Gospel According To Carol Christmas Series

A Christmas Carol – A Carole Christmas Story!

Thesis: We need to receive the gift of Jesus and be the gift of Jesus to others because this is the best Christmas gift you can give Jesus for His birthday!

Introduction: Summary of Play:

Tonight, we have been enlightened, we have been blessed as we witnessed the story of a Scrooge like character named, “Carole Christmas.” As she changed from a “Ba Humbugger” to a person filled with the merriment of Christmas. Jamonica Disser wrote our play tonight and helped us apply the old story of “A Christmas Carol” to our own time and lives tonight, I prat that it opened your eyes to our selfish culture of today, to the loss of the true Christmas spirit, to some’s “Ba Humbug attitude toward Christmas – toward the anti- “Merry Christmas” crowd.” Our setting was all too familiar a school, students and a teacher.

What a wonderful story and message we have heard and seen tonight, but even more so what a wonderful change of life for “Carol Christmas.” A modern day “Christmas Carol!” A person who discovered that she did have a Christmas heart and that she could lead a fulfilling and happy life. She discovered that she could have a second chance to change the direction and destiny of her life! The story made me smile and cheer for Carol Christmas and for people like her everywhere – people who see they can change their ways and paths – they can make a difference with their life – they can live a life that is celebrated by others in the end!

I. History behind A Christmas Story:

a. Charles Dickens wrote the famous A Christmas Carol back at the end of 1883 and finished it Dec 19th it sold out by Christmas Eve, it was about 6,000 copies.

i. It was an overnight sensation and would become one of the best sellers of all time. The book has never been out of print. His story is still being told – the message is still getting out.

ii. His message opened the heart of the people of England toward Christmas and to charitable giving. It is said that once the book hit the shelves Charitable giving soared throughout England and continued to climb all the way into 1844.

iii. People read the book and opened their wallets to the poor and the needy.

1. Why you may be thinking? Because no one wanted to be like Scrooge and end up at the end of their life with no family, no friends, no mourners, no joy, no soul and a useless life that meant nothing! Some people do live meaningless lives and waste their lives – I know - I have done some of their funerals! I asked a family to tell one thing their dad did which was good for his funeral – they could not give me an answer! How sad and tragic and a symbol of a wasted life and a lost soul.

II. Why Charles Dickens wrote the Christmas Story:

a. Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol to bring back the spirit of Christmas to England and to the world – to open people’s eyes to selfishness, greed, the horrible condition of homeless children and child labor. The picture is given by Dickens with the visitation of Christmas Present who has two children with him, their names are Ignorance and Want.

i. You see he himself knew what it was like to be thrown into child labor when his father was arrested for failure to pay his debts and he was forced to go work in a shoe polishing factory at the age of 12. It was a dark time for Charles which lasted about a year. He understood the pain of homeless children and slave labor of children because he experienced it.

1. This is why he supported “Ragged Schools” – free schools for children who lived in rags – the reason for their name – He believed that educated children could get out of the realm of poverty, slavery and abuse. His reason for writing A Christmas Carol – one of the best selling books of all time was to change the heart of a greedy society which had lost the meaning of Christmas. They had drifted from the true meaning of Christmas. Not so much different than our own time period today.

b. The meaning of the word Christ – Mas needed to be re-emphasized again in England:

i. Christ - mas – Comes with purpose and meaning - Christ is plane to see in the etymology of this word – it remembers Jesus and his great gift and birth. Then we have “Mas” – this is a reference to a time of remembering, a time to celebrate an event.. We hear this word referred to by the Catholic’s who call their church services “Mass’” So the word simply means, “A celebration and remembrance of the birth of Christ.”