I saw a strange phenomenon on my last visit to Walt Disney World. It occurred during the closing firework display in front of Cinderella's Castle. If you haven't been to WDW and seen the nighttime extravaganza it is phenomenal but that is not what I'm talking about. What appeared to me to be so strange, so exceptional, and so abnormal as to call it a phenomenon was the sea of blue screens that popped up over the gathered crowd.

I stood there watching hundreds, perhaps thousands of people pull out a small recording device; be it a camera, video recorder, or cell phone and like putting on 3D glasses before a movie; they put these devices up and watched the entire show through their small screen.

What is so strange about this? Well stop and think about it. They were exchanging reality for recording, living color for tintype, grand spectacle for miniature screen. In essence they were there but not there, they saw but did not see. I was so confounded, no dumbfounded...maybe even stupefied. Why would anyone miss the moment, the beauty, the romance, the glory in exchange for the recorded, the mundane, the imitation on a very small screen?

Then it hit me. We do it all the time. It is the same phenomenon that makes a person standing in line at Disney World text someone who isn't there rather than speak to someone who is there. It is the same phenomenon that makes a person sit alone in a coffee shop in front of a small screen rather than sit and converse with another person. I could go on and on but the point is we are addicted to the small screen and the tragedy is this addiction leads us into a very small story. No wonder life seems dull, boring, routine, and even ugly. We are viewing it through the wrong lens.

I am going to close this small screen and go for a walk. I am going to breathe deeply, look at the sky, and maybe even find somebody to talk to.

 Ebenezer Scrooge is the famous name of the main character in Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. Everyone knows the name but what about the meaning? What does Ebenezer Scrooge mean and why does it matter?
 
Ebenezer
If you watch the movie or read the novel you will notice that in the early scenes of his life Scrooge is called by his first name Ebenezer. Ebenezer is a good name, it is a biblical name. In the Hebrew it means "Rock of Help" and it appears in the Bible when the prophet Samuel ( I Samuel 7) sets up a memorial stone to remind Israel of how God delivered them from the Philistines. God is their "Rock of Help".

Scrooge
Scrooge is the name the character is most often referred to when he gets older. Yes, it probably is his last name but there is far more going on here than a transition from first to last names. Scrooge the noun means #1. Ebenezer, a miserly curmudgeon in Dickens A Christmas Carol. #2. Any miserly person. Scrooge the verb comes from the word scrouge and means to squeeze.* That is exactly what Scrooge the miser does as he squeezes others in order to enrich himself, in order to provide for himself.

Exile
So when does Ebenezer become Scrooge and why does it matter? Well the popularity of A Christmas Carol over all these years tells you that it is a timeless tale that touches people in their heart. It is a story we all can identify with and here's why.

The first spirit takes Scrooge into his past and shows him " a solitary child, neglected by his friends", and left alone at a boarding school. Exiled from his father, alienated from others the seed of self preservation takes root in his heart. And how does one take care of and provide for himself or herself? With money. It is the idol that so easily sets itself up in every heart, replacing God the Father, the God who richly provides for His children.

Dallas Willard writes: " Most people fail to serve because they have a sense of scarcity in their lives. Out of their scarcity they refuse to serve because they're worried that if they serve someone else, there won't be enough left for them. We can serve only out of abundance. Jesus had that abundance because he knew where he came from and where he was going."*

When you're trying to provide for yourself, enough is never enough. When you trust God for your provision, you realize He is enough.

Return
Scrooge is delivered from his miserly, meager existence by falling through death into life.* It is a beautiful picture of restoration to God that is accomplished through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, the true Servant. Scrooge becomes Ebenezer, a "Rock of Help". He becomes who he was created to be , a restoration of original glory. He becomes a servant and as Dickens writes" He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other old city, town or borough, in the good old world. *  

                              Merry Christmas and God Bless Us, Every One!

