Of all the secular stories that one gets offered during the Christmas Season, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens stands forward as my favorite.  We know the tale that tells of a miserly individual named Ebenezer Scrooge.  (In fact, “scrooge” has entered our language to describe a miser.)  Scrooge’s only concern is profit and he treats people without respect or compassion.  His deceased colleague, Jacob Marley, appears to him as a ghost and tells him of his need to repent.  Then, Marley promises the visit of three spirits who could lead Scrooge to the right path.  We know how the story progresses.  The Spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future enable Scrooge to understand his life and his world.  And so, he repents to become the generous and kind man with whom the story concludes.

The tale has been portrayed numerous times in movies, animated films, and theatrical releases.  Each year, I seek to watch several versions.  I like it and learn from it.

One scene always emerges most powerfully for me.  Towards the end of his encounter with the Spirit of Christmas Present, Scrooge notices something protruding from the robe of the Spirit.  He asks and the Spirit brings forth two emaciated children.  And he explains:

“They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!” cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. “Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And bide the end!”

This scene, more than any other in the story, holds out Dickens’ criticism of the social injustice and neglect of his time.  The suffering of the poor cannot be denied.  Hunger and ignorance represent their needs for the necessities of life and a useful education.  “Ignorance” is held up as the primary lack because the poor cannot better themselves without knowledge and training.  Yet people, such as Scrooge, choose to deny the situations and the sufferings before their eyes.  Accusations against the oppressed abound and rationalizations condemn their behavior.  Severe treatment becomes the norm.  The story highlights some of those realities in Scrooge’s own words which the Spirit throws back at him: “Are there no prisons?”  . . . “Are there no workhouses?”

It is difficult to watch this story and listen to these words without needing to apply them in our time and in our own country.  Like Scrooge, we might say that we do not need forgiveness or conversion because we have done nothing wrong.  The lack of compassion and understanding hold sway.

Vincent would have grasped the import and the truth of the Spirit’s witness.  I wonder how much Victorian London would remind him of the Paris of his own time.  He would have understood the harm that ignorance can cause.  He places education and evangelization at the core of the mission.

“A Christmas Carol” invites an awareness of the reality of our time and of the possibility for a Spirit-driven repentance.  I can hear its teaching as being applied to myself.