Ebenezer

Thu 22 Dec 2011 Filed in: Reflections | My Life
Scrooge was well named. Amidst all the fictional characters of the Christmas season, he ranks high on my list of favorites. I remember as a six year old in England going to the theater with my older brother to see the classic 1951 film version of Dickens’ classic tale (it’s still my favorite film version) and sitting in utter fascination through two showings of the film to the consternation of our parents who wondered where we’d gotten to. Ebenezer Scrooge. His first name is biblical and means a stone of help or remembrance. While I don’t think much of Dickens’ theology, his creation has served as an ebenezer for generations pointing people beyond the frustrations of the season.

It should go without saying that Christmas is not about lights, shopping, Santa, Rudolph, the Grinch, Elf, Frosty, trees, or even Scrooge or Charlie Brown. It’s about Jesus. But much of the culture in which I live has lost sight of that reality. And sometimes I can, too. I need an occasional ebenezer, a stone of remembrance that points me to the Who of Christmas.

Each year I need to discover afresh the staggering magnitude of the miracle of the incarnation. God becoming flesh; the Creator stepping into creation. And I need to remember why. I’m thankful for the ebenezers that serve to remind me of the reality beyond the tinsel.

Whatever your ebenezer, I hope you are looking beyond it to the Christ who is at the center of a truly happy Christmas.
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