Crossroads. Each Crossroads story is based on the actual experiences of
American clergymen, pastor, priest, or rabbi. The men who give inspiration and
guidance to people at the crossroads of life. These dramatic stories are
presented with the cooperation of our Board of Advisors. Captain Maurice M.
Witherspoon.
Father George B. Ford.
And Dr. William F. Rosenblum.
And now for our story.
Each year the Yuletide season is heralded by the magical appearance of
glittering, gaily decorated Christmas trees. And because all of us are too busy
with holiday preparations, we rarely stop to think of how this lovely custom began
in our country. This is the story of the very first tree to shine at an American
Christmas service. The year was 1851 and the man responsible was Reverend Henry
Schwann, who had only recently arrived in America to serve as pastor of the Zion
Church in Cleveland, Ohio. This is our tree, a fine spruce. Why did you pick a
spruce tree, pastor? The old country, that's the kind we always used for
Christmas. I don't know. I never heard of such a thing before. Just wait and see
how wonderful it'll look in the church. You mean you're going to put this tree
in the church? Well, of course. What better place could we find to put it?
The children can't wait to start decorating it and when it's finished it'll
be a thing of beauty. As you wish, pastor.
Ah, it's a beautiful tree, isn't it? If you like trees.
He's here! He's here! Here's the pastor!
We're pastors! We're pastors! We didn't come here! And from where? Where did it come from?
From heaven, of course! Yes, children, it most certainly did. As all things on this earth
come from heaven. Can we have a tree every Christmas? Why, of course, we'll have a
tree every Christmas. But why haven't we ever had one before? I don't know, child,
but this will be part of our holiday service in the Zion Church from now on.
Why, a tree at Christmas is as important as the story of the Nativity itself and
as beautiful as the birth of our Lord. Can't we put candles on it and everything?
Well, at least save the candles until the last. Then you come to the church on
Christmas Eve to worship with your parents. But suppose our tree gets
lonesome and wants to go back to heaven? Well, I doubt if that will happen, but
just to make sure, let's all pray together in silence.
And please, dear God, make our tree the most beautiful thing in the whole church.
Amen.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.
Tell me, did you carry the tree all the way from the woods by yourself?
No, no, Amy helped me. And I don't mind telling you I worked up an appetite for it.
It smells so good.
Well, you wait and see. Something we haven't had since the old country.
Good. Tomorrow we decorate the tree and then on Christmas Eve we get all the children.
Oh, Mr. Shumley, come in, come in.
We just started supper. Won't you join us?
No, thank you. What I have to say will only take a minute.
Oh, is there something wrong?
You know as well as I do there's something wrong. It's that tree.
But it has always been part of the Christmas ceremony. Why, back in the old country...
Our church was the house of the Lord and our congregation respects it as such.
The service for the birth of our Savior is the most sacred time of the year.
But it's also a time for joy and celebration.
It's a time for piety and true religious feeling.
Today our children danced in the shadow of the altar.
Do you think that's proper and fitting?
Is this what you intend to teach them? To hang baubles on a tree?
To make a mockery of the very religion that our fathers and our forefathers fought to preserve?
Surely, Mr. Shumley, you don't think that I...
I don't have to think. Mr. Perry, our sexton, saw it with his own eyes.
But I'm sure the sexton misunderstood.
He didn't misunderstand.
Any more than the rest of the people of this community will misunderstand.
That word of this story spread, the people of Cleveland will think that the Zion church is made up of some fanatical religious cult, worshipping false idols.
Oh, Mr. Shumley, if you'll just allow me to explain...
What is there to explain? There's been enough damage done already.
Now, let's forget this nonsense and you get that tree out of the church.
But I promised the children. They'll forget it.
Never. They can't wait until Christmas Eve to see the tree decorated.
And I won't disappoint them.
You won't. Good night, Reverend Schwann.
Henry, if there's going to be trouble...
I can't believe that every member of my congregation thinks as Mr. Shumley does.
Idolatry, paganism.
Now, what would I be doing, an ordained minister of the gospel, teaching the children of my congregation, anything except but to worship the Lord?
But if Mr. Shumley and the sexton both misunderstood...
Then I will have to change their minds.
Henry, maybe you should forget about the tree. Maybe next year.
No.
Our tree at Christmas has been in existence for hundreds of years. It's a traditional part of the holiday.
And if my church is destined to be the first in America to begin the practice, then so be it.
Henry, I'm frightened.
Oh, Rachel. Rachel, surely you haven't lost faith.
Everything is going to be all right. I know it is.
This is going to be the finest Christmas ever.
And you mean to tell me this new minister actually intends to use this tree as part of the Christmas service?
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
Why, he has the children bewitched.
Instead of teaching them their psalms, or reading to them from the Bible, or making them practice their hymns...
He has them stringing popcorn and making fancy ornaments.
Why, the place is like a carnival instead of a house of worship.
What else did the minister say?
Oh, you're not going to put that in your paper, are you, Mr. Peters?
I wouldn't think of such a thing, Mr. Perry.
Well, then, it all started about three weeks ago.
It's awful. Simply awful.
