Part 10 of series: Christmas According to Dickens Why Did Ebenezer Scrooge Change? Stave III (Part 2) In my last post in this series, I began considering what in Stave III contributes to the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge’s heart. I summarized the events of Stave III, focusing especially on Scrooge’s response to children in need: Tiny Tim of the Cratchit family and the two wretched children who hide under the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Present. Today, I want... Read more
Click on the image to the right to see the Advent Doodle for Sunday, December 18. For the last seven years, I have put up an online Advent calendar during the season of Advent. It featured pictures suitable for the season, matched with passages of Scripture. This year, I’m doing an online Advent Calendar once again, but with some exciting new content. I am using Advent Doodles by my wife, Linda. She has a unique ministry of doodling, combining her... Read more
Advent Reflection on God’s Promise to David Psalm 89:1-52 Lord, where is your unfailing love? You promised it to David with a faithful pledge. Psalm 89:49 On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we remember that we are waiting for the one who is the Son of David, the rightful king of Israel. Psalm 89 accentuates this kind of waiting, first by celebrating God’s unfailing love, which was expressed through the Lord’s covenant with David. The Lord promised: “I will establish... Read more
Click on the image to the right to see the Advent Doodle for Saturday, December 17. For the last seven years, I have put up an online Advent calendar during the season of Advent. It featured pictures suitable for the season, matched with passages of Scripture. This year, I’m doing an online Advent Calendar once again, but with some exciting new content. I am using Advent Doodles by my wife, Linda. She has a unique ministry of doodling, combining her... Read more
The headline of this New York Times article caught my eye and sped up my pulse: “U.S. Safety Board Urges Cellphone Ban for Drivers.” They’re not talking only about handheld cellphone usage: As part of its recommendation, the National Transportation Safety Board is urging states to ban drivers from using hands-free devices, including wireless headsets. No state now outlaws such activity, but the board said that drivers faced serious risks from talking on wireless headsets, just as they do by... Read more
Two recent news stories share a common theme: Your life is not private. For better or for worse, you are living in public. Millions of people and hundreds of pundits believe that this is, truly, for worse. I want to argue a point on the other side. In some ways, the expansion of public living and the loss of privacy just might be a good thing. Before you fire off a nasty comment – which will be in public, by... Read more
Click on the image to the right to see the Advent Doodle for Friday, December 16. For the last seven years, I have put up an online Advent calendar during the season of Advent. It featured pictures suitable for the season, matched with passages of Scripture. This year, I’m doing an online Advent Calendar once again, but with some exciting new content. I am using Advent Doodles by my wife, Linda. She has a unique ministry of doodling, combining her... Read more
Part 9 of series: Christmas According to Dickens Why Did Ebenezer Scrooge Change? Stave III When we last left Ebenezer Scrooge, he had just finished being visited by the first of three Christmas Spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past. He fell into bed, exhausted. At the beginning of Stave III, Scrooge awakes, ready for the visit of the next of the three Spirits. This visitor is the Ghost of Christmas Present, a giant being who exudes the extravagant joy of... Read more
Click on the image to the right to see the Advent Doodle for Thursday, December 15. For the last seven years, I have put up an online Advent calendar during the season of Advent. It featured pictures suitable for the season, matched with passages of Scripture. This year, I’m doing an online Advent Calendar once again, but with some exciting new content. I am using Advent Doodles by my wife, Linda. She has a unique ministry of doodling, combining her... Read more
Why Did Ebenezer Scrooge Change? Stave II In my last post, I began to examine A Christmas Carol to discover why Ebenezer Scrooge changed so dramatically. I showed that we see the tiniest hint of his transformation in his interaction with the ghost of Jacob Marley, whose graciousness to Scrooge elicited a morsel of gratitude from the old miser. Yet Marley’s impact would be most keenly felt, not in his visit, but in his sending three other spirits to “haunt”... Read more
Mark D. Roberts
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