Only for Christmas Eve

  The Journey of a Lifetime Begins Tonight!

I cannot go through Christmas Eve without that Dicken's of a story--A Christmas Carol.  Of course, we are with the Holy Family on that donkey plodding to Bethlehem, aren't we--and that is after all--"the story of stories."  Christmas Carol is great because it plays out that nativity story. The world on earth opens into the kingdom of heaven, the angels sing, and life is indeed never the same. 

Even so, who does not like that thriller of Marley's dramatic entrance through doors bolted and double bolted?  The world of the miser cannot lock itself out of God's work--which is the reclamation of one soul.  In the same way that God focuses his attention on the Child of Bethlehem....the center of all Creation--at the same time, not one single soul is forgotten with every hair counted on Scrooge's head.
 

 Of course, the focus is on old Scrooge, but listen carefully to the dialogue.  Why does Scrooge of all people get this second chance.  "A chance of MY procuring," says Marley.  The Nativity Story is the story of hope born into the world.

But what of Jacob Marley?  When does his second chance come?  Well, you need to read Tom Mula's Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol to find out.  It has something to do with his ability to redeem Scrooge.  Sin binds us in chains.  Grace breaks them and frees us--apparently even in the afterlife we have a "ghost" of a chance. 

Then again, perhaps...let Bill Murray have the last word from the contemporary Christmas Carol called "Scrooged:"

It's Christmas Eve! It's... it's the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we... we... we smile a little easier, we... w-w-we... we... we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be!

Perhaps the story we tell as Christians is that Christ comes to be with us to walk with us into the year.
May it be said of us!