Opinion
Getting caught up in the Spirit of Christmas
Christmas has come and gone, and we all are looking at our presents to decide if this is what we wanted this year, or if the size is too small and will need exchanging. I have to admit that I really get caught up in the Spirit of Christmas every year. I begin watching the Christmas movies about two or three weeks before the 25th to get into the spirit of things. Then I begin to enjoy the gatherings to which I am invited. These are happy events, and you get to see some folks you haven't seen in a long time, and you can become reacquainted. There is always good conversation, food and drink.
About 10 days before Christmas, I become serious in my Christmas movie viewing, and I watch several versions of "A Christmas Carol." Several of these are shown on television, and I have copies of others that I break out for the occasion. Some of these were made in the 1930s or even further back. My favorite though, is the one in which George C. Scott plays the role of old Ebenezer Scrooge. It seems to follow the story very well, and I think the role playings of all the characters are outstanding. I always watch it three or four times each Christmas.
Ebenezer Scrooge is a miser, a wealthy man who has no love for anyone or anything except his wealth. He began his life and career much as any other gentleman, but the choices he made, and circumstances in general turned him into the Bah! Humbug! character he is at the beginning of the movie. Through the intervention of the ghost of his late partner, Jacob Marley, he receives visits from the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.
After the visits from the three Spirits, Scrooge becomes a changed man. He realizes what Christmas is all about, and he promises the Spirit that he is indeed a changed man, and begs that he be given another chance at life. He promises he will keep the Spirit of Christmas in his heart every day of the year. The story says he becomes one of the best men in the town, good to everyone, and that he did indeed, become a changed man.
The reason I am fascinated with this particular movie is that Ebenezer Scrooge reminds me of myself. I am not a wealthy man as he was, nor do I think I have been as miserly and stingy with what has been given to me as he was. But I have been very much like him, a man becoming much older than he used to be, in dire need of a chance to do better, to be redeemed, and to have the Spirit of Christmas in his heart every day of the year. It is odd that a man will be living into his 60s when he finally realizes that he does indeed need a heart, soul, and life changing experience, another chance to do what he should have been doing all along. What better time to make that decision, to get that chance, than the present? The old year is ending, and the new one is almost in our sight. I remember this little poem that our dear friend, the late Brother A.J. Rollings, who preached for the Market Street Church of Christ for 50 years, quoted to us at the end of each year. He always said that every day is the beginning of a new year.
“I came to my teacher with quivering lips, my task undone.
Teacher, hast thou another sheet for me? I have soiled this one.
He took the old sheet, stained and blotted,
and gave me a new one, clean, and unspotted,
And into my glad face smiled, Do better this time my child.
I came to the Father with a quivering heart, the old year done.
Father, hast thou another year for me? I have soiled this one.
He took the old year, stained and blotted,
And gave me a new one, clean and unspotted,
And into my glad heart smiled, Do better this time my child.”
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