A Christmas Carol Contemplation

       In the eighth grade through the month of December, I first read a classic novella that has seen numerous adaptations in movies and on TV shows. This book is of course, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. If you've only seen movie or TV special versions (like the 1938 or 1984 movies of "A Christmas Carol", "Mickey's Christmas Carol", "The Muppets Christmas Carol", Disney's 2009 "A Christmas Carol", the 1999 TV movie "A Christmas Carol" with Patrick Stewart, etc.)- you should definitely read the book. The book is always better than the movie.
       This story has resonated with so many over the 182 years since it was first published. It is a great story that is told well, certainly. It's theme of redemption gets to a spiritual point that I think also sticks with many. We seem to have an instinct in our fallen human nature to want to repay others when we wrong them. This is in itself is not a bad thing, of course. We should definitely make amends when we have done wrong and ask others' forgiveness. However, if I insult my brother, then I should not need to do anything further to prove my sincerity when I humbly ask for his forgiveness. As Luke 17:4 says, even if I were to sin against my brother seven times a day and I were to return to him seven times saying, "I repent", he is obligated to forgive me, as Lord Jesus commanded. And I am obligated to forgive him the same as well. 
And as Christians, we know that we have been forgiven of all our sins- past, present and future- and thus, we can do no less than to forgive others as The Lord has forgiven us. (See Colossians 3:13)
        And it's interesting to consider that Scrooge was taken to his past, present and future- and he saw how where his choices led and how his sins affected both himself and others. And as Romans 2:4 tells us, God's kindness leads us to repentance, much as it happened for Scrooge. Even with the hardships that Bob Cratchit and his family endured as a result of Ebenezer Scrooge's cruelty in overworking him and paying him little, Bob had kind words for him on Christmas, with Bob calling him the "Founder of the Feast". Scrooge was also shown kindness by his nephew Fred, who invites him to Christmas dinner and wishes him a "Merry Christmas", reminding him of some of the good Christmas brings. 
        Of course, the ultimate good Christmas brought us was Christ Himself, Who is the Founder of the feast for us! And I am moved to tears to read Tiny Tim's thoughts in church, when he says to his father that he "hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, Who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.” And perhaps it was hearing this, along with Tiny Tim's famous request, "God bless us, everyone!" that drew Scrooge to feeling concern for Tiny Tim's life. He pleaded with the Ghost of Christmas Present for Tim's life to be spared.
“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.” Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief. “Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? 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. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!” Scrooge bent before the Ghost’s rebuke, and trembling cast his eyes upon the ground." (from Stave III of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens)
          Ebenezer Scrooge is fully brought to repentance when he sees his own tombstone and hears how much joy his own passing brings so many others. Before that last scene in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Future though, he also witnesses the faith of the Cratchits as they mourn Tiny Tim. Dickens quotes Matthew 18:2 which he has Peter reading from The Bible, where Jesus takes a young child and sets him in front of the disciples, telling them they must have the faith of a child to enter the kingdom of Heaven. As Dickens later notes in relation to this reference, "Spirit of Tiny Tim, they childish essence was from God!" Scrooge later pleads with the last Ghost to have another chance, as he sees his own doom in the end. I think his plea here belies a crucial point to remember in the way we think about salvation.
“Spirit!” he cried, tight clutching at its robe, “hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope!” For the first time the hand appeared to shake. “Good Spirit,” he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: “Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!” The kind hand trembled. “I will honour 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. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!” In his agony, he caught the spectral hand. It sought to free itself, but he was strong in his entreaty, and detained it. The Spirit, stronger yet, repulsed him. Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw an alteration in the Phantom’s hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost." (from Stave IV of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens)
          Note that Scrooge wants to change the shadows of what will be by an "altered life". We know clearly from Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are not saved by good works. It's important to understand that we can do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. The standard for entry into Heaven is perfection and none of us meet that standard. We are all "old covetous sinners" like Scrooge. We are all condemned to Hell because of our rebellion against God. No matter how many good deeds we may do, we can never appease God with such acts. Rather, we must collapse all our self-efforts and acknowledge before God that we are wretched sinners who deserve His wrath and we can do nothing to earn His forgiveness. We also can do nothing to earn God's love because He's already given that to us for free! That's why Jesus died in our place and rose again- so that we could be saved from the wrath we deserve and be given the Heaven we don't deserve instead! And that's available for free by God's grace through faith!
What did Scrooge say he would do? "I will honour Christmas in my heart". That sounds a lot like what 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to do. "In your hearts, honour Christ The Lord as holy." We put faith in Him alone, acknowledging Him as Lord and honouring Him as holy. We believe Him for forgiveness of our sins. And through our faith in His grace, we are saved. 
         Where do we go from there? The picture of Scrooge's redemption is a great model of what repentance should look like in our lives. Because we have been saved by Christ, we are then motivated by love and gratitude to Him to keep His commands, just as His Spirit strives within us to help us do. We don't shut out His lessons but rather trust Him and obey Him. And when Scrooge awakes again in his own bedroom, he praises Heaven for salvation! The sheer joy and exhilaration he feels is evident in his abandon as he cheerfully greets everyone with a "Merry Christmas" and dives right away into making changes. He buys a huge turkey for the Cratchits' Christmas dinner and he gives generously to the poor. He enjoys dinner with his nephew Fred and family and he raises Bob's salary and offers to assist his struggling family. Everyone in town can see the evident change in Scrooge to the point that some laughed at the spectacle he no doubt made of himself, though he doesn't care. This kind of change is reminiscent of the total change Jesus makes in Zacchaeus' life, when he pledges to give half his possessions to the poor and repay anyone he's cheated four times the amount. Zacchaeus first welcomed Jesus into his house and heart with gladness and then he was moved to change his ways- and Jesus declared that salvation had come to his house that day. (See Luke 19:1-10)
          And this change that Christ brings lasts for eternity! We can see that Scrooge's repentance is real, as we are told at the end of the book that it continued throughout his life. "Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world." (from Stave V of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens) When we know the love of Jesus, it should overflow from our hearts to affect all those around us. We should do the good works God made for us to do all along. (Ephesians 2:10) This is the picture of true repentance. It's not a fearful striving to do enough good works to appease God. It's a joyful desire to show God's love to everyone because we have experienced the goodness of God and we can't help but show it to others! As Acts 4:20 says, "we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard." May that always truly be said of us! God loves us and Jesus has died and risen to save us from Hell and take us to Heaven instead if we will put faith in Him and follow Him. May His Name and His praise ever be seen in us. Merry Christmas! Happy Easter! Hallelujah! :-) 
 "His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him. He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!" (from Stave V of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens)
        

