The Christmas Carol

as Christian Truth

Session Five: Dec. 21, 2014

Come and Know Me Better Man!

The Word to Live By

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

(John 13:35 KJV).

.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

(1 John 3:17 KJV).

Session Truth:

The central quality of Christians should be love. . .love for one another and love for the poor.

"Vide", inquiunt, "ut invicem se diligant" ("Look," they say, "how they love one another")

(

Tertullian—early church father.

Chapter Overview:

   Unlike the Ghost of Christmas Past who takes Scrooge

out of time

, the Ghost of Christmas Present is anchored within time. In fact he is the only ghost who ages—he comes unlooked for and when he is gone he is gone.

Thus, like life, he is not to be wasted.

Christian love and fellowship presents the magnetic image of God even more than doctrine.

Scripture:

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

1 John 4:7-21 (KJV)

The Ghost of Christmas Present is a Recognizable Spirit of Christmas

 As with the “traditional” elements of ghosts used by Dickens in Marley, so the Ghost of Christmas present stands in the long line of traditioal mid-winter spirits of pagan folklore.

Evidence of a dark past:

 He wears an empty sword scabbard perhaps indicating that he may have—as Christmas does— bloody origins; but he has been transformed a vessel of peace.

“Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust.”

Human Justice = Blood Divine Response = Abundant Grace

 Midvinterblót the pagan festival which occurred in Sweden and many surrounding parts of Europe around the Winter solstice involved animal and sometimes human sacrifice to stop the light of the world from going out. Of course it is an ancestor to our modern Christmas revels.  Thus the quality which the ghost presents is unbounded love, not the severity of the law.



  These traditions have themselves merged with the legend of a generous Christian bishop named Nicholas who lived in the fourth-century in the Lycian port of Myra, (in the south-west of modern Turkey) and whose feast day is Dec. 6 th . Dickens’ Ghost may not be Santa Clause, but as many an American viewer has noted, he’s definitely related.

However, note that Dickens’ spirit is not pagan anymore but is overtly connected with the coming of Christ.

“Have [you] never walked forth with the younger members of my family; meaning (for I am very young) my elder brothers born in these later years?” pursued the Phantom.

“I don’t think I have,” said Scrooge. “I am afraid I have not. Have you had many brothers, Spirit?” “More than eighteen hundred,” said the Ghost.

“A tremendous family to provide for,” muttered Scrooge.

(Jesus was born 1800 years ago)

Dickens’ giant of Christmas present is an illustration of the quality of Christian love both in the joy it brings to all who experience it as well in the practical good it manifests in its care for those whose physical needs are great.

It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice.

Everything about the ghost matches the abundance which is the nature of God’s love: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10: 10). ” he

is “a jolly Giant, glorious to see:, who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge. . . . Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air”.

 The Ghost of Christmas Present is “an exemplum” of Christian love.

 An exemplum is an anecdote that illustrates or supports a moral point, as in a medieval sermon, and you will notice that he is described as preaching and teaching in ways no other spirit is.

 He is the physical manifestation of what humans should be in their lives—carriers of God’s love and therefore God’s very image into the world.  Such love must also be extended to those who are poor.

If

memory

is vital in the movement towards Salvation, the

love of believers

that gives hope for a new direction:

  If memory is vital for the journey towards salvation in that it overtly shows an individuals how much they are in debt to others and how far they have fallen into evil, then the ever drawing quality of God’s love characterized by the love of God’s people is the next.

“See how they love one another”

was the remark made by many in the first century. In fact what drew you to the family of faith of which you are a part? In my personal experience, it is the fellowship and love of believers far more than the nuts and bolts of their belief system which attracts others to the family of God.

Sadly, we Christians have much to answer for as illustrated by one of Dickens’ contemporaries, Mark Twain in the voice of Huckleberry Finn:

The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways. . .Her sister, Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles on, had just come to live with her. . .Then for an hour it was deadly dull, and I was fidgety. Miss Watson would say, "Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry;" and "Don't scrunch up like that, Huckleberry -- set up straight;" and pretty soon she would say, "Don't gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry -- why don't you try to behave?" Then she told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there.

 She got mad then, but I didn't mean no harm. All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn't particular. She said it was wicked to say what I said; said she wouldn't say it for the whole world; she was going to live so as to go to the good place. Well, I couldn't see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn't try for it. But I never said so, because it would only make trouble, and wouldn't do no good. Now she had got a start, and she went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn't think much of it. But I never said so. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together (

Huck Finn

1-4).

Sometimes the widow would take me one side and talk about Providence in a way to make a body's mouth water; but maybe next day Miss Watson would take hold and knock it all down again. I judged I could see that there was two Providences, and a poor chap would stand considerable show with the widow's Providence, but if Miss Watson's got him there warn't no help for him any more. I thought it all out, and reckoned I would belong to the widow's if he wanted me, though I couldn't make out how he was a-going to be any better off then than what he was before, seeing I was so ignorant, and so kind of low-down and ornery (

Huck Finn

15).

 Clearly one, of the sisters, who truly loves Huckleberry, is an effective witness, but the other is not. Sadly in their society both would be seen as Godly women.

