Homily – 3Rd Advent, Dec 16, 2018 for Many of Us, There Are Certain Traditions We Have to Have to Make Christmas, Well

Homily – 3rd Advent, Dec 16, 2018

For many of us, there are certain traditions we have to have to make Christmas, well - Christmas. Maybe it’s hearing Christmas carols blaring over the radio, TV programs like the Hallmark movie channel, or maybe it’s the Christmas tree, or the decorations. Maybe it’s being around family and friends that makes Christmas for us. Or perhaps it’s just purely about the presents!

For me, personally, it’s Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. I've seen the 1936 version with Seymour Hicks, the 1951 version with Alistair Sim; the remakes with Patrick Stewart and George C. Scott, the musical with Albert Finney, Muppet Christmas Carol with Michael Cain; Disney’s Christmas Carol with Jim Carey, and many more. Each year I search the TV listings and sit down and watch them again.

It just wouldn’t be Christmas for me without Ebeneezer Scrooge – who lives only to make money, has no time for religion or sentiment – especially at Christmas. And then one Christmas Eve, he receives a wake-up call when he’s visited by the spirit of his dead partner, Jacob Marley, condemned to roam the earth, tormented by the things he neglected to value while dragging behind him the chains that he forged in life. Desperate to give Ebeneezer a final chance to avoid his fate....a last opportunity to begin making humankind his business… Marley warns Scrooge that he’s going to be visited by 3 ghosts.

The ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back to the pain and agony of a Christmas gone by where a lonely little boy sits in a schoolroom by the fire, with only the book he's reading as a companion. He remembers his father’s rejection, blaming him for the death of his mother at his birth. He remembers how each Christmas, as the other children went home, he was alone and deserted. He remembers how he had longed for the presence and warmth of friends and the love and acceptance of family.

Next, he's whisked off to see his former fiancé, Belle, a woman whom he once loved deeply, but who had come a poor second to his passion for wealth. And as they travel through each Christmas, Scrooge is faced with his broken relationships, his rejection, his loneliness.

Many of us may have had Christmas’ that we’d rather forget. There are probably many people today who find Christmas difficult because of their past.

The Advent wreath spells out our waiting with candles representing Peace – Hope – Joy – Love. If we traveled back to where we could re-visit the very first Christmas 2000 years ago and gaze at the first nativity scene – the Christ Child lying in a manger – then all of our fears and disappointments would be dispelled. The whole meaning behind this story is of a God who gives humanity a second chance.

The night Jesus was born, an angel appeared to shepherds with Good News for “all people,” young and old, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles, for you and me that a Savior had been born. Jesus’ birth wipes our past clean. That’s the hope and the promise of the God of second chances. Scrooge is a product of his Christmas’ past, so the second spirit to visit him is the ghost of Christmas present who gives him an opportunity to see what his present life is like now.

He sees the home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit and his family. Despite their poverty, their home is filled with joy and compassion and love for one another. A home where, as they sit down to their meager Christmas dinner, Bob takes the time to share a sincere toast to his miserly, selfish boss who keeps him in poverty.

He sees the home of his nephew, Fred, the only person who has any affection for Scrooge whatsoever. But each year, Fred invites his ‘uncle’ to come and share Christmas with him and his wife, and each year Scrooge rejects the invitation. But still his nephew invites him. Sounds a lot like Jesus to me.

The ghost of Christmas present shows Scrooge exactly what he has become...hard and callous of heart, blindly dismissing the poverty and the needs of those around him. His is a life of total disregard and disdain for humanity itself.

Scrooge tried to justify his actions by the money that he had earned and how successful he was. But in all the things that really mattered, he had nothing. He sees that even though he’s utterly bitter and twisted, and seems beyond the point of redemption, others still love him and have not given up on him.

That’s the promise God has for each of us...no matter how bad we are, how selfish we are, how greedy we are, no matter how much we reject God, God loves us and never gives up on us.

Christmas is a time of peace, hope, joy, love and goodwill to all people. Scrooge was so self-centered, bitter and materialistic that he lost sight of that completely.

We're all capable of falling into the same trap, neglecting the important things in life, and seeing money and the things it can buy as the answer to our problems. If we’re not careful the spirit of Scrooge can highjack our Christmas; turning our journey of faith into a materialistic shopping spree.

Christmas is exactly what it says it is – a holy celebration of the Christ, about the one who left the glory of heaven to be born in a stable, laid in a manger, and wrapped in swaddling clothes...who came, not to be served but to serve.

Finally comes the Spirit of Christmas Future with no face, does not speak...merely points and leads Scrooge to the Cratchit family once more, worn down in their struggles, and now without Tiny Tim, who has died.

Scrooge sees the house of a man who has died in his sleep and with his housekeeper and a cleaning lady dividing up his belongings before the undertaker arrives. He sees two associates at his counting house discussing whether it’s even necessary to hold a funeral service, since no one would bother to come.

’But who is this man?’ asks Scrooge. He’s led to a grave, whose headstone bears the name ‘Ebeneezer Scrooge’. It's the life-changing moment, it’s now or never. All he had worked for would be stolen, even the bed curtains. There would be no one at his funeral; no one to care that he died. He died miserable and alone and his life has counted for nothing.

But the promise of Christmas past, and the certainty of Christmas present means that our Christmas future is not yet written. Jesus came to transform us, to make of us new creations and create in each of us a new heart. The good news is that we can learn from the past, to change in our present, so that we can have a better future because God has come as a little child.

The ghost of Christmas Future was the most frightening of all. WE are all scared of the future, all a little frightened of the unknown. But just as we look back and remember that first Christmas, so every year we look forward to the future. One day Jesus will return to take us home...that's the hope of Christmas.

Scrooge was transformed to become a grateful, generous and compassionate person. Jesus invites us to do the same. What better time than now in this time of waiting to receive forgiveness, renew our faith, and rebuild our relationships? The good news is that we can learn from the past, to change now and create a better future – whatever our past has been.

Scrooge seized the opportunity and changed his ways to make the remaining days of his life count...to become a person who understood the value and the joys of life and learn to truly love life. If you want to know where to start, look to the gospel.

SHELTER the homeless, FEED the hungry, LOVE our neighbor, FORGIVE those who trespass against us; for we will not have Christ in Christmas unless we have Christ in us!

We ARE visited by the Spirit of God every day pointing us to the only path to a second chance for a new life...Jesus - ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’. If we want to make this season special, then we only need to ask him to forgive our past, and invite him to enter our present and our future lives will be transformed! God bless us, everyone!

Deacon Greg Cecere December 16, 2018 (with excerpts from Baptist preacher Paul Green, British Army Chaplain (Dec 2009))