Christmas is a time which we all associate with family, friends, good feelings, food, wine, laughter, - for those who are religious, it is a time of reflection, celebration, affirmation, joy. They are all positive emotions, and for most of us, they put us in a more generous and better frame of mind, we are a little more open to others, a little more patient - we come a little closer in touch with what we are supposed to be about all year around, all our life..
Dreams are strange things. We can do things in dreams that we can’t do during our waking hours. Most of our dreams, we don’t remember. Some we do, and often they bring us messages we need. Musicians tell stories of memorising pieces of music in dreams, or composing in dreams. Our minds - amazing things that they are - keep on working. Dreams tell us things about ourselves that we aren’t always able to face otherwise. There are lots of logical explanations, but it is still miraculous what the mind can do, and how it can help us see ourselves.
I remember vividly one particular dream, early on in ministry, and after what seemed to be a particularly trying week. I dreamed I was laboriously climbing up a very steep mountain, grabbing on to small trees, tufts of grass, anything which provided a handhold - hand over hand climbing the mountain. At one point I stopped for a rest, and happened to look off to the side - and there, parallel to the course I was charting up the mountain, was a clear path - unimpeded by trees or rocks or grass.
For Scrooge, Christmas Eve could have been described as a nightmare. He certainly thought it was a series of pretty bizarre nightmares. Had the visitations stopped after Marley, or maybe the first of the three “spirits”, he might have been able to write the whole thing off as that particular piece of mouldy cheese he’d eaten earlier in the evening with his thin gruel - and nothing would have changed.
The last visitation is the one which really makes him sit up and take notice. This spirit is a phantom - none of the light of the first spirit of the past, or the generosity and joy, and yet clear criticism of the spirit of abundance. Here he is visited by a phantom which seems to suck light in, and cast nothing but gloom around. There is no conversation, only a relentless insistence that he continue this journey.
And so the phantom shows him a father walking slowly home from the graveyard; in the home by the fire, a small chair sits empty, with a small crutch beside it. Tim, Bob Cratchit’s son, has died. Scrooge begins to realise that the boy did not die because of something he might have done, but precisely because of the opposite - because of what he did not do, thinking that if he minded his business and the rest of the world minded theirs, he caused no harm.
The phantom shows him a man lying on a four-poster bed covered in a sheet, hears people derisively sneering over the body, stealing the very slippers off the body and discussing the waste of even giving the man a funeral. At the end, he finds himself in a graveyard, seeing his own name etched on a gravestone. In a most powerful way, he is faced with the end of his life, and how feeble and inadequate that life was.
But hear the words, as he falls to his knees in front of the spirit - his soul finally broken open, and his vision clear to look at himself.
“I am not the man I once was” he says, “I will not be the man I might have been, had it not been for this. Why show me this if I am past all hope?” “Assure me that I may yet change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life.”
Now - as I said - it may be that Scrooge was dreaming. Today we would say his subconscious finally opened up. Maybe - but maybe not - who knows for sure?
Dreams have figured strongly in the story of Jesus birth. Mary had a dream that an angel visited her to announce her pregnancy. Joseph had a dream, just as he was about to separate himself from Mary - an angel again announcing that her child must be born, and be named Jesus - because he will save his people. In today’s Scripture, Joseph again has a dream - that he, Mary and Jesus are in danger. Each of these visitations begins with “Do not fear.” Life is about to turn upside down, but don’t be afraid. Life will be dangerous, but don’t be afraid. God is here, God is with you. Don’t be afraid.
About fifteen years ago, in my very first parish, a group of us went to the town of Creemore, Ontario, to the “Journey of Love” - which is a recreated walk of the road to Bethlehem, complete with props and actors. The first time I went, the journey ended at the manger. The second time, one walked on around a corner, further from the manger. There stood a cross, and a Roman soldier.
Both life, and faith, are a journey. Scrooge was taken - however we care to explain his experience - on a journey in which his life literally passed before his eyes. He was shown his life as it had been, as it was, and finally what it would be in the end.