 While Dickens does not dwell on the failure of fellowship (that was covered in the first stave), there is an interesting discussion between Scrooge and the Spirit about individuals who see themselves as righteous but lack the love which needs to be a part of that righteousness.

 These were those who would forbid the poor to enjoy recreation on the Sabbath which ends this way:  Sabbatarianism, the Christian doctrine of strict observance of Sunday as a holy day reserved for worship, was attacked by Dickens throughout his life. Closed SundaysIn 1836 he published the pamphlet Sunday Under Three Heads in opposition to a Bill that would have extended already strict limitations to Sunday recreation. Dickens felt that these Bills were an attempt by the upper classes to control the lives of the lower classes disguised as religious piety.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is an exemplum of Christian love.

It separates itself from those who use religion rather than express it (like Miss Sara in

Huck Finn

) and thus identifies itself as a minister of God’s grace itself: “There are some upon this earth of yours,' returned the Spirit,' who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all out kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.”

The Nature of Christian Love Illustrated by the Ghost of Christmas Present



`It is required of every man,' the Ghost returned, `that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide [to share]. . .on earth, . . .[so that it may be] turned to happiness!'

Christian Love is unexpected:

Scrooge is unprepared for what he experiences “

Now, being prepared for almost anything he was not prepared for nothing

.  The Ghost of Christian fellowship is typified by abundance: It

was his [Scrooge’s] 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; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had never known in Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and many a winter season gone.

  The Spirit of Fellowship: There was nothing very cheerful in

the climate or the town, and yet was there an air of cheerfulness abroad that the clearest summer air and brightest summer sun might have endeavoured to diffuse in vain. For, the people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball.

The Joyful Welcoming! But, if you had judged from the

numbers of people on their way to friendly gatherings, you might have thought that no one was at home to give them welcome when they got there, instead of every house expecting company, and piling up its fires half-chimney high. Blessings on it, how the Ghost exulted. How it bared its breadth of breast, and opened its capacious palm, and floated on, outpouring, with a generous hand, its bright and harmless mirth on everything within its reach.

But How Christian is the Carol?

  The matches Christ’s own mission on earth: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed

me to preach the gospel to the poor

; he hath sent me to head the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. ((Luke 4:18 KJV) Jesus’ ministry was two fold: to bring help to the poor and to bring salvation to the individual and so does Dickens’

Christmas Carol

. It is notable that all of the activities described as such fun have at their center Jesus.

Note that the Spirit of Fellowship is based in the body of Christ:

 

But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their gayest faces. His Nephew’s Party also affirms the need for Joy which is tied to being “like a child” and that also leads to Christ

“

But they didn't devote the whole evening to music. After a while they played at forfeits; for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its

mighty Founder was a child him

self.”

 

The power of the Spirit is not hindered by



unpleasant or harsh realities

.

Poor Miners of the Earth And now, without a word of warning from the Ghost, they stood upon a bleak and desert moor, where monstrous masses of rude stone were cast about, as though it were the burial-place of giants; and water spread itself wheresoever it listed, or would have done so, but for the frost that held it prisoner; and nothing grew ` What place is this.' asked Scrooge.

`A place where Miners live, who labour in the bowels of the earth,' returned the Spirit. `But they know me. See.'

Since the spirit of Christ is not limited to only comfortable parlors and dinner tables, neither is the Ghost of Christmas Present—he goes where he is needed the most



Out to Sea a Lighthouse

: The Spirit did not tarry here, but bade Scrooge hold his robe, and passing on above the moor, sped -- whither. Not to sea. To sea. To Scrooge's horror, looking back, he saw the last of the land, a frightful range of rocks, behind them. . . But even here, two men who watched the light had made a fire, that through the loophole in the thick stone wall shed out a ray of brightness on the awful sea.



On board a distant ship:

Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and heaving sea— on, on–until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a ship. . .but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought. . .And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year;

Wherever “vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing” Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; . . .by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope

. . .by poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man in his little brief.

authority had not made fast the door and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts.

“Scripture Reading at a Night Refuge” from Gustave Dore’s

London A Pilgrimage

The Poor Man’s Christmas

“Under the Bridge” from Gustave Dore’s

London A Pilgrimage

 From his earliest original planning, Dickens had always intended for his Christmas book to be a critique of his “Christian” society’s treatment of the poor.

The adjective appears:  `Under the impression that they [workhouses and prisons] scarcely furnish

Christian

cheer of mind or body. . .a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink.  any

Christian

spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness.

Also the Ghost of Christmas Present’s warning is couched in Christian terms:

`If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race,' returned the Ghost, `will find him here. What then. If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.' . . .`Man,' said the Ghost, `if man you be. . .forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. . .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."

Stave Three with the Ghost of Christmas Present is the most overt Cultural Criticism within the Carol: the demon children Ignorance and Want They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds

 Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.

 They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. `And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers.

This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it.' cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. `Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.'

 `Have they no refuge or resource?' cried Scrooge.

 `Are there no prisons?' said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. `Are there no workhouses?'  The bell struck twelve: