Transcript The Christmas Carol as Christian Truth

The Christmas Carol
as Christian Truth
“If These Shadows Remain Unaltered”
The Word to Live By
For the wages of sin are death but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our lord. ( 1 John 3:17 KJV).
.
Session Truth:
The Final Warning: Grace Ignored
Equals Death!
Grace
Received
equals life.
Scripture:
Exodus 15:26 (KJV) And said, If thou wilt
diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy
God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight,
and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep
all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases
upon thee, which I have brought upon the
Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
II Chronicles 7:14 KJV If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Chapter Overview:
 Death is always present at Christmas.
 The Ghost of “Christmas Yet to Come” was
and still is overtly recognizable; it is the Grim
Reaper; it is Death.
 Tests Scrooge’s system and finds it wanting:
 Dead he is a source for money
 Dead he is a source for possessions.
 Dead he is a source for food
 In contrast The Ghost of “Christmas Yet to
Come” tests a self-less system.
“Is that a DEATH ?”
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
 One of the aspects of The Christmas Carol which
surprises readers is that in the midst of a story which
celebrates the “Carol Philosophy” there should walk
into the midst of it Death Himself.
 However, think of this. Did the shadow of death
cross your own Christmas celebrations even this
year? Some would answer with a resounding yes,
because Death never “Takes a Holiday.” When
Hamlet’s mother and stepfather try to change his
mood of grief they correctly point out that death is a
common reality for humans:
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
HAMLET
Ay, madam, it is common.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET
Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems. . .
KING CLAUDIUS
. . .Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd: whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse till he that died to-day, /'This must be so.'
So this year, as in all years, Death has visited homes
decked out for Christmas. The Unfairness of the fact
that we are “born to die” resounds especially when it
occurs during the holidays.
 However, for all adults—even for those of us who have come
through our allotted Christmases without such an overt
intrusion—Death visits. Christmas is such a time of memory
being as it is such a marker of the rolling year, that it is
impossible to go through the Christmas season and not think of
those who were once part of our world but are no longer with us.
 For some, in fact, this reality of life has made celebrating
Christmas too much for them. “Christmas is for children,” they
say, “but it holds too many memories for me.” Such people
don’t usually mean that they have suffered terrible losses at
Christmas time but that they remember their losses at Christmas
time.
In his “A Christmas Tree,” Dickens describes himself
contemplating a Christmas tree with all its
ornaments. In the midst of it he finds the shrouded
figure of death.
O vanishing tree, of which the lower boughs are
dark to me as yet, and let me look once more! I
know there are blank spaces on thy branches, where
eyes that I have loved have shone and smiled; from
which they are departed. But, far above, I see the
raiser of the dead girl, and the Widow’s Son; and
God is good! If Age be hiding for me in the unseen
portion of thy downward growth, O may I, with a
grey head, turn a child’s heart to that figure yet, and
a child’s trustfulness and confidence!
The Ghost of Christmas Future was and
still is overtly recognizable, it is the Grim
Reaper; it is Death:
"The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached.
When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in
the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed
to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep
black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its
form, and left nothing of it visible save one
outstretched hand. But for this it would have been
difficult to detach its figure from the night, and
separate it from the darkness by which it was
surrounded.
He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside
him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a
solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither
spoke nor moved.
'I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet
To Come.' said Scrooge.
The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its
hand.
'You are about to show me shadows of the things that have
not happened, but will happen in the time before us,‘
Scrooge pursued. 'Is that so, Spirit.‘
The upper portion of the garment was contracted for
an instant in its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its
head. That was the only answer he received."
`Ghost of the Future.' he exclaimed,' I fear you
more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know
your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live
to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to
bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart.
Will you not speak to me.‘
It gave him no reply. The hand was pointed
straight before them.
`Lead on.' said Scrooge. `Lead on. The night is
waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know.
Lead on, Spirit.'.