The story of Scrooge is a story of past, present, and possible futures. What would have happened if he had not made change? The first possibility - a despised man finally dead, and people celebrating. Scrooge himself, when he awakens in his own room and realises it is Christmas Day, and he hasn’t missed it, exclaims “I will live in the Past, Present and Future! The Spirits of all three shall strive within me!”
The church year is also designed as a journey, with Past, Present and Future. I don’t think we can say it enough - that Christmas would be nothing without Easter. Christmas and Easter take their meaning from each other - they are, to some extent, the bookends. Without the birth, there would be no Easter. If there were no Easter, there would be no Christmas.
We commit ourselves to Past, Present and Future every time we say the memorial acclamation at the communion service:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Christmas past - the historical birth of a small baby in a backwater town; Christmas present - the celebration of that birth, Jesus reborn within us each Christmas; Christmas yet to come - that Jesus will continue to be reborn, and continue to come into the world.
That was, I believe, the message in Dickens great drama - in those words of Scrooge “I will live in the Past, Present and Future. I will keep Christmas in my heart!”
Past, Present, and Future.
What we were once - what we are today - what we may yet be.
Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas yet to come.
Christmas in all of life, and the story is unfinished...................................................
Sources:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
“Christmas Present” Isaiah 7:12-16 and Matthew 1:18-25 Humber United Church, Corner Brook, NL December 19, 2010
Isaiah
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of God also? Therefore God himself will give you a sign: The young woman is pregnant, and will give birth to a son, who will be called Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, because even before he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before their marriage, she became pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph was faithful to the law, and did not want to disgrace her in public; he thought he would divorce her quietly. An angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Her child is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, to be named Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this was to fulfill the words of the prophet: “The young woman will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel “God with us”. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel had said and took Mary home as his wife. ***********************************************************************
Poor Scrooge. He was exhausted after trying to shut out the light of the Spirit which shone on his past. Finally, aware of being back in his own bedroom, he fell into a deep sleep. For some reason he wakened early and pulled back all the bed curtains to have a good view of the whole room. - and waited...the bell tolled one. Time passed, fifteen minutes in fact, before he realized the light across his bed was coming from under the sitting room door.
Dickens describes the scene as Scrooge entered his sitting room:
“It was his own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which bright, gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there. Such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney as that dull hearth had never known, either in Scrooge’s time or Marley’s, if at all. Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, great joints of meat, suckling pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince pies, plum puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.”
Seated on this throne sat a Giant, who Dickens described as “free in its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its joyful attitude.” Scrooge was timid, hung his head, not wanting to meet the clear kind eye of the Spirit.
“The Spirit was dressed in a deep green robe, bordered with white fur. The robe hung loosely, the large chest was bare. Its feet were also bare, and on its head it wore a holly wreath, set here and there with shining icicles.” He carried a kind of torch which looks like a horn of plenty - and as Scrooge and the Spirit travel the city, Scrooge=s eyes are opened to the world around him, to the things he doesn't know about that world.
"Is there a particular flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch?" asked Scrooge.
"There is. My own."
"Could it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?" asked Scrooge.
"To any kindly given. To a poor one most."
“Why to a poor one most?” asked Scrooge.
"Because it needs it the most."
In this visitation, Scrooge is stunned that the ghost blesses the home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit a tiny place of four rooms. He didn't know Bob had children - he didn't know one of them was ill. When he begs to know that Tim will live, he hears back his own words "If he's going to die, he should do it, and decrease the surplus population."
And - says the Spirit. "Will you decide which men shall live and which shall die? It may be that in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. O God! To hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his brothers in the dust!"
It's not hard to relate this to the present. We all know people like Scrooge, hurt by life and by their own actions, who also believe that by not doing anything, no one is hurt. Yet even doing nothing is tantamount to doing something. And don’t we all know people who are critical of the poor, who get blamed for their poverty, without ever knowing their circumstances. Scrooge blamed the poor for their own circumstances instead of looking closely at the conditions around himself and them, even instead of finding out from them *why* or how they got into such a position.
