Ministers’ Message
There is something remarkable about the Ghost of Christmas Present. This spirit brings Scrooge into the world he already lives in, yet has not truly seen. The rooms are familiar. The faces are familiar. The moments are simple. And still, everything appears different when he is perhaps a bit more willing to see. For the first time in years, Scrooge begins to see the people around him as people, not as obstacles, objects, or afterthoughts, but as human beings with love, struggle, delight, and hope woven through their days.
Of all his spirit encounters, I believe this ghost holds the tension in Scrooge’s bitter question, “What good has Christmas ever done for me?” more than any other, and the answer unfolds in each scene. Christmas has been doing good everywhere. It has been doing good in homes he never entered, in families he overlooked, and in neighbours he dismissed. Christmas has been nourishing generosity, strengthening bonds of love, and sustaining people through hardship. All of this goodness has been rising around him, without him and despite him. And now the ghost reveals that this goodness could grow even stronger with his participation, for his sake and for the sake of others.
Scrooge sees this most clearly in the Cratchitt home. Their poverty is real, yet so is their joy. The laughter of the children, the care in the cooking, the pride Bob takes in his family: all of it speaks a truth Scrooge has forgotten. Love thrives in places where generosity and gratitude live side by side. When Bob raises his glass and calls Scrooge “the founder of the feast,” Scrooge hears his own name spoken with sincerity for the first time in years, and even he wonders how such kindness could be meant for him. That moment begins something in him. A crack opens. His transformation does not wait for a later ghost. It begins here, as he witnesses the grace already alive in the world around him.
The spirit then leads him to his nephew’s home, where Fred and his friends play their lively game of “Yes and No.” Even as they laugh at Scrooge’s expense, there is warmth in the room. Fred’s affection for his uncle has not dimmed. Fred’s welcome has always been sincere. Scrooge realizes that he has stood just beyond the edges of a community that would gladly have embraced him. Joy was within reach, yet he never stepped toward it.
Christmas has been doing good all along, even in places Scrooge thought barren of hope. Scene by scene, Scrooge discovers that the goodness of Christmas has never been absent. It has simply been unacknowledged. And now he sees what could flourish if he chose to enter the circle of life he has been watching from the outside.
The encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Present invites Scrooge to step toward this life rather than watching it from the outside. It asks whether he will receive what has always been offered, and whether he will allow love to shape him again.
When I think of our own lives, I wonder how many moments of grace unfold around us while we hurry through our days. How often we miss the beauty in someone’s kindness. How easily we overlook the possibility of joy in an ordinary moment. How rarely we notice the people who carry love quietly and faithfully.
If you would like to revisit Scrooge’s journey with this spirit, you will find it in A Christmas Carol, Stave Three.
As we enter this third week of Advent, I encourage you to look at the life unfolding around you. Notice the people who carry light in your days. Notice the small joys that rise in unexpected places. Notice the grace that is already doing good in your world. Advent reminds us that joy does not wait for perfection. It is already growing. And it is inviting us, just as it invited Scrooge, to be part of it.