When the song of the angels is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flocks
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the Lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among people
To make music in the heart.
Howard Thurman
With the flow of time and the transition into a new year, I am always a bit reluctant to leave behind the Christmas season. This year I especially hold onto one of my favorite stories, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Every year we watch one or more movie versions of this classic tale of redemption and renewal. I’ve heard on many occasions people say (not to me, of course!) “Don’t be such a Scrooge.” We associate the name with greedy, miserly, even cruel behavior.
But this year I do want to be like Scrooge, especially in the blossoming of love and care in his later years. After his encounter with the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, he is changed. His eyes and his heart are opened to the needs of the poor in his community, to his family, and to his faithful employee, Bob Cratchit.
I invite us in this new year of possibilities to repeat Scrooge’s words, and live into his intentions, because I believe they reflect much of the heart of the Christ who loves each of us and all of us: “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
And in the words of Tiny Tim, “God bless us, every one.”
Shalom,
