Pears In Poplar Trees

You can’t stop Christmas!  It happened as an historical event and it continues to happen in our lives each Advent season.  We prepare . . . prepare our homes for visiting, prepare our meals for consuming, prepare our gifts for sharing, prepare our churches for worshiping, and (hopefully) prepare our hearts for reflecting upon “Emmanuel”, God with us.  It’s in the air . . . Christmas is here, you can’t stop it.

Oh, man has tried, for sure, and is still trying.  Herod tried . . . and failed.  We hear it more and more, year after year.  “Happy Holidays”, no manger scenes allowed, no references to the Christ child, winter concerts, not even Christmas trees or lights ~ and that’s in school!  HIGHER LEARNING calls us to be schools of Christmas.  Some would have all references to Christmas (Christ’s Mass) obliterated from our culture.  Thank God for all the consumerism that keeps that from happening!!!

With these thoughts in mind, I would like to share my favorite story of Christmas.  No, it’s not from the Bible, nor from legend or tradition.  It’s a modern day story that my wife and I heard while living and working in Romania.  As some may remember, it was 20 Christmases ago that two dramatic and historical events took place in our world.  In late November, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down.  Those of us that watched it on CNN were mesmerized by what we saw . . . people chiseling away at this monument to Communist isolation and socialism.  President Reagen’s words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”, became reality through a breach in the concrete and a flood of common folk longing for freedom and liberty.  From that time forward the world as we knew it began to change . . . and so did the life of yours truly.

The second event followed closely on the heels of the first, yet the seeds were planted the year before.  In December 1988, in the city of Timisoara, Romania, the air was changing and the people of that country began to stand up against the totalitarian regime of Nicolae Ceausescu and his co-dictator wife.  It started when a representative group went to the capital of Bucharest and requested of their leader that they be allowed to celebrate Christmas this year.  It had been well over 40 years since the last Christmas was recognized in this atheist nation, meaning that a whole generation had grown up not knowing of the traditions, excitement, family gatherings . . . let alone the little town of Bethlehem, the angels from the realms of glory, and the shepherds watching their flocks!  I’m not sure we can fathom that notion, but then again . . .

Well, of course, the answer they received was an emphatic “NO!”.  In fact it was not just a “no”, but Ceausescu followed it with a bold, arrogant, yet prophetic declaration, “You can celebrate Christmas in this country when pears grow in poplar trees!”.  With that the group of Romanians was dismissed (fortunately not jailed!).   The people went home to Timisoara and totalitarianism prevailed . . . for the time being.

One year later, almost to the day, that crumbling occurred in Berlin, symbolic of the crumbling of Communism and atheistic rule in the former Soviet Union and its satellites.  In Romania, the spark that began in Timisoara was now spreading across the nation to the capital in Bucharest.  The wave of protest and revolt throughout Eastern Europe became unstoppable.  The curtain had been thrown back and the “wizard of totalitarianism” was revealed for what he was.  The dictator of fear had no clothes!  Ceausescu and his wife tried to escape through secret tunnels in their palace, boarding a helicopter for escape to neighboring Russia for asylum.   Unfortunately for them, the pilot was one of those protesting.  He landed the craft and the “odd couple” were arrested, tried, convicted, and executed all in one night . . . Christmas Eve, 1989.

The next morning, Christmas Day, the citizenry of Timisoara, Romania awoke to find the poplar trees in the city square decorated with pears!!!!  The prophecy was fulfilled . . . again.

Mans’ efforts to confound the plan and purpose of God will not stand.  We can take heart in that this Christmas.  What happened in Romania was not an old wives’ tale.  It happened, and happened in this generation.  May it never be said of us.  So in the midst of all the preparation for this holy day, let us pause to appreciate the freedom we have to do so.  While we prepare for the day, let us also prepare Him room . . . room in our lives.  It can get pretty crowded in there and Christmas can easily get pushed aside, “celebrating”, yet not.  Pretty soon we won’t recognize it anymore and we will wonder what happened.  The Romanians will tell you it can happen!

While it may not seem a Christmas verse, it certainly is fitting for this story ~ “The Lord  foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations”  ~Psalm 33:10

You just can’t stop Christmas.