From the comic relief I receive from reading Dennis the Menace I would certainly describe Mr. Wilson as a "humbug" person much like Scrooge. What about us, might those we love ever cast us for the part of Ebenezaar Scrooge?

It is nearly Christmas and perhaps you have had some humbu moments. You may not be able to keep humbug moments from coming, but you do not need to let them stay. When you are feeling humbug, say a hallelujah prayer for a good ending. “Lord, I feel humbug about _________. Help me to find hallelujah in this situation.

As we continue in our journey from humbug to hallelujah, we reach the turning point in the story when Scrooge is faced with the ultimate consequences of his humbug life. The Ghost of Christmas Future arrives and shows Scrooge his destiny.

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The encounter with this ghost brings all of us face to face with the reality of life and death. As Scrooge witnesses a series of vignettes that portray the future it becomes clear that they are different responses people have to his own death. The climax brings Scrooge to a church graveyard. As Scrooge musters up the courage to view the tombstone to which the Ghost of Christmas Future points, he cries out, “Spirit! Hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this [visitation]. Why show me this if I am past hope!… Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!”

Scrooge is asking if he can write a different ending to the tale of his life. He is really begging for the chance to change his life and alter it’s outcome. That is quite a request. Would you like to write your own good ending to your own “Christmas Carol this year?

One of the most powerful energizing words in the English language is the word “hope.” Hope is a power that keeps us going in the toughest times of life. It is the power that energizes us with excitement and anticipation as we look forward to the future. Hope gives us a reason to live. It takes obstacles and transforms them into possibilities. Hope gives us the strength and courage we need to make the most out of life. It has been said that a person can live 40 days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but only four seconds without hope. Hope is a power that energizes us with life.

Is there any hope for us?

Recent studies show a recent sharp decline in hopefulness. According to a Fall 2001 national poll taken by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research: Only one in five report they often feel hopeful about the future. This is a dramatic change from a comparable national survey in 1990, when seven in ten reported they often felt hopeful about the future. (Marilyn Elias, “Proud to be American, even with the jitters,” USA Today online, Oct. 8, 2001)

So how does one find hope? Is it something you can create through optimism or certain mental gymnastics? I would suggest there are four primary steps to hope. It’s the week before Christmas. This week you’re sure to have some humbug moments, if you haven’t already. You can’t keep them from coming, but you can keep them from staying. When you’re feeling humbug, say this hallelujah prayer for a good ending: “Lord, I feel humbug about ______. Help me to find hallelujah in this situation.” You fill in the request, and watch the Lord provide the answer.

Also, I’m believing that numbers of you will be able to briefly tell us about your positive journey this year from humbug to hallelujah at our Christmas Eve/Day service. Please come prepared to do that.

Is there any hope for us?
Recent studies show a recent sharp decline in hopefulness. According to a Fall 2001 national poll taken by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research: Only one in five report they often feel hopeful about the future. This is a dramatic change from a comparable national survey in 1990, when seven in ten reported they often felt hopeful about the future. (Marilyn Elias, “Proud to be American, even with the jitters,” USA Today online, Oct. 8, 2001)

So how does one find hope? Is it something you can create through optimism or certain mental gymnastics? I would suggest there are four primary steps to hope.

Accepting the truth about life and about ourselves

Some people in an effort to move us from the theoretical to the practical may ask “So what’s the bottom line?” What do we do with what we know about ourselves? The only way to fulfill God’s highest and best purpose for our life is to face reality as fully and truthfully as possible.

Biblically speaking, our hope must be based on reality, not dreams and fantasies of our own creation. Many people assume Jesus only spoke to comfort the afflicted. But we must realize that he also spoke messages that afflict the comfortable. One such story was that of the rich man and a poor man, Lazarus (different from the Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead in John 11) in Luke 16:19–31:

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.” But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” He answered, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.” “No, father Abraham,” he said, “but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

Like Scrooge, the rich man is shown the consequences of his choices--but for him, it was too late. This parable reminds us that we will all face a day of reckoning--when we will see the bottom line of our lives. This is not meant as a threat. It’s simply a fact. It is not a matter of if, but when.

That brings us to the second step to hope.

Accepting the truth about God

The message doesn’t end with bad news. God’s purpose in calling us to face the truth is not to discourage us--any more than a doctor intends to upset or insult us by telling us the hard truth about our disease. He tells us the truth so we can understand the possibilities for healing. We must hear the bad news in order to receive the good news. The good news--indeed the Great News!--is that God’s goal is our redemption, our reconciliation, and our salvation. The Bible tells the story of a God who loves us so much that he not only created us, but also pursued us so that we could live forever with him. He has overcome every obstacle that could keep us from him--every obstacle except our unbelief. He wants to make this message known to all.

As we turn to today’s scripture in Matthew 2, the story of the wise men inspires hope by showing us the ever-reaching love of God. In this account, God uses heavenly signs to point the way for those who were not Jewish. They may or may not have known the specific promises concerning the coming of the Messiah, but God spoke to them in a way they could understand. And their hope stirred them to action. Ironically, their faith and hope stand in stark contrast to the attitude of Herod, king of Jews. As we study the wise men and Herod, we learn two more steps that help us unlock the hope that came with Jesus’ birth.

The wise men and Herod portray the radically different responses that Christ evokes. The wise men write a good ending to their lives, but Herod writes a horrid one--dying of an incurable disease. What do we learn from them? We learn that writing a good ending to your “Christmas Carol” and to your life means that you take control and interrupt the inevitable course of events. This happens when the grace and power of God give us a new vision for life. The only hope for breaking free from the humbug life is to capture the vision for the life God means us to live.

Herod rejected God’s invitation to a new way of life. He rejected the news of a messiah--seeing him as a rival to be destroyed rather than a savior to be worshipped. Herod’s goal was to advance his own glory--no matter what the price. He represents those who cling to everything in spite of all that God does to the contrary. What did Herod do? He ignored God, he brought the greatest possible pain to others, and he lost his soul!

The wise men responded much differently. Their vision was to respond to the work and promise of God. In doing so they were actually used by God to save the life of the Messiah! The wise men demonstrate the third and fourth principles that can help us recover hope. In addition to accepting the truth about ourselves, and learning the truth about God, we must learn to pay attention to God.

PAYING ATTENTION TO GOD

The wise men paid attention to God. Unlike Herod, they followed the Lord’s leading. Their eyes were lifted from the mundane things of life. They were also free from vainglory and personal ambition. They took the risk of seeing what God was doing, and of going where God was working. As a result, they had the unspeakable joy of meeting the Christ child.

Are you looking beyond the circumstances of this world to see the hand of God at work in your midst? Have you taken time to read God's Word, so that you can know his mind and heart? As followers of Christ, we are instructed not to look at the stars) but to God’s Word (Deut. 18:9–13 for direction and for the interpretation of life. We are to seek God in prayer for wisdom and guidance. As we do, hope springs to life.

But acting on what we learn also has a cost.

BEING READY TO MAKE SACRIFICES TO FOLLOW GOD’S LEADING

The way of hope is the way of sacrifice. Little that’s meaningful comes without sacrifice. The wise men sacrificed whatever was necessary to respond to God. They left their homes and endured a rigorous journey, with an uncertain outcome. In the process, they gave both themselves and their gifts.

One of my favorite stories is about a missionary teaching in Africa. Before Christmas he had been telling his native students how Christians, as an expression of their joy, gave each other presents on Christ’s birthday.

On Christmas morning, one of the natives brought the missionary a seashell of lustrous beauty. When asked where he had discovered such an extraordinary shell, the native said he had walked many miles to a certain bay, the only spot where such shells could be found.

“I think it was wonderful of you to travel so far to get this lovely gift for me,” the teacher exclaimed.

His eyes brightening, the native replied, “Long walk, part of the gift.”

(Gerald H. Bath, quoted in Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, Rockville, MD: Assurance Publishers, 1979, #6035)

Get a new start on life--starting now!

I am struck by the phrase in Matthew 2:12: “They went home another way.” I know this literally means that the wise men took a different route home, because they wanted to avoid running into Herod and having to expose the birthplace of the Messiah. But I can't help seeing a homiletical gem in the fact that they went home as different people because they had met the Lord. They were not the same, because they had met the living Lord and seen him work. I have to believe they changed their priorities. They learned the joy of worship instead of exalting themselves, the joy of giving instead of hoarding. They learned that the real bottom line in life, the real source of hope and value was in what God was doing, not in what they could achieve for themselves.

You may be at a point where you want to go home another way. You want a new start. You may wonder if that is possible--either because of mistakes you have made or because of pain you have suffered. I want to encourage you with this affirmation: You can get a new start on life--starting now! Dr. James Dobson tells a story of an elderly woman who was facing the need for a new start.

Stella Thornhope was struggling with her first Christmas alone. Her husband had died just a few months prior through a slowly developing cancer. Now, several days before Christmas, she was almost snowed in by a brutal weather system. She felt terribly alone--so much so that she decided she was not going to decorate for Christmas.

Late that afternoon the doorbell rang, and there was a delivery boy with a box. He said, "Mrs. Thornhope?" She nodded.

He said, "Would you sign here?" She invited him to step inside and closed the door to get away from the cold. She signed the paper and said, "What's in the box?"

The young man laughed and opened the flap, and inside was a little puppy, a Golden Labrador Retriever. The delivery boy picked up the squirming pup and explained, "This is for you, Ma'am. He's six weeks old, completely housebroken." The young puppy began to wiggle in happiness at being released from captivity.

"Who sent this?" Mrs. Thornhope asked.

The young man set the animal down and handed her an envelope and said, "It's all explained here in this envelope, Ma'am. The dog was bought last July while its mother was still pregnant. It was meant to be a Christmas gift to you." The young man then handed her a book, How to Care for Your Labrador Retriever.

In desperation she again asked, "Who sent me this puppy?"

As the young man turned to leave, he said, "Your husband, Ma'am. Merry Christmas."

She opened up the letter from her husband. He had written it three weeks before he died and left it with the kennel owners to be delivered with the puppy as his last Christmas gift to her. The letter was full of love and encouragement and admonishments to be strong. He vowed that he was waiting for the day when she would join him. He had sent her this young animal to keep her company until then.

She wiped away the tears, put the letter down; and then, remembering the puppy at her feet, she picked up that golden furry ball and held it to her neck. Looking out the window at the lights that outlined a neighbor's house, she heard from the kitchen radio the strains of “Joy to the World.” Suddenly, Stella felt an amazing sensation of peace. Her heart felt a joy and wonder greater than the grief and loneliness.

"Little fella," she said to the dog, "It's just you and me. But you know what? There's a box down in the basement I'll bet you'd like. It's got a little Christmas tree in it and some decorations and some lights that are going to impress you. And there's a manger scene down there. Let's go get it."

God has a way of sending a signal of light to remind us life is stronger than death. Light is more powerful than darkness. God is more powerful than Satan. Good will overcome evil.

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light," the prophet said. "On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned" (Matt. 4:16). (Robert Russell, writer and pastor, Preaching Today website #195)

The light would dawn also for Scrooge. But it wasn’t an easy process. His Christmas teaching is what C. S. Lewis calls a "severe mercy": a painful experience meant to lead us into God’s mercy and into a better life.

You too may find it a severe mercy to face the fact that you may be infected by the humbug virus. You are especially vulnerable when you’re tired, stressed, and/or wounded, or when you are under-nourished by the Word, worship and fellowship of God. When you allow the light of truth to reveal your humbug tendencies, however, you begin to thaw from the chill. Then you can warm others and yourself in the Holy Spirit of Christ's coming.

What is God saying to you? What story are you writing? If things stay as they are now, how will it end? If you could write a different ending, what would it be like? I think often of this short poem, which I call “The Gospel According to You”:

You write a gospel, a chapter a day
By the deeds that you do, and the words that you say,
And people judge that gospel whether faulty or true.
Say--what's the gospel according to you?
(Author unknown)

The hope of Christmas is that God can change us. We can be different people. By faith in Christ, we can write a new ending, a very happy ending to our “Christmas Carol,” and to our entire lives.

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