It's an outrage. That's what it is, an outrage.
And I tell you here and now, Mr. Shumley, my husband, Mr. Meyer, and I agree with you 100%.
I have forbidden my child to touch that tree.
What I can't understand is why the parson would do such a thing, to deliberately mislead children.
Good morning, ladies.
Good morning.
How are you today, Mr. Crim?
All right.
I knew this would happen, Mrs. Schwann. I knew it.
Emil, can't they understand?
The pastor just wants to make Christmas a happy holiday, and to give the children something.
He's giving them something, Mrs. Schwann.
If he continues, he'll make heathens of them all.
Emil, you can't believe that.
My son is more interested in this infernal tree than the Bible.
If the pastor thought for one moment that...
Please, Henry, listen to me.
I'm trying to, Rachel, but...
I'm trying to listen to you, Rachel, but...
No matter what you and the others may say, theirs is the loudest voice.
But don't you see the consequences? You cannot defy a whole congregation.
I don't want to defy anybody.
But the story in the newspaper, maybe they're right and you're wrong.
This is a new country with new ideas.
Please, forget it.
Look, pastor, it's almost finished.
Except for the candles.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride a one-horse open sleigh.
I can't, Rachel. I can't.
All right. Have it your own way.
Jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride a one-horse open sleigh.
Silent night, holy night.
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon virgin, mother and child.
Holy infant, so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Now, now, you weren't supposed to hear that until Christmas Eve.
Charlie, I told you to stay away from that tree.
Mr. Thomas, please.
Papa, the pastor said...
I don't care what the pastor said. You get away from there.
Listen to me.
You set it off tomorrow, Eddie.
Just let me explain.
The spruce tree is just a symbol of Christmas.
Of hedonism, you mean.
Go home, Eddie.
No.
Go home, Nancy. You're now already. Go on, quickly.
But, Papa, the pastor said this tree was ours.
And we love it.
They're going to take it away. They're going to take it away.
Please don't.
This is not for you to decide. Now, go on home.
Go home, children.
Get your things.
Now, are you satisfied?
The only thing that will satisfy us, Pastor, is to get rid of this once and for all.
And if I refuse?
Then you leave us no choice but to ask for your resignation.
You don't mean that.
Every word of it.
Every congregation and every person in Cleveland agrees.
But this is my first church.
My first Christmas in America.
I've been looking forward to it ever since the first day we came here.
Either you respect our wishes, or we'll conduct the Christmas service without you.
But you don't understand.
The tree isn't my idea.
It's been in existence for centuries.
Then what are you trying to tell me, Rachel?
That simply that if the tree is going to cause dissension and ill will, its very purpose will be destroyed.
But didn't we always have a tree in the church in the old country?
And did that make heathens out of us?
You have got to forget about the old country.
But that's one of the main reasons why the Zion Church brought us here.
Because they had respect for my religious training and because they wanted to combine the best of the new and the old.
You want me to give it up?
No.
Perhaps it is better to resign.
Maybe we should go away from here to Canada.
Your brother John might find a place for us.
No.
No, John has his own church and I intend to keep mine.
And I will.
I don't know how.
But I will.
Well, lady, come in, come in.
Well, just for a minute.
Hurry up, it's cold.
Well, where are you off to?
Some place far away.
Cincinnati.
Even Africa, maybe.
Oh, I see.
I didn't want to go without telling you goodbye.
I'm so sorry.
Would you like some milk and cookies before you leave?
Your parents will be disappointed you won't be here for Christmas.
Christmas?
They don't even know what Christmas means.
That's just what I told them too.
My mama wants to burn the tree.
I heard her say so.
I'm not very hungry.
So I guess maybe I'm just out of start.
You've got time for one cookie.
You think this is a good idea, you're running away like this?
I'm not afraid.
I'm almost nine.
Oh, I see.
But when you get that old, you must realize that running away from home doesn't always solve one's problems.
Now, you know what I would do if I were you?
What?
Go back home and have faith.
You would?
And even if you think your parents are wrong, I mean the way they feel about the tree,
you must always remember that everybody has a right to his own opinion.
That's why we're all living in this country.
But if they burn the tree...
They won't.
How can you be sure?
Because that's what I believe.
Then I believe it too.
Wait till I tell the rest of the kids we're going to have a tree after all.
Mrs. Schmidt.
I thought so.
Running away, were you?
Just wait till your father hears about this.
Go back, talk.
You wait from the outside.
But I...
This instant.
My own son.
Ready to run away from home and you encourage him.
Mrs. Schmidt, if you just calm down for a moment...
Calm down?
It's intolerable, that's what it is.
Do you think this would have happened if you hadn't filled those children with your silly ideas?
Turning them into agnostics, helping them to defy their parents.
But Eddie isn't running away.
Believe me, he isn't.
And I just got through telling him...
Telling him what?
More nonsense about that tree?
Well, I told him...
Just as I thought.
You'll regret this.
Oh, believe me, you'll regret it.
Mrs. Schmidt, believe...
Unless I can prove that I've done nothing wrong...
That this tree is a part of the Christmas service...
These people will go on believing that I'm preaching blasphemy.
