In the coming days, many of us will doubtless be entertained again by Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’, or perhaps by the wonderful film adaptation starring Alistair Sim as mean Ebenezer Scrooge – the fictional epitome of how power can corrupt.
Famously, Scrooge’s revelation comes after visits, over a single night, from the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley and the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Dickens’ message is a deeply Christian one as the Spirt of Christmas Yet to Come forces Scrooge to visit his own grave and experiencing the desolation of death without the promise of redemption.
Many of the Christmas traditions we enjoy today have their origins in the Victorian era of Dickens, from trees popularised by Prince Albert to the words (though not the tunes) of many popular carols, and the consumption of a Christmas bird, plum pudding and fruit cake.
A good deal has changed in the way we celebrate Christmas. When I was a child, it was a more homespun affair; people with trees and decorations up just a week or so before the day. There was certainly no such thing as a Christmas season beginning in October!
It is easy to become preoccupied with material matters at Christmas; after all, who doesn’t like giving and receiving gifts and overindulging in sumptuous food and drink. Yet, regardless of change, it remains a time of year for deeper feelings – for the appreciation of the truth of love, care and shared hope for the future.
Charles Dickens wrote “for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”
In this timeless truth, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, the child-like simplicity of goodness is revealed. For most of us, a good Christmas means time spent with family and friends, and the joyful excitement of festivities as we take moments to pause and reflect on the year that has passed.
In Dickens’ first novel, The Pickwick Papers, he wrote that “There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.” I thought of these words recently when contemplating the horrors in Israel and Gaza – in the very Holy Land described in the Biblical passages we contemplate again at this time of year.
Closer to home, so many from across the local community devote their care to making sure that what is essential continues – think of, amongst others, doctors, nurses, firemen, policemen and of power workers who, as my father did years ago, work throughout to keep our lights on.
Christmas is a time of selflessness and giving, a time to remember that every one of us has the power to do good by opening our hearts to all around us. I wish everyone in South Holland and the Deepings a peaceful and Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with joy.
