“Enjoy it while it lasts.” This is a statement that has been echoed throughout time to many of us as we are experiencing a new born child, a new career, our youth, or many other wonderful things. It is a statement made to us so that we take a moment to pause and appreciate what we have in the present. Why is it so hard for us to appreciate what we have in the present. Is it that we are stuck in the past or maybe because we are looking forward to the future? In my opinion it is that we are limited by our perspective.

In “The Christmas Carol”, after being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by jolly giant with dark brown curls, he is wearing a green fur-lined robe and on his head sits a holly wreath. This jolly giant is the Ghost of Christmas Present and takes Scrooge around the city, showing him scenes of festivity and also poverty that are happening all around them. One place that they visit is the home of Scrooge’s impoverished clerk, Bob Cratchit. Scrooge takes special notice of Bob’s very ill son, Tiny Tim, and asks the Ghost if Tiny Tim will be okay. The ghost responds by saying, “If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.” Scrooge is reminded of the cruel words he once uttered about the poor and impoverished and realizes how heartless his comments once were. The Ghost shows Scrooge two more grotesque children that had been hiding under his robe. The boy is named Ignorance and the girl is named Want. He then warns Scrooge to beware of them both, but beware of the boy the most for unless his name is changed the future spells doom. Scrooge then asks if these children have no refuge or resource, to which the spirit reminds Scrooge once again of something he said, “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”

Ignorance is what is most troubling in the present, for it spells doom for the future of us all. Through a new perspective granted to him by the Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge becomes aware of both the good and bad that surrounds him in the present. Tonight, as I write this, I sit in my cozy leather chair in front of my fireplace while watching a Christmas movie (yes, the Christmas movie is Die Hard and yes, it is a Christmas movie!). As I sit here I have been reflecting on how blessed I am to be where I am at, but if I am just thankful for my blessing but not convicted for it, then ignorance has won. I cannot ignore the fact that the poverty Scrooge saw is also still very present in our world today. We should be thankful for what we have, but like Scrooge we should also be convicted by it. So, enjoy what you have while it lasts, but also be aware that many others do not and as Christians we are called to bring justice and mercy. Join us this Sunday for Sunday school at 9:30 AM and Worship at 10:30 AM as we continue this conversation in greater depth.

In God’s grip,

Pastor Chuck Church