Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we wrap up our Advent series on the redemption of Scrooge.

Each week we’ve explored how even Ebenezer Scrooge can be redeemed, and each step in his journey has involved visits from different ghosts.

At first he saw his deceased partner Jacob Marley weighed down by money, dejected that he had failed to care for humanity in his time on earth.

Next was the ghost of Christmas past, where Scrooge saw himself as a boy.

He saw how he was neglected and abused back then, but the worst was a self-inflicted wound when he was older.

He rejected love from a woman and idolized money instead.

It was there with the ghost that he saw the error of his ways.

Last week was the ghost of Christmas present, where Scrooge saw both the poverty and the absolute joy of his employee, Bob Cratchet.

We heard about Cratchet’s son, Tiny Tim, who said God can use even his broken body to remind people of the one who heals the lame and binds up the broken.

But Scrooge was grieved by the thought that if nothing changes, if he doesn’t change and help others, Tiny Tim will die.

We must be people that will seek true joy, not in getting the temporary things that make us feel happy, but in helping others, making this world a better place for everyone.

Like our advent candles we looked at hope, peace and joy.

Today we explore the topic of love.

This is also a look at the final ghost in Dickens’ novel, ‘A Christmas Carol’ known as the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Our scripture for today, read by ?/?, comes from Luke chapter 1, which might feel just a bit out of order.

The last two weeks we heard about John the Baptist; now we go back just a bit and hear about his mother Elizabeth who is pregnant with John, and her niece, Mary is also pregnant with a baby who will come to be known as Jesus the Christ.

Mary set out to be with her aunt during her pregnancy and likely the birth, and these are the blessings they declare on their meeting.

This is Luke 1:39-55; hear now the Word of the Lord.

Luke 1:39–55 (NRSV)

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?

For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

[And from Micah 5:2]

Micah 5:2 (NRSV)

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

The word of the Lord for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Let’s pray together: God, work in us, that we might be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ.

May we love others like you love us and may we bless others like you bless us.

Amen.

Love is one of those things that you may not feel like you need a lesson on.

Everyone agrees with love, right?

Of course we should love others!

But hearing a sermon on love doesn’t mean we are following through on it, does it?

I love my children very much, but I can think of more than a few times where I was not loving or kind to them.

I love my wife very much, but I have not always treated her the way she deserves to be treated.

Hmm, maybe I’m the one who needs the sermon on love?

My wife, Emily, and I have been taking classes this past week.

We are licensed to be foster parents and every few years we have to take a number of classes to maintain our license.

So, this week we took a class called the “Nurtured Heart Approach” to parenting.

In it they shared with us a statistic that had us baffled.

They said a child, on average, hears 432 negative comments or words every day.

Positive comments, however, come in at just 32 a day.

Imagine that; all day long its negative, negative, negative.

Hearing just a few positive words would be like a ray of sunshine.

And consistent positive words?

Hundreds of positive things a day?

That seems nearly impossible when we are surrounded by so much negativity.

That’s what we see with Ebenezer Scrooge.

He’s so negative, but that’s true of the people around him, too.

From his childhood he was neglected and abused by his father.

His sister died after giving birth, the woman he loved rejected him because she didn’t like the direction his life was heading.

Scrooge makes a little bit more sense when you see all that went wrong in his life.

Now that doesn’t justify his behavior.

It doesn’t make it right, and when the ghost of Christmas yet to come arrives, Scrooge is terrified.

He senses gloom and judgement looming; his legs tremble.

He knows the ghost’s teachings will likely do him good, but he can’t help but to be scared.

So he follows the lead of this phantom covered in black.

He sees on the street some business men he knows.

They are talking about someone who is dead and whether they will attend the funeral.

They guess that it is likely to be a cheap funeral and say they won’t go unless they serve lunch!

Next they are at a pawn shop and three people all meet at the same time.

We learn they have taken items from the dead man’s home and plan to sell it for whatever amount of money they can get for it.

Scrooge is taken by the ghost back to the Cratchet’s home.

Tiny Tim has died and his father, Bob, is so sad.

He is comforted by his family and by Scrooge’s nephew.

Scrooge doesn’t understand, though.

This is not about him.

Where is he in all this?

He is led to one final destination, where he sees a grave.

He knows what this means.

In fear he looks at the tombstone and sees that it is his own name that is on it.

He is the dead man.

He is the one that no one pities.

And Scrooge knows he has erred.

He has missed out on what matters most in life.

His life has no love in it, thus it has no meaning or purpose.

No one cares about him because he has not poured love into others.

He has let the negativity of his past conquer him and so nothing positive ever comes out of his life.

This is not the end of his story, but it is the most dire moment.

At death there is no turning back so he pleads with the ghost, ‘is this the future that must be or only the future that MAY be?’

The ghost does not answer and he vows to honor Christmas, to live by the lessons he has learned.

In agony he prays that his fate may yet be reversed and as he does so the ghost disappears.

I can’t help but think, what would it have been like if Scrooge had a different life?

What would have happened if instead of being surrounded by negativity he heard words of encouragement.

What if people filled him with positive words.

What if Scrooge had been loved?

In the class Emily and I took we were challenged to follow through on three rules for parenting.

One is to say no; to not reward a child’s negative behavior with any time or attention.

The second was to say yes to success.