But if they don't believe their own minister...
They just must believe us.
We are both Americans too.
We are both Americans too.
But I know we had candles in the store.
A whole carton of them.
I've been looking everywhere, Mr. Shumley.
Well, they've got to be here.
I carried them in myself.
Keep looking.
I've been doing that for the last hour.
Are you sure you didn't sell them?
I'm positive.
You told me not to sell the children any for the Christmas tree.
Don't mention that piece of shrubbery in here.
Of course.
I know what happened.
Somebody stole those candles.
Don't look at me, Mr. Shumley.
Well, if you didn't take them, who did?
It's someone who knew they were here.
Someone who wanted them for a definite reason.
Charlie.
Of course.
But not your own son.
Oh, after listening to that minister...
I have no telling what he might do.
Suppose your father finds out that you're flat until Christmas Eve.
But that's not until tomorrow.
And by then our tree will be gone.
It won't, I tell you.
It won't.
The pastor promised.
Charlie.
I knew it.
I knew it.
You stole them.
No, Papa, no.
Not only a thief, but a liar.
It's not true.
It's not true.
I'll show you whether it's true or not.
No, no, no.
You can't touch the tree, Pastor.
Children, children.
You're not supposed to be here.
We need any help.
To look at the tree.
You promised, you promised.
Yes, I know I did, Miss.
There isn't anything in the world I'd rather keep, but I can't.
Please.
Oh, look, children.
Sometimes we want things so badly it hurts.
You want the tree and so do I.
But I also want to stay on here as your minister.
You're not going to run away, are you?
You said you believed.
Well, I still do, but...
Oh, look, children, you run on home, will you?
And I take down the tree.
Now, children, come on now.
Come on, you go on home.
I want to stay.
Go on, you go on home.
What's going on here?
Who's that?
Henry?
John.
John, my old brother.
Henry.
But you were supposed to be in Canada.
What are you doing here?
Oh, I've come down to help you celebrate your first Christmas service, of course.
But of your church.
Oh, I have an assistant now.
We're not having Christmas here.
Not having Christmas?
Well, what kind of talk is that?
What's going on here?
Why are these children so unhappy?
It's a tree.
Nobody wants us to have a Christmas tree.
The river promised us, and now he's going to take it away.
What for?
Well, I don't know, John.
It's my fault.
They just don't have Christmas trees here in America.
Oh, I've never heard such nonsense in all my life.
Everybody should have a Christmas tree.
Well, you don't understand.
The whole congregation's against me.
Then you must convince them that they're wrong.
Oh, I've tried.
Oh, how I've tried, John.
But I've just got to take it down.
No, you'll do nothing of the sort.
The pastor promised we could light our candles on Christmas Eve.
And he'll keep his promise.
Come on, put your candles on the tree and light them.
John, I'm so glad to see you.
You've always been so big and strong,
but this is one mess you won't be able to pull me out of.
Do not go any further with those candles.
Despite everything that's happened, you still insist on having your own way.
It's the way of the Lord, Mr. Shumway.
To teach children to transgress?
To put stolen candles on a spruce tree?
We didn't steal them.
We paid for them.
I left the money on the counter.
That's right, Mr. Shumway.
I found it myself.
I didn't know where it came from.
It doesn't matter.
Overnight, they've learned to lie and disobey.
And that's just the way they grow up.
You're wrong, Mr. Shumway.
Completely wrong.
I'll show you how wrong I am.
Come on, give me a hand.
You're lying.
Do any of you have the slightest idea of what you're talking about?
We heard you were in town, pastor.
Now, if you don't like it here, you can go back to Canada or Europe
or wherever you came from.
I came here to spend Christmas with my brother and his congregation.
And that's just what I intend to do.
And you'll celebrate it without a tree?
Now, just a moment, all of you.
Christmas trees are as old as Jesus himself.
My brother knows that just as well as I do.
And if in the panic and confusion of these troublesome days he's forgotten,
then I'll tell you myself how it all began.
There's been too much talk already.
With my own eyes, I've seen the story,
written into the sacred books of a Sicilian monastery.
The story has been handed down through the ages,
kept alive perhaps for just such a night as this,
a night that began 1851 years ago in a little town called Bethlehem,
the holy night when our Lord was born.
All creatures came to worship in Bethlehem, and the trees did too.
But none of the trees came so far as the least among them, a small cedar.
It was weary. It could hardly stand.
But the stars took pity on it.
And lo, a rain of them fell from heaven,
and the bright Christmas star lighted in the top of the cedar
and all the rest on its branches.
And the child in the manger saw the cedar and blessed it with a smile.
Long before the first known Christmas tree,
a pious man visioned the evergreen as a symbol of the Father's everlasting love,
and the Christ child's star-bedecked birthday gift as a sign from heaven.
And he penned the miracle for posterity, for us.
© BF-WATCH TV 2021
Merry Christmas, Henrik.
Merry Christmas, John.
Stories for Crossroads are selected by our board of advisors,
Captain Maurice M. Witherspoon,
Father George B. Ford,
and Dr. William F. Rosenblum.
© BF-WATCH TV 2021