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 a few years ago with a focus on the Victorian era. To gain some historical context, 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.”
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. I pray blessings upon your New Year, dear readers!
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. May we live in the confidence that You care about all that concerns us: our health, our finances, our families, our churches, our friendships, and our country. Thank you for giving us hope by coming to redeem us so that we can live forever with You and the Father. In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen
“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