Notes
1. Random House Webster's College Dictionary
2. "Surrendering Our Kingdom To The God Who Is Enough" by Dallas Willard
3. See Movieglimpse A Christmas Carol
4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I had just finished reading the chapter Great Stories Have Memorable Scenes in Donald Miller's new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years when my granddaughter asked me to read her Fancy Nancy. I don't remember which Fancy Nancy book we were reading but the storyline told about the time Fancy Nancy's plain parents dressed up "fancy" and went with her to the local restaurant. I thought to myself now that's a memorable scene and without a thought as to where this might lead I said to my granddaughter, "would you like to go fancy to McDonalds"? Her eyes lit up and you could literally see the wheels turning in her little head trying to imagine what going fancy to McDonalds might be like. We finished our story and off to bed we went, but she did not forget.

The next morning my daughter asked me if I had said "something" to Lily Grace about going fancy to McDonalds. Oh.....caught in the act. I confessed that I had and explained the context of the Fancy Nancy book. Feeling responsible for placing my daughter in a predicament, I had to somehow figure out how to go fancy to McDonalds. That is when I decided to make a "memorable scene" for Lily Grace.

Fortunately for me Halloween was only a week away. I had been invited to attend Lily Grace's preschool parade and party. Why not dress up and surprise her? I could come as her fairy grandmother. I ransacked my closet and discovered a long winter formal I had worn to a friend's wedding years ago....perfect! Then I fetched the old shoe box with my grandmother's gaudy costume jewelry finding earrings and rhinestones for my shoes....perfect! Finally I was off to the Disney store for a Tinkerbelle crown and a pair of light up wings ( at this point I was beginning to sing Bibbity Bobbity Boo to myself).

The Thursday before Halloween I drove to Hickory in my formal attire. I was hoping I wouldn't be stopped for a speeding ticket or break down with a flat tire or have any other reason to exit my vehicle. Arriving at the school I made a sweeping fairy grandmother entrance into Lily Grace's classroom. When she saw me she flew across the room into my arms in awestruck wonder. Memorable scene you bet. She then proceeded to lead me over to her spot on the floor for story time and snuggled close to me as if she never wanted the magic to end. And after we had paraded and snacked our way through the morning there was only one thing left to do, go fancy to McDonalds.

I will forever be grateful to Donald Miller for writing such an inspiring book. I could have been the grandmother bystander that day; instead I entered into the story and gave Lily Grace and myself a memorable scene we will never forget. Somehow I think that is all the Lord wants us to do...enter in to His story and stop being the bystander. One thing is for sure, it is a lot more fun.

Orbit* n. 1. The curved path, usually elliptical, described by a planet, satellite, spaceship, etc. around a celestial body.
             2. The usual course of one's life.
             3. The sphere of influence, as of a nation or person.
           

There was a time when all men perceived that the sun was in orbit around the earth. Everyday they would see it rising in the east and setting in the west and from where they stood the sun was clearly moving around the earth.

Well those of us who live this side of the Enlightenment and the Age of Scientific Discovery know just how foolish that perception was. It may look like the sun goes around the earth but nothing could be further from the truth. Earth is in fact orbiting the sun along with several other planets ( that keeps changing but that is another story).

How interesting then to consider definition #2 of the word orbit. We all come into this world with the perception that the world and everyone in it revolves around us, ourselves, or more succinctly me, myself and I. We can spend an entire lifetime with this mistaken notion and when things begin to crash and burn as they always will we wonder what is wrong. Why is this happening to me? The idea that there is another reality which is in fact the ultimate truth for the way things work; the way they orbit, never enters our heads.

The "pre-enlightment" people may have been wrong about the earth's orbit ( definition #1), but they were actually quite knowledgeable about definition #2. They knew they were not the center of the universe, God as revealed in His Son Jesus Christ was. They lived in a "Christocentric" world which meant that everything found its meaning, its life, in orbit around the Son. That was how God created the universe and that was how He sustained the universe.

The question that begs to be answered is; who is at the center of your universe? Before a quick response that God of course is, stop and think about this. The "I" does not easily give itself over to the "Thou". It would much rather try and remain at the center and draw others into its sphere of influence (definition #3), God included. For the I to be replaced by the Thou requires a death. There are many in the Christian Community that have yet to be thus enlightened.

For the I who can die and accept the Thou at the center there is another kind of life, a whole and lasting life. It produces great stability and a unique