Quiet Streams given to bless me. Those who selected the music and installed the lights perhaps had no idea that there would be an old man laying on that table one day, seeking the presence and comfort of his Shepherd King. But God knew.
This Christmas I realized that what God was really giving me in those moments was not those side benefits, but the opportunity to take them into my personality and my outlook on life so I myself could become a Green meadow and Quiet Stream — a man who having lost a lot of ground physically, emotionally and mentally this year, is still a man who is at peace, who walks with God, and who is steady in faith despite adversity.
I wonder what kind of a staff-carving-ornament could represent all that…
Perhaps a carved shepherd’s staff…
A Candy cane!!!
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