How Scrooge Got It All Wrong
Scrooge really doesn’t get it, someone thought. Perhaps he needs a little shove. It was a fine Christmas Eve, and Ebenezer Scrooge was at home eating his supper. He had done well that day. Corn sold at above the market rate. Debts collected from people who couldn’t afford it. He’d put Bob Cratchit in his…
Not a Christmas Carol
* “No!” yelled Evelyn at the apparition. “No! You’ve got it all wrong!” “As I was saying,” the ghost intoned, “you will be visited by three spirits.” “Yes, I know. Christmas past, Christmas present, Christmas future. Everybody knows that. It’s been done and redone. But it doesn’t apply to me.” The ghost looked mildly disturbed,…
Isaiah 58 – A Slightly Poetic Paraphrase
Let your voice be heard!Don’t hold back!Announce it with fanfare.Tell my people they’ve left,Veered right off the path. Even so, they keep looking for me,as though they really like my way.They act like they’ve been righteous,Coloring inside my established lines.They want me to judge righteously,as though they really want to obey. “We’ve fasted. Why don’t…
Two Christmas Stories
I’m making two earlier Christmas stories from this blog sticky and linking them here. I may manage to write a new Christmas story, but these two have been on my mind today. There are at least two ways of going off the rails with charity. One is becoming a scrooge–a stick in the mud, miserable…
In One Sentence: Nothing to Be Thankful For
“I don’t see where I have anything to be thankful for,” said the 95 year old man grumpily as he trimmed roses in the garden of his suburban home, and looked across the yard at his wife. (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)
The Worship Committee Meeting
As the committee meeting started to wind up, the chairman, Randall Cummings, a true elder in the church, turned to the young visitor and said, “Well, you haven’t commented very much. I take it you think these are good ideas or you would have told us.” Virgil Moore had just turned 21, and was visiting…