Isaiah 12:6 “… Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
“A Dickens of a Christmas” was the theme for a series of teas I hosted year before last during the Advent season for our couples’ small group ladies, a group of young women that meet with me for Bible study, and the ladies who live on our cul-de-sac. With a focus on the Victorian era, I began researching the last two hundred years of the history of Christmas, the timeframe in which Dickens’ famous book, A Christmas Carol, was set. It was fascinating to learn that celebrations as we know them only came into fashion around the time that Charles Dickens published his timeless story. Because of the overnight success of his book, which was published and made available for sale on Christmas Eve 1843, the celebration took on new meaning. It was credited with helping to bring families together to celebrate, increasing the generosity of charitable giving, and making popular the phrase “Merry Christmas.”
Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, had a great influence on bringing new traditions into the home by introducing the decorated Christmas tree and fresh greenery to festoon homes; Christmas crackers were invented by Tom Smith; Christmas carols became popular. 1843 was also the year that Christmas cards were created and everyone was charmed by the concept. The spirit of Christmas had returned to England in earnest and many of those traditions took hold in America shortly thereafter, with the United States declaring Christmas to be a national holiday in 1870.
Though the trappings of the holiday can sometimes overwhelm the message, to many of us they add to the joy. Even after the physical evidences of Christmas—the decorations—are carefully packed away for another year, the spiritual evidence lives on in our hearts. I trust that is true for all of us. Dickens’ main character, Scrooge, with a transformed heart, promises:
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
My prayer is that we would all strive in our hearts to honor the true spirit of Christmas—the Christ who came to redeem us—in our hearts all year long. And that we will shout and sing for joy of the Holy One who came to save us and is in our midst every moment, not just at Christmastime. Blessings upon your New Year!
“For somehow, not only at Christmas, but all the long year through, the joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you. ~ John Greenleaf Whittier
Be with us, Lord Jesus, each day in this new year to come. May we honor and praise You with our bodies, our thoughts, our words, our actions and our hearts. Thank you for coming to redeem us so that we can live forever with You and the Father. In Your name we pray. Amen.