The Spirit takes Scrooge to see Bob Cratchit’s home - where the feast is meagre, yet Bob Cratchit’s family are full of gratitude for that which they do have. It’s a sharp comparison - the great bounty around the Spirit, and the meagre Christmas meal of the Cratchits. There are a couple of things to draw from this today - just as Dickens did then.
First, that the Spirit, - and the huge feast laid out around him, the green-ness of the room and the warmth of the fire - are representative of the realm of God - the vision God has for people on earth, living in creation without any fear or want. The Spirit represents Immanuel, God-with-Us.
Second, it reinforces a very real truth. That there is actually more than enough food in the world already to feed everyone. The problem is not with the amount of food available, it is the distribution. The so-called First World countries take more than their fair share of what’s needed, often wasting it - and the poor of the rest of the world go without. In some parts of our country we live with a sense of entitlement - that we somehow deserve everything we have, even if it is over-the-top.
At the end of this part of the story there is a particularly telling scene. The Spirit and Scrooge are standing out in the cold, and the Spirit pulls back the front the of the robe. Huddled there are two children: hungry, shriveled, destitute, prematurely aged.
“Are they yours?” asks Scrooge?
“They are Man’s.” replies the Spirit. “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy.” “Have they no refuge or resource?” asks Scrooge, and again hears his own words flung back at him “Are there no prisons? Are there no poorhouses?” Today, I guess we would say are there no jobless programs, are there no shelters? Today we still live side by side with Ignorance and Want, and think it doesn’t affect our lives.
In the scriptures, angels were messengers from God. Joseph has a visit from an angel, telling him that Mary’s child will be “God-with-Us”. Scrooge encounters angels, who shine the light of God into his heart; who proclaim the good news. In this open and joyful Spirit we hear other words from Isaiah: “The Spirit of God is upon me. I am sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to comfort the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
The picture of this messenger - God’s green creation full of everything human beings could ever need, also proclaims the year of God’s favour. Christmas Present - every year should be the year of God’s favour.
Marley came to Scrooge in the darkness of his rooms and his soul, to speak of repentance, of changing his ways. Two Spirits come in the bright light of vision, into the recesses of hard hearts, and then the bright light of vision on the world around. Yet neither Spirit *was* the light. Dickens’ Spirits are those who testify to the light, to bring messages from God. They point to the one who is coming - the centre of Christmas. The Spirit of Christmas Present comes to testify to good news for all people. As Scrooge took another step along the road to his repentance and reclamation, so we also take a step on the road to repentance, a commitment to living the Gospel to its fullest.
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of God also? Therefore God himself will give you a sign: The young woman is pregnant, and will give birth to a son, who will be called Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, because even before he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before their marriage, she became pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph was faithful to the law, and did not want to disgrace her in public; he thought he would divorce her quietly. An angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Her child is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, to be named Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this was to fulfill the words of the prophet: “The young woman will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel “God with us”. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel had said and took Mary home as his wife. ***********************************************************************
Poor Scrooge. He was exhausted after trying to shut out the light of the Spirit which shone on his past. Finally, aware of being back in his own bedroom, he fell into a deep sleep. For some reason he wakened early and pulled back all the bed curtains to have a good view of the whole room. - and waited...the bell tolled one. Time passed, fifteen minutes in fact, before he realized the light across his bed was coming from under the sitting room door.
Dickens describes the scene as Scrooge entered his sitting room:
“It was his own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which bright, gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there. Such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney as that dull hearth had never known, either in Scrooge’s time or Marley’s, if at all. Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, great joints of meat, suckling pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince pies, plum puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.”
Seated on this throne sat a Giant, who Dickens described as “free in its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its joyful attitude.” Scrooge was timid, hung his head, not wanting to meet the clear kind eye of the Spirit.
“The Spirit was dressed in a deep green robe, bordered with white fur. The robe hung loosely, the large chest was bare. Its feet were also bare, and on its head it wore a holly wreath, set here and there with shining icicles.” He carried a kind of torch which looks like a horn of plenty - and as Scrooge and the Spirit travel the city, Scrooge=s eyes are opened to the world around him, to the things he doesn't know about that world.
"Is there a particular flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch?" asked Scrooge.
"There is. My own."
"Could it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?" asked Scrooge.
"To any kindly given. To a poor one most."
“Why to a poor one most?” asked Scrooge.
"Because it needs it the most."
In this visitation, Scrooge is stunned that the ghost blesses the home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit a tiny place of four rooms. He didn't know Bob had children - he didn't know one of them was ill. When he begs to know that Tim will live, he hears back his own words "If he's going to die, he should do it, and decrease the surplus population."
And - says the Spirit. "Will you decide which men shall live and which shall die? It may be that in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. O God! To hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his brothers in the dust!"
It's not hard to relate this to the present. We all know people like Scrooge, hurt by life and by their own actions, who also believe that by not doing anything, no one is hurt. Yet even doing nothing is tantamount to doing something. And don’t we all know people who are critical of the poor, who get blamed for their poverty, without ever knowing their circumstances. Scrooge blamed the poor for their own circumstances instead of looking closely at the conditions around himself and them, even instead of finding out from them *why* or how they got into such a position.
The Spirit takes Scrooge to see Bob Cratchit’s home - where the feast is meagre, yet Bob Cratchit’s family are full of gratitude for that which they do have. It’s a sharp comparison - the great bounty around the Spirit, and the meagre Christmas meal of the Cratchits. There are a couple of things to draw from this today - just as Dickens did then.
First, that the Spirit, - and the huge feast laid out around him, the green-ness of the room and the warmth of the fire - are representative of the realm of God - the vision God has for people on earth, living in creation without any fear or want. The Spirit represents Immanuel, God-with-Us.
Second, it reinforces a very real truth. That there is actually more than enough food in the world already to feed everyone. The problem is not with the amount of food available, it is the distribution. The so-called First World countries take more than their fair share of what’s needed, often wasting it - and the poor of the rest of the world go without. In some parts of our country we live with a sense of entitlement - that we somehow deserve everything we have, even if it is over-the-top.
At the end of this part of the story there is a particularly telling scene. The Spirit and Scrooge are standing out in the cold, and the Spirit pulls back the front the of the robe. Huddled there are two children: hungry, shriveled, destitute, prematurely aged.
“Are they yours?” asks Scrooge?
“They are Man’s.” replies the Spirit. “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy.” “Have they no refuge or resource?” asks Scrooge, and again hears his own words flung back at him “Are there no prisons? Are there no poorhouses?” Today, I guess we would say are there no jobless programs, are there no shelters? Today we still live side by side with Ignorance and Want, and think it doesn’t affect our lives.
In the scriptures, angels were messengers from God. Joseph has a visit from an angel, telling him that Mary’s child will be “God-with-Us”. Scrooge encounters angels, who shine the light of God into his heart; who proclaim the good news. In this open and joyful Spirit we hear other words from Isaiah: “The Spirit of God is upon me. I am sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to comfort the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
The picture of this messenger - God’s green creation full of everything human beings could ever need, also proclaims the year of God’s favour. Christmas Present - every year should be the year of God’s favour.
Marley came to Scrooge in the darkness of his rooms and his soul, to speak of repentance, of changing his ways. Two Spirits come in the bright light of vision, into the recesses of hard hearts, and then the bright light of vision on the world around. Yet neither Spirit *was* the light. Dickens’ Spirits are those who testify to the light, to bring messages from God. They point to the one who is coming - the centre of Christmas. The Spirit of Christmas Present comes to testify to good news for all people. As Scrooge took another step along the road to his repentance and reclamation, so we also take a step on the road to repentance, a commitment to living the Gospel to its fullest.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
The Ghost of Christmas Past December 5th, 2010 A sermon based upon Matthew 3:1-12 Humber United Church, Corner Brook, Newfoundland
Matthew 3
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, he will clear threshing floor, gathering wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ******************************************************************************
As Scrooge lay in the bed, the curtains were drawn back, and he saw a figure unlike anything his imagination could have produced - like a child, yet like an old man diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung down its back, was white as if with age yet the face had not a wrinkle, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. It wore a tunic of purest white, and round its waist was a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand. From its head shone a bright clear light, and it held a great cap under its arm.
“Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?” asked Scrooge? "I am."
"Who, and what are you?" Scrooge demanded. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"Long Past?" inquired Scrooge, presumably noting signs of age. "No. Your past."
Scrooge begged the spirit to put the cap over its very bright head.
"What!" exclaimed the Ghost, "Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow!"
“I am here" said the Ghost. “for your welfare, your reclamation.”
***************************************************************
And so begins a journey into the past, and we get a glimpse of what made Scrooge the man he had become. A small boy, sitting alone in a schoolroom, while all his classmates leave for Christmas at home. The small boy’s mother died giving birth to him, and the father rejected him. He is sent to a boarding school, and a little bit of this boy hardens up and closes away.
The scene changes. A little girl comes in. "I have come to bring you home, dear brother!" she says. "Home, for good. Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home's like Heaven! He spoke so gently to me one night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home; and he said Yes, you should; and sent me in a coach to bring you. And you're never to come back here.”
The scene changes again. Scrooge is older now, a man in the prime of life. His face already wears the signs of greed and obsession. He is sitting with a fair young woman, in whose eyes there are tears.
"It matters little," she said, softly. "To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve."
"What Idol has displaced you?" he asks. "A golden one." responds the young woman.
"Have I ever sought release?" "In words? No. Never."
"In what, then?"
"In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of life. In everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight. If this had never been between us," she asks; "would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!"
"Spirit!" says the watching, old Scrooge, in agony again, "show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me? No more, I don't wish to see it! Show me no more!"
****************************************************************
We have seen a small and lonely boy, cut off from family, left alone at Christmas - a child whose father blamed him for the death of his mother in childbirth. We learn that the girl is Scrooge’s younger sister, probably by a second marriage. Fan also died, giving birth to Fred, Scrooge’s nephew. There are hints of abuse, of violence in this child’s background. Here is a child who learns that response to pain is to shut himself off. His father blames him and isolates him; Scrooge blames his nephew Fred, and isolates himself even further. Then we see him as his engagement ends, becoming harder, and the idol of money becoming his first love, instead of her.
Let’s look back at what we’ve seen of Scrooge. Marley shows Scrooge his unwillingness even to be open to those around him. He works in a dark place, with little light other than one candle. He lives in a dark house, huddled away by himself. He keeps his spirit in the dark, blocking out everything. Christmas, with all its joy and good spirits, offends his darkness. He has been given a talent, but instead of using his talent for the common good, as Paul says, he uses it - but not even for himself. He just doesn’t know what else to do. In this encounter with the Spirit of Christmas Past, he cannot bear the light which emanates from the ghost, and wants it covered. “Would you put out the light I give with worldly hands”asks the ghost “especially since you are one of the people responsible for forcing me to wear it year in and year out.” At the end of this chapter, Scrooge grabs the hat and pushes it down over the Spirit, but even that cannot shut out the blinding light. The light causes him pain, because it shines into the darkest places of his soul. He does realise I think, that this spirit has come to help him bring his gifts into the light, but the effort of looking at himself is unbearable, and he goes back into the darkness.
It seems to me that there are several threads in this exerpt from the story.
First, there are the gifts Scrooge had at one time. As we look back, he was a sensitive child who cared deeply for his sister, who wanted desperately to be loved by his father, who had a gift of joy, love and intelligence. His father was a similar man, but when life brought grief, he blamed a child, and lost the ability to love well. Scrooge doesn’t even see the tiny seed that is planted here.
He is treated with love and care, treated justly and kindly by his employer; he finds a beautiful young woman, and they have plans for their future. He is able to employ his gifts and his intelligence - and he has the opportunity to use those “for the common good”, yet he doesn’t. Remember Marley’s ghost, wailing into the dark night in an agony of the soul “Mankind was my business, the common welfare was my business.” Scrooge just doesn’t see it.
Finally, there is the underlying theme of repentance. I have a poster, supposedly John the Baptist, shouting “Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers! Now repent!”
What does it mean to repent? Nowadays we seem to think repent means to say we are sorry for something and promise not to do it again. Well, perhaps that’s part of it - but not all! To repent literally means to turn our lives around, to go in a different direction altogether. To repent means to look at the crooked paths of our lives, shine the light of the Spirit into those dark corners, take out all the things we have hidden away there and nurse so carefully, and throw them out.
Marley wishes to repent - but in Dickens’ story, he missed his chance. He cries out in grief “At this time of the rolling year I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of my fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never once lift them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which the light of that Star would have conducted me?”
The Ghost of Christmas Past forces Scrooge to let its light shine into the very darkest recesses of his own heart. Only by going back into his past, and the places where the road became crooked and bent, can he understand where he got away from the Spirit of Life.
What chains do we carry around from our past? What do we have in our hearts which needs to be illuminated, so that we can truly prepare for God’s love to enter? What do we push down? What has shaped us, in such a way that our gifts are mis-used, or not used at all?
While Advent is a time of waiting for the coming of Jesus, it is also one of the two times of the year when we are called to take time for introspection and reflection. Faith dies not just happen, as Scrooge is beginning to find out. Faith is important, but it takes work. To turn our lives around, to step out on a new road, can only happen if we understand ourselves.
There’s one other theme here, and the theme that keeps coming back - not only in Scrooge’s story, but the Christmas story, and in our story. God is reaching for each of us, wanting to make us whole people in every way. God will go to any length necessary to reach us, to help us, to show us what love is, and who we can be as children of love.
Sources:
1. Sermon from Advent 2 Year B
2. “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, he will clear threshing floor, gathering wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ******************************************************************************
As Scrooge lay in the bed, the curtains were drawn back, and he saw a figure unlike anything his imagination could have produced - like a child, yet like an old man diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung down its back, was white as if with age yet the face had not a wrinkle, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. It wore a tunic of purest white, and round its waist was a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand. From its head shone a bright clear light, and it held a great cap under its arm.
“Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?” asked Scrooge? "I am."
"Who, and what are you?" Scrooge demanded. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"Long Past?" inquired Scrooge, presumably noting signs of age. "No. Your past."
Scrooge begged the spirit to put the cap over its very bright head.
"What!" exclaimed the Ghost, "Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow!"
“I am here" said the Ghost. “for your welfare, your reclamation.”
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And so begins a journey into the past, and we get a glimpse of what made Scrooge the man he had become. A small boy, sitting alone in a schoolroom, while all his classmates leave for Christmas at home. The small boy’s mother died giving birth to him, and the father rejected him. He is sent to a boarding school, and a little bit of this boy hardens up and closes away.
The scene changes. A little girl comes in. "I have come to bring you home, dear brother!" she says. "Home, for good. Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home's like Heaven! He spoke so gently to me one night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home; and he said Yes, you should; and sent me in a coach to bring you. And you're never to come back here.”
The scene changes again. Scrooge is older now, a man in the prime of life. His face already wears the signs of greed and obsession. He is sitting with a fair young woman, in whose eyes there are tears.
"It matters little," she said, softly. "To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve."
"What Idol has displaced you?" he asks. "A golden one." responds the young woman.
"Have I ever sought release?" "In words? No. Never."
"In what, then?"
"In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of life. In everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight. If this had never been between us," she asks; "would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!"
"Spirit!" says the watching, old Scrooge, in agony again, "show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me? No more, I don't wish to see it! Show me no more!"
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We have seen a small and lonely boy, cut off from family, left alone at Christmas - a child whose father blamed him for the death of his mother in childbirth. We learn that the girl is Scrooge’s younger sister, probably by a second marriage. Fan also died, giving birth to Fred, Scrooge’s nephew. There are hints of abuse, of violence in this child’s background. Here is a child who learns that response to pain is to shut himself off. His father blames him and isolates him; Scrooge blames his nephew Fred, and isolates himself even further. Then we see him as his engagement ends, becoming harder, and the idol of money becoming his first love, instead of her.
Let’s look back at what we’ve seen of Scrooge. Marley shows Scrooge his unwillingness even to be open to those around him. He works in a dark place, with little light other than one candle. He lives in a dark house, huddled away by himself. He keeps his spirit in the dark, blocking out everything. Christmas, with all its joy and good spirits, offends his darkness. He has been given a talent, but instead of using his talent for the common good, as Paul says, he uses it - but not even for himself. He just doesn’t know what else to do. In this encounter with the Spirit of Christmas Past, he cannot bear the light which emanates from the ghost, and wants it covered. “Would you put out the light I give with worldly hands”asks the ghost “especially since you are one of the people responsible for forcing me to wear it year in and year out.” At the end of this chapter, Scrooge grabs the hat and pushes it down over the Spirit, but even that cannot shut out the blinding light. The light causes him pain, because it shines into the darkest places of his soul. He does realise I think, that this spirit has come to help him bring his gifts into the light, but the effort of looking at himself is unbearable, and he goes back into the darkness.
It seems to me that there are several threads in this exerpt from the story.
First, there are the gifts Scrooge had at one time. As we look back, he was a sensitive child who cared deeply for his sister, who wanted desperately to be loved by his father, who had a gift of joy, love and intelligence. His father was a similar man, but when life brought grief, he blamed a child, and lost the ability to love well. Scrooge doesn’t even see the tiny seed that is planted here.
He is treated with love and care, treated justly and kindly by his employer; he finds a beautiful young woman, and they have plans for their future. He is able to employ his gifts and his intelligence - and he has the opportunity to use those “for the common good”, yet he doesn’t. Remember Marley’s ghost, wailing into the dark night in an agony of the soul “Mankind was my business, the common welfare was my business.” Scrooge just doesn’t see it.
Finally, there is the underlying theme of repentance. I have a poster, supposedly John the Baptist, shouting “Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers! Now repent!”
What does it mean to repent? Nowadays we seem to think repent means to say we are sorry for something and promise not to do it again. Well, perhaps that’s part of it - but not all! To repent literally means to turn our lives around, to go in a different direction altogether. To repent means to look at the crooked paths of our lives, shine the light of the Spirit into those dark corners, take out all the things we have hidden away there and nurse so carefully, and throw them out.
Marley wishes to repent - but in Dickens’ story, he missed his chance. He cries out in grief “At this time of the rolling year I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of my fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never once lift them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which the light of that Star would have conducted me?”
The Ghost of Christmas Past forces Scrooge to let its light shine into the very darkest recesses of his own heart. Only by going back into his past, and the places where the road became crooked and bent, can he understand where he got away from the Spirit of Life.
What chains do we carry around from our past? What do we have in our hearts which needs to be illuminated, so that we can truly prepare for God’s love to enter? What do we push down? What has shaped us, in such a way that our gifts are mis-used, or not used at all?
While Advent is a time of waiting for the coming of Jesus, it is also one of the two times of the year when we are called to take time for introspection and reflection. Faith dies not just happen, as Scrooge is beginning to find out. Faith is important, but it takes work. To turn our lives around, to step out on a new road, can only happen if we understand ourselves.
There’s one other theme here, and the theme that keeps coming back - not only in Scrooge’s story, but the Christmas story, and in our story. God is reaching for each of us, wanting to make us whole people in every way. God will go to any length necessary to reach us, to help us, to show us what love is, and who we can be as children of love.
Sources:
1. Sermon from Advent 2 Year B
2. “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
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