Bah Humbug! Making Change

I love A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge changing because he sees his past, the present, and a potential future with a fresh perspective. Of course, before he can change, we need to see why change is needed. In the beginning of the novella, Ebenezer Scrooge is “living in resentment, fear and the frozen state of watching out only for himself.” 

In his book The Redemption of Scrooge, Matt Rawle follows the character development of this curmudgeon who responds to Christmas with “Bah! Humbug!” Rawle introduces, “The dismissive response, ‘Bah! Humbug!’ perfectly expresses the worldview of Ebenezer Scrooge, the tragic main character of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Scrooge is a sad man, and Christmas is not a happy time for him; but to be fair, no time during the year seems to bring Scrooge much joy. …Scrooge is an iconic figure who represents stinginess, greed, and generally being in a terrible mood.” But by the end of the book, Ebenezer Scrooge is none of these things. He has changed. And, as Rawle notes, “If Scrooge can be redeemed, then so can we.”

Scrooge’s initial view of the world is the opposite of God’s view. In our gospel lesson, Mary has been told that she will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and the child she will bear will be called holy. She goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth. When Elizabeth feels her unborn son kick or leap at Mary’s arrival, Elizabeth blesses Mary and Mary’s unborn son. That is when Mary proclaims “My soul magnifies the Lord.” Mary glorifies God, exclaiming that God will lift up the lowly and fill the hungry with good things. Mary’s song reminds us that God looks favorably on those Scrooge had a habit of dismissing. God desires peace and justice for all people, especially those on the margins.

Today is also the Sunday that we look at the theme of Peace. In Isaiah, we hear of the promised Messiah, described as Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace. With this Prince of Peace, there shall be endless peace. It kinda makes you wonder- what is peace here? Because in Matthew, Jesus tells the disciples he comes not to to bring peace, but a sword. Yet towards the end of John, Jesus declares “My peace I give unto you.” See, Jesus does bring peace, but it doesn’t look like what the world sometimes see as peace: it doesn’t mean that there isn’t anymore conflict. As Rawle notes, “Jesus is the Prince of Peace because the peace he offers is the opposite of fear.” Throughout the first two chapters of Luke, angels appear and say “Don’t be afraid.” After the resurrection, Jesus tells the disciples not to be afraid. And he gives them his peace. This is what it means to have the peace that Christ proclaims: to not be afraid.

It’s a peace that Scrooge has forgotten. He has closed himself off to everyone. His only friend, Jacob Marley, is dead, and money has become the only thing he can trust. It has become the only reliable measure of a man. But like Marley, he has been forging a chain, link by link.

Like Marley and Scrooge, we all have our own chains: those things we hope to let go of that weigh us down and create any miserly, fearful attitudes in our lives. Consider: what’s holding you back? I know I have my own struggles: whether fretting about finances as Lucian and I experience owning a home that isn’t exactly new. I have preached so many times that God is in control and that Jesus tells us not to worry because God cares for us. But I continue to worry and fret where I have no control. Other times, I am amazed how ungracious my initial reactions can be. I judge others, I question motives. But when I start to form relationships, people are no longer to be feared. 

Ebenezer Scrooge sees only the accumulation of wealth as the only redeeming value in life. He lives in resentment, fear and the ice-cold frozen state of watching out only for himself. God’s economy, on the other hand, says that there is enough for all and all are worthy of the abundance of life and joy, freedom and sustenance. So, as we consider our own chains: what might help you remove a link of the chain? Is it finding a way to include giving in your budget? Volunteering somewhere that allows you to get to know those you wouldn’t come across otherwise? Maybe striking up a conversation with someone who’s totally different from you, and learning about their life story.

Consider how Scrooge’s nephew Fred describes Christmas: “[Christmas is] a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when [people] seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” 

God is working in and through us and in the world around us to tell God’s great story of redemption. As Rawle notes, “[A Christmas Carol shows us that] there is no soul too gruff, too cold, or too cantankerous for God’s redeeming power.” And if Scrooge can be redeemed, then so can we!

“The miracle has just begun in YOU for the sake of the world… God Bless us Every One!”

*Resources for this sermon include:

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.

Marcia McFee, God Bless Us Every One: The Redemption of Scrooge, “Bah Humbug! Making Change” from the Worship Design Studio with Dr. Marcia McFee. 2016.

Matt Rawle, The Redemption of Scrooge, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2016), Chapter 1: Bah! Humbug!.