Notice that Scrooge has come a long way from the Curmudgeon who had
snarled at Marley’s fear apparition with “How now? What do you want
with me?” One wonders why he still needed to go through this part of the
journey; his heart already having been so profoundly touched. Why didn’t
Dickens just stop with the Ghost of Christmas Present?
Death is the Ultimate Test of the World
System Chosen:
The reason Death
must be a part of the
pattern that Scrooge is
following is because he
must see how the
assumptions of his world
view, being a man of the
worldly mind, fares when
facing death.
Scrooge is shown that if he follows
the way of the world, the world will
treat him as a resource to be used.
`What has he done with his
money.' asked a red-faced
gentleman with a pendulous
excrescence on the end of his
nose, that shook like the gills of
a turkey-cock.
`I haven't heard,' said the man with the large chin,
yawning again. `Left it to his company, perhaps. He
hasn't left it to me. That's all I know.'
It is notable that these are the men Scrooge in
his worldly mind-set had attempted to
impress:
He knew these men, also, perfectly. They were
men of aye business: very wealthy, and of great
importance. He had made a point always of standing
well in their esteem: in a business point of view,
that is; strictly in a business point of view.
So self centered are these gentlemen of
business that one insists that he at least be fed
with a provided lunch at the funeral for the
time he might waste and another complains
that wearing black gloves, as in mourning, do
not become him.
Thus the passing of a human means nothing more
to these men then how they may (or may not gain)
from it. The terrible thing is that these are the
closest people to whom Scrooge would have
called, in his role as a worldly wise businessman,
as “friends.” One of the group comments on this
:
When I come to think of it, I’m not at all sure that
I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to
stop and speak whenever we met.
Thus the passing of a human means nothing more
to these men then how they may (or may not gain)
from it. The terrible thing is that these are the
closest people to whom Scrooge would have
called, in his role as a worldly wise businessman,
as “friends.” One of the group comments on this
:
When I come to think of it, I’m not at all sure that
I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to
stop and speak whenever we met.
Scrooge and the Phantom came into the presence of this
man, just as a woman with a heavy bundle slunk into the
shop. But she had scarcely entered, when another woman,
similarly laden, came in too; and she was closely followed
by a man in faded black, who was no less startled by the
sight of them, than they had been upon the recognition of
each other. After a short period of blank astonishment, in
which the old man with the pipe had joined them, they all
three burst into a laugh.
Thus, Scrooge is brought through the
Salvation experience. Now a changed man, a
reborn man, he begins a new life.
 He cares for others
 He sends a turkey to the Cratchet family.
He gives funds to the charity.
 He cares for God.
Even his exclamation at the beginning of the
last section reveals an awareness of from
where his restoration comes.
 "Heaven and the Christmas Time be
praised! I say this on my knees Old Jacob,
on my knees!" (71). Scrooge goes directly
to church when he walks out on Christmas
morning.
 He re-affirms his connection not only with
his own family but with the family of the
human race.
He went to church, and walked about the
streets, and watched the people hurrying to
and fro, and patted children on the head,
and questioned beggars, and looked down
into the kitchens of houses, and up to the
windows and found that everything could
yield him pleasure (74).
 Thus Scrooge's conversion is not just of one
who has a terrible scare one nigh and who
will probably revert to his old ways as soon
as the scare wears off.
 His experience is recognizable to any
Christian as the process which God goes
through while redeeming a soul.
 Scrooge's redemption is not a cartoon
exaggeration; it is a challenge to us all to
follow.
 As the narrator says "it was always said of
him, that he knew how to keep Christmas
well, if any man alive possessed the
knowledge. May that be truly aid of us, and
all of us!" (76).
 But the narrator also knows that this is not a
goal which can be reached only by human
means, and concludes with the final truth that
"as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us Every
One!" (76).
 Indeed, God Bless all of Us this Christmas
time and through the whole year.
Works and Cites Cited
 Townsend, James. “Charles Dickens Cheshire Cat
‘Christianity.’” Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society,
Autumn 1999—Vol 12:23
http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1999ii/J23-99d.htm 8 Jan.
2007.