Joseph and Mary (Song)

 There have been lots of famous lovers throughout literature and history. Romeo and Juliet, Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Boaz and Ruth and for the '80s kids out there- Zack and Kelly, Steve and Laura, and Cory and Topanga. There's one famous couple that has the most unique love story of them all- Joseph and Mary. When we read Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2 each Christmas, we can see how God worked throughout the events of that first Christmas so that everything turned out as it should in the end. It's like we're sitting in the bleachers watching the game, but Mary and Joseph were in the game themselves as key players. It's quite a different matter to consider how both Mary and Joseph would have taken the news that had been given to them by angels, when they didn't know how things would turn out in the end. They just had to take it on faith and trust that God would do what He said He would do and they just needed to be faithful and obey. Mary was going to have a baby Boy while she was still a virgin by a miraculous work of The Holy Spirit. Joseph finds out she's pregnant and is left wondering what to do. He plans to just send her away quietly so as not to disgrace her, but then he has a dream where an angel tells him that this is part of God's plan and he should go ahead and take Mary as his wife. Both Mary and Joseph obey and trust God and through their faithfulness, we see the birth of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, born of the virgin Mary, who is the wife of Joseph. Joseph takes on the role of playing step-father to the Son of God Himself! And through their faithfulness, the little baby Jesus grows in stature and wisdom and when He's a man, He does just as the angel said in Matthew 1:21 and saves His people from their sins. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the salvation You have brought through Your death and Resurrection that pays for all our sins! And because Joseph told Mary, "Let's get married!" and did his part to ensure Jesus and His mother would be cared for, God's plan moved forward through them. And now The Bridegroom says to His church the bride- "Let's get married!" Merry Christmas! God is with us!

"Joseph and Mary"
(Parody of "Let's Get Married" by The Bleachers; parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 7/27/2025)
(Isaiah 53, Isaiah 7:14-16, Jeremiah 19:4-5, Luke 1, Matthew 1)

The dude's been engaged to be her only
Can he take this babe after her story?
Joseph (and) Mary!

Sit down, breathe and just listen
God gave me baby
He's from God, trust in God- this is Son of God in me
And I know it's bad where you look out
But bad and evil don't enter God's thoughts- no!
Come on and look up in Luke 1- read
This angel from Heaven went to call on Ms. Mary- yeah!
And I know it's hard enough to trust me
But the throne of father Dave's house given
Son of virgin Mary!
You're gonna balk, I know
How can virgins conceive?
I know and I balked also
God's Spirit's on me
God's power works, you know
Elizabeth's conceived
So we won't have to walk alone
Her son's in late age

"Get out! Leave!
I think I know what I'm gonna do- folks won't know nothing
And you know in Matthew 1- look up
His plan's hatched- read on- don't give up your spouse- no!
I'm gonna do right by you, honey
An angel by my bed dropped in- when log sawing's on me- yeah
Says, "Hey Joseph- hearten up- take Mary"
Then I woke up full of faith now thinking
Honey, let's get married!
Don't have to walk alone
Joseph and Mary!
I won't go and walk, you know
You're Virgin Mary
(I) Won't change the status quo
You're pregnant, Mary
Holy Ghost's power worked with no
Intimacy- Hey!

