Isaiah40:1-4
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been
completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from God’s
hand double for all her sins.
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness
prepare the way,
make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become
level, the rugged places a plain. The glory of God will be revealed, and all
people will see it together. For God has spoken.”
Mark 1:1-8: The beginning of the
good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as
it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will
prepare your way, a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way
for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
So John the Baptiser appeared in the wilderness,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went
out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan
River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a
leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. This was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I,
the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you
with the Holy Spirit
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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.
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!"
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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, and that he loved her dearly – she was his connection. Fan also died, giving birth to Fred, Scrooge’s nephew. There are hints of abuse, of violence in this child’s background. He learns that the 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. He doesn’t go after the young woman – he lets her go.
In the first part of this story, Scrooge shows 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 goodness, 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. For all his comments about Bob Cratchit, and his nephew being poor, he himself lives in a poverty of spirit, and physical poverty.
"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, and that he loved her dearly – she was his connection. Fan also died, giving birth to Fred, Scrooge’s nephew. There are hints of abuse, of violence in this child’s background. He learns that the 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. He doesn’t go after the young woman – he lets her go.
In the first part of this story, Scrooge shows 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 goodness, 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. For all his comments about Bob Cratchit, and his nephew being poor, he himself lives in a poverty of spirit, and physical poverty.
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 visit, 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.
Scrooge did have gifts 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 realise the tiny seed that was planted.
He is treated justly and kindly by his employer, and he and Marley are successful enough to go out on their own; 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.
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. It’s the beginning of making the rough places smooth again, for abundant 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? Are we aware of the messengers who bring the gospel of peace?
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 does 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 comfort us, to show us what love is, and who we can be as children of love. Love makes the rough places a plain, and the road straight.
Sources:
1. Sermon from Advent 2 Year B Rev. Fran Humber United Church, Corner Brook
2. “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens Part the Second.
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