To begin with… why do so many watch or read A Christmas Carol each year? Charles Dickens wrote the novella in 1843 amid the harsh realities of Victorian-era London, and it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the original Grinch-type character. The opening line seizes the reader:

“Marley was dead, to begin with.” 

We are called to engage with the heart of Christmas immediately, asking, “What do I know about eternity?” It reveals a yearning in everyone to know what comes afterward. Does Christmas mean “God with us”?

 The story goes on to shed light on the mystery of the way the Divine comes into the human heart and into the most minor things –the smallest areas of life and eliminates them, changes them and reorients them in the relationship to Himself. Three spirits force Scrooge to confront the consequences of his actions and his beliefs, gradually softening his icy heart.  

Even if the watcher/reader does not share a faith framework, it calls for consideration of the basic choice all humankind is faced with in life: 

Am I going to respond in love or will I respond in alienation and turn in on myself? 

Ebenezer Scrooge is not in charge of his chaotic confrontation with the mysterious night visions. The complex story has intricate layers, and it seems plausible that it may happen this very night to anyone. Dickens used “staves” instead of chapters to tie into the musical theme of the story, like lines of a carol, with each stave building on the last. A ‘stave’ is a name for the five lines on which musical notes are written. 

The novella begins with “cold, bleak, biting weather” and a dense fog that “poured in at every chink and keyhole”, and Scrooge cold-heartedly growling, “Bah! Humbug!” to any mention of Christmas. It ends with no fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold” with “golden sunlight” as the last stave completes a view of Christmas day–The Incarnation shines in Ebenezer’s life: “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy.” 

A redemptive story we love to watch year after year. Redemption never gets old. 

Prayer: 

God Bless us,  Every One!