The angels that called us
Outright both charged us
"Name The Son Jesus"
The Lord- He frees us
Child will soon save peeps at high cost
Lord Christ on our cross
Save peeps from Death's grip
Yeah, Rose up in Isaiah 53
Honey- 7 then read
Don't have to walk alone
He's God with us, see
He's Immanuel, you know
He forgives bad deeds
The Son prophets foretold
Joseph just married
Mary- both gonna walk this road
Lord's Son will save- yay!

What Ya Gonna Then Plead- Huh? (Song)

 Throughout history, in all parts of the world, there have always been various beliefs held about the world and how it works. We might classify these views under cultures or worldviews. Ultimately, every human being has to decide what he or she will believe about the big question of life, which is death and the hereafter. What does one believe about God? There are numerous religions in the world that all offer different takes on God and what He's like and ultimately how He relates with the world and us His creation. The major world religions are similar in some respects in that most all promote ideas like showing love to others and helping the poor- essentially, doing unto others as you would have done unto you. There is a stark difference between world religions and Christianity though. It's been said this way before. Religion says, "Do" and Christ says, "Done". This song is a quick comparison of some basic tenets of major world religions to the basic message of Christianity. It's not meant to put down anyone or their beliefs, but rather to contrast the works-based push often seen in religions with the grace found in Christ alone. There is no one righteous- no, not one. We all fall short of God's glory. And perfection is the standard for entry into Heaven. In the end, we all fall short because of our many sins and we all deserve Hell. God loves us so much that He gave us grace by sending Jesus to die for our sins and rise again from the dead. We can escape the punishment we deserve by trusting Jesus' payment for our sins and putting faith in Him and following Him. Ultimately, there is a broad way that leads to destruction and a narrow way that leads to life and to get to eternal life with God, we must go through Jesus. He is the Way, Truth, and Life- no man comes to the Father but by Him.

"What Ya Gonna Then Plead- Huh?" 
(Parody of "In A Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly; parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 9/15/2022)
(Genesis 3, Romans 5:8, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 8:1, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:9-21, Romans 3:10-25)

In the Bhagavad Gita bodies
Recycle souls- karma's up to you
In the path of the Buddha- suffering's
Gone when soul's in nirvana- greed's gone too
Torah, Talmud Jews read
Works-based faith plan
And in Islam you heed
What's taught in Qur'an
Deeds weighed- good or bad

When you go to Lord Jesus- done deal
Died and rose for sin- God loves you!
In the Garden of Eden- we fell
Lord saves souls through faith by grace- Thank You!

My hope in contrasting
Put faiths on stand
No one's enough holy
But Jesus, man!
By grace we stand

Water Moved (Song)

 Isn't it funny how it's so easy to trust our parents' every word when we're little kids? It seems we sometimes lose that as we grow older and slip into that stereotypical rebellious teenager phase. Of course, when we're older still, we realize how foolish we were then and recognize the wisdom of our parents. When Daddy says he'll catch us when we come down the slide, we can trust him to do just that. And when God our Father, Who says we can call Him Abba or Daddy, says He's got us, then we can trust Him fully even more so! Moses and the Israelites found that to be true in the midst of their exodus from Egypt when they encountered the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his crew fast on their heels in pursuit. It wasn't their defeat like Napoleon at Waterloo though. That was no problem for God. He just had Moses raise his rod over the sea and the water moved! And the Israelites walked through on dry land and then it turned back on Pharaoh and his soldiers and consumed them. When The Lord says He's going to do something, we can trust Him to do it!



"Water Moved"
(Parody of "Waterloo" by Abba; parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 7/28/2021)
(Exodus 14-15, Romans 9)

14
In Exodus, Israelis in a dilemma
Oh yeah!
And they're on edge of the Red Sea in flight after being slaves
God's history speaks for itself
With all His mighty deeds, Israel!

(Chorus 1)
What to do?
Moses, we're fearing we're done- forlorn
What'd you do?
Egypt would (of) have been far better, Moe
Pharaoh's view-
Shouldn't free slaves- Hey, now- what'd we do?
We'll pursue
Romans 9 states how God did use you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah- God foreknew
Hardening and placing- for glory due!

(Aaaah!)
Pharaoh!
He tried to get us back but God was stronger
Oh yeah!
The cloud's shifting- gives us distance while lighting up the night
And how could I ever refute?
The sea's moved by wind when God moves!

(Chorus 2)
We're walking through!
Pharaoh's defeated- God won the war!
(The) water moved!
Pharaoh still plunged in, as said The Lord
Sea walls have moved
Look! Manta rays and dugongs have moved
Our Father moved
Moses obeyed Him- split sea in two
Wa-Wa-Wa- We're walking through
Dry land we walk then- Egypt pursues

So God clogs their chariot wheels too
They feel all panicked- Let's vamvoose!
Pharaoh's dudes
Couldn't escape though they wanted to
Pharaoh's dudes
Going to graves when the sea resumes
Is- Is- Israel's waterproof
Totally safe first then water moved!
Ooh- ooh, our Father moved
No one remained then of Egypt's troops
Wa-wa-wa-wa Water moved!
Finally safe from that Pharaoh dude!
Ooh-ooh, Marmaduke
I know that Great Dane's a silly end, dude