Advent begins November 30. This advent we will explore how Charles Dicken’s classic novel A Christmas Carol can help us find and embrace the hope, peace, joy and love we need now.
A Christmas Carol is a story of brokenness and redemption. The beginning of the story is dark—the book opens with the words “Marley was dead.” We soon meet Marley, former partner of the main character Ebenezer Scrooge, as a ghost. Marley’s ghost promises Scrooge that a trio of ghosts will be visiting him, and the reader is to presume that none of the visits will be pleasant. Scrooge begins the story as an unrepentant miser whose greed has caused harm to himself and others and ends with him a changed—a redeemed—man. Just as Christ brings light and hope to a world in darkness, the events of A Christmas Carol shine light into the darkness surrounding Scrooge’s life, ultimately leading him to embrace the hope, peace, joy, and love we associate with Christmas.
