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Today we continue our Advent series leading up to Christmas.
We are looking at the story by Charles Dickens ‘a Christmas Carol’ where Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley.
This ghost tells Scrooge he missed the whole point of life.
He was so busy making money he forgot to care about people.
As we explored this idea last week we saw how making a human connection with another person can bring us hope.
It can transform lives and even save lives!
Ultimately our hope is found in Jesus Christ whose symbolic arrival we wait for throughout Advent and especially on Christmas Eve.
This week, though, we continue the story of Ebenezer Scrooge looking at the first ghost to visit him in the story - the ghost of Christmas Past.
We’ll look at what role our past plays in our own redemption as we look at the story of Scrooge.
To get at this idea we are going to look at a passage from 2 Corinthians.
Its a letter written by the Apostle Paul to people living in the city of Corinth.
The Apostle is actually in some hot water in this letter.
There are different groups in the ancient church that expect different things of him.
He wanted to come and visit them, but wasn’t able to go and he is writing to defend his ministry among the Corinthians.
In our passage for today he is sharing something he’s learned - how he found peace in living by faith.
This is 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10.
Hear now the word of the Lord.
[And from Luke 3:3-6]
Luke 3:3–6 (NRSV)
He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
The word of the Lord for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Let’s pray to hear from the Lord as we explore this passage: Lord, may we be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ.
Help us find peace, in our past, in our imperfect bodies, in the things that haven’t gone our way.
Let our peace be in you, Lord.
In Christ we pray.
Amen.
Golden Balls probably doesn’t sound like a terribly exciting name for a game show, but it took England by storm back in 2007 with millions of people watching.
The premise was simple enough.
You start with four players and need a majority vote to eliminate one person.
In the next round you vote to remove one more player and then when there’s just two people it gets interesting.
You have to decide if you are going to split the prize money or steal the prize money.
If you both pick split, then you get half the money.
If you pick split and the other person picks steal then you lose - they get all the money and you walk away empty handed.
But if both try and steal everyone loses.
It makes for a dramatic finish to the game show when they reveal who split and who stole; who won and who lost.
About half the time people will agree together to split the money so everyone wins, but every once in a while one or both will try and steal.
And when that happens, you have to wonder about people.
Are people trustworthy?
Can you really believe that another person will follow through on what they say they are going to do.
There’s one particular episode of Golden Balls that sticks out though, because it broke all the rules.
The last two contestants were discussing together if they would split or steal and one of them, Nick, tells the other contestant “I am going to steal and I will split the money with you after the show.”
This doesn’t make any sense.
If he just picked split, then the money will be divided by the game show, but Nick is adamant.
He is going to steal.
There is no other option he will pick, so the other person’s only option is to split the money, otherwise they both lose.
Once it comes time to reveal their choices, the other contestant reveals “split” and Nick…Nick has chosen “split” too!
He said he was dead set on stealing and then he goes and does the opposite.
Some might be happy about that, since they both win some money, but the other contestant was angry.
He felt railroaded into a choice he didn’t want to make and then Nick goes and does the opposite of what he said he would do.
Nick made himself look like a conniving thief only to switch at the last moment and do the kind, philanthropic thing.
If you ask him, he says he did it so that the other contestant felt like he didn’t have the option to be bad.
Its enough to make you think people are evil, even when they are being good.
Well this whole scenario in Golden Balls is based on an idea called the prisoner’s dilemma.
In psychology, its this idea that two people may not cooperate together even if it is in their own best interest to do so.
Its an interesting read on the details of this dilemma, but I can’t help but think ‘how foolish do humans have to be to not do the thing that is in our own best interest?’
Why is it that cooperating together is so bad?
Those of us that consider ourselves “good,” which I imagine is the vast majority of us, we’ve got to be so distraught over this.
Why do we keep hurting ourselves?
Why do we keep doing selfish things when we know it will harm us and probably harm others around us, too?
Why can’t we just be good to each other?
Last week in my sermon (in this service/at the 9:30 service) I kept referring to Scrooge’s partner as “Bob Marley.”
I conflated Bob Cratchet, Scrooge’s current employee with his old partner Jacob Marley.
So instead of saying Scrooge’s partners name I kept saying the name of a reggae star who died 40 years ago…and you sniggered at me.
Nobody shouted out to tell me I had it wrong.
You laughed!
But don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you.
I haven’t lost faith in you.
You still have a chance to redeem yourself, just like Scrooge.
In Dickens story Ebenezer Scrooge goes to bed and is awoken by the ghost of Christmas past.
The ghost transports him to his childhood home and Scrooge’s lip trembles and a tear comes to his eye.
He feels immediately connected to all the sights and sounds.
The children are laughing and playing as he walks down the familiar streets.
The ghost brings him to see a boy working hard in school, who is sad and left alone.
The boy is Scrooge.
He is made fun of by classmates and neglected by his family.
Scrooge cries again for this poor boy who tries so hard.
The ghost quickly transports them forward in time.
A few years later the same boy, a little older now, is greeted by his little sister.
She comes in and tells her brother that he can come home.
Their father is better now; he doesn’t drink as much and he doesn’t hit anymore.
He is a changed man.
He’s taken a few years forward again and now he is a man apprenticing for someone else.
He has co-workers and friends.
His boss invites dozens of people over on Christmas Eve and they dance and they dance and they dance.
He is happy, which is surprising for such a crotchety fellow.
But we find out two other important details of Scrooge’s life back then.
One is that a few years later his little sister, who was so innocent and always so kind to Scrooge has died.
She left behind a son, Scrooge’s nephew and this obviously weighed on his heart.
But the last of what we see and hear with the ghost of Christmas past is a monumentally difficult moment for Scrooge.
He is with a young woman who says she doesn’t matter to him anymore.
He has fallen in love with someone else.... something else.
She is disposable to him because all he cares about is money.
We talked some about this last week, but what’s important here is that Ebenezer Scrooge gives up on his relationship with this woman because he is too obsessed with making money.
A few years later and he sees this woman he loved married to a different man, happy with a home full of children and Scrooge can take no more.
He demands to be taken home because his heart is broken.
He is ravaged emotionally seeing all that he has lost.
Money never brought him the peace and solace he sought.
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