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PLU tradition signals Christmas season
December 08, 2008
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For at least a dozen years, PLU has celebrated the beginning of the Christmas season with an annual tree lighting at Red Square, said University Pastor Rev. Dennis Sepper.
“This has been a bit of a PLU tradition,” he told a crowd of more than 150 people at the annual evening event Dec. 3.
University President Dr. Loren Anderson flipped the switch that set the 30-foot Christmas tree aglow.
“I will confess I am a Christmas junky,” he told the assembled crowd.
He is especially fond of the Christmas lights because they guide the world out of the dark.
The light symbolizes the Christ tradition, Anderson said. It was the light that guided the wise men to the Christ Child in the form of the Eastern Star, he said.
And so in the greatest of Christian traditions the light of Christ guides the world toward hope and endless possibilities, Anderson said.
The tree itself is decorated with symbols of hope and generosity, with about 160 gold stars.
The decorations symbolize people who have made a donation to purchase socks for a men’s and women’s shelter in Seattle and a children’s home in Mexico.
Through the end of the semester there is an opportunity to add to that generosity. To make a star and donation stop by Campus Ministry after Chapel in the UC or call ext. 7464.
Campus Voice Editor Chris Albert compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact him at ext. 8691 or at albertct@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.
University President Dr. Loren Anderson flipped the switch that set the 30-foot Christmas tree aglow.
“I will confess I am a Christmas junky,” he told the assembled crowd.
He is especially fond of the Christmas lights because they guide the world out of the dark.
The light symbolizes the Christ tradition, Anderson said. It was the light that guided the wise men to the Christ Child in the form of the Eastern Star, he said.
And so in the greatest of Christian traditions the light of Christ guides the world toward hope and endless possibilities, Anderson said.
The tree itself is decorated with symbols of hope and generosity, with about 160 gold stars.
The decorations symbolize people who have made a donation to purchase socks for a men’s and women’s shelter in Seattle and a children’s home in Mexico.
Through the end of the semester there is an opportunity to add to that generosity. To make a star and donation stop by Campus Ministry after Chapel in the UC or call ext. 7464.
Campus Voice Editor Chris Albert compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact him at ext. 8691 or at albertct@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.