Scrooge, Advent Conspiracy, and me.
I've got a sad Christmas confession. I have never read or watched A Christmas Carol until yesterday. I knew the general premise of it, I knew that Scrooge was a greedy guy who said "Bah Humbug," and I knew that Tiny Tim was some sort of tragic character who said "God bless us, every one." That's about it, though. So on a lazy Saturday with not much going on, I watched the made-for-TV-Patrick Stewart edition. It was not masterfully produced, but it is a GREAT story! Obviously I should have known that; Dickens wrote in the mid-1800's, and for a story and its characters to survive over 150 years is a true literary feat. I love the message of the story; that Christmas is about social justice, about living outside of yourself and living for a purpose. That's the "original" Christmas message that Jesus came to deliver, and that's the message we should remember. I also think it's amazing and rather sad that we haven't progressed much as a species. The same struggles that Jesus talked about in the Bible are the same struggles that Scrooge dealt with in 1850, and they're the same struggles we deal with today. Greed, selfishness, entitlement.I hate it when people say/think/live by "well, it's just the way things have always been, so it's the way they'll always be." What a lazy way of thinking! I'm not trying to pretend that I'm above this line of thinking, because I'm not. I'm grateful for organizations or people who think in broad strokes to solve some of these human conditions. Several people have mentioned a movement called The Advent Conspiracy, and I'm really inspired by their message. It's actually the EXACT message Dickens was going for in A Christmas Carol, and the EXACT message that Jesus was going for in the Bible. Funny how many times we hear the same simple message, yet implementing the message is so difficult. Anyway, I'm really going to try, try, try to live by this theme. Not just at Christmastime, but all the time. Watch the youtube video promotion, and check them out! Simplify, simplify. That was preached by Jesus and Thoreau...both way before our time. I hope I can follow their advice in a crazy, hectic, fast paced 2009!
posted by Erin @ 7:06 AM
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