Carol & Chrismon Service
I want to take this opportunity to invite our church family to come and participate in our Carol & Chrismon Service on Sunday evening, November 27th at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary. The service is planned to usher in the Christmas season with the reading of the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew, the singing of beloved and familiar carols and the lighting of our beautiful, evergreen Chrismon tree.
Perhaps you might say, "Miss Kay, don’t you mean CHRISTMAS tree?" Do - I meant to say CHRISMON tree. Let me share with you about the origin of CHRISMONS.
In 1957, Frances Kipps Spencer of the Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia, began thinking of a way to decorate the Christmas tree in her church that would be more suitable for a sanctuary. She thought that the usual brightly colored Christmas ornaments were just not appropriate for a setting of worship, so she began researching and looking for something that would reflect the Christian faith.
Mrs. Spencer began by trying to imagine herself in the shoes of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She asked, "How would Mary celebrate Jesus’ birthday?" The answer from our time and culture would be to have a cake and candles with his name on it. Mrs. Spencer then looked upon the traditional Christmas tree as a cake and placed on the tree the name Jesus and Christ. Instead of using the name and title in English, however, she used Greek monograms; thus the letters in Greek, "Chi Rho", (XP) became one of the earliest Chrismons because they are monograms for Christos, the Greek word for Christ. .
According, to the dictionary, a Chrismon is a monogram of Christ. But the Chrismon ornaments are more than monograms, they may also tell about Jesus Christ. As designs grew in number, they included references to the life, ministry, activities, and teachings of Jesus. Each ornament was designed to proclaim a truth about God as seen in Jesus. All Chrismons are made in combinations of white and gold to symbolize the purity and majesty of the Son of God and the Son of Man. Materials used in creating the ornaments are white styrofoam, pearls, gold mesh, sequins, fringe, braids, beads, and wires.
In 1992, Rosemary Hopkins heard of the Chrismon ornaments. It was her vision to decorate the sanctuary at First Baptist Washington with a large evergreen tree covered in the beautiful white and gold Chrismons. Since that time many Chrismon ornaments have been hand crafted according the directions in the books written by Mrs. Spencer, the originator of Chrismons.
The program on the evening of Sunday, November 27th at 7 p.m. will be an excellent opportunity to invite family, friends and prospects to our church to begin the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Miss Kay
Chrismon Coordinator
