As a child growing up, our family loved watching Christmas movies together. We would take turns picking out some of the classic movies and sitting down in the living room to watch them and get in the Christmas spirit. Every year we would watch A Christmas Carol and take the journey with Ebeneezer Scrooge through the past, present, and future. We would usually pick the 1984 version starring George C. Scott as Scrooge.
When I was young, I always hated when we got to the part where the “Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come” entered the scene. After seeing the way that Ebeneezer Scrooge treated people in the past and present, I understood that the ghost was simply showing him the consequences of his actions, but as a kid it made the future seem so scary. I think that’s how many of us feel; the future is unknown, it’s mysterious, and it can be scary.
I wonder if that’s how Mary and Joseph felt that first Christmas. Everything was uncertain, unprecedented, and must have been scary as they were looking at this new future. They found themselves far from home at nine months pregnant being forced to take part in a census by a foreign power. As a young couple giving birth to a baby in a manger, there must have been some fear about what was going to happen.
The good news in A Christmas Carol is that the future didn’t have to end up in a scary place. Scrooge found a better way to live into a brighter future. His life was changed for the better as he opened his heart to love. I imagine the same was true for Joseph and Mary that first Christmas night as they looked into the eyes of this newborn baby. Their hearts were opened to love, and their fears began to melt away into a brighter and better future.
The same can be true for each of us. As we look back on our lives, there are always going to be moments we wish we had done differently. As we look to the future, there will always be moments of uncertainty and fear. But the message of Christmas reminds us that when we open our hearts to the gift of God’s love, born in our lives as a baby in a manger, we can follow God into a brighter and better future.
Rev. Josh Attaway, Edmond Campus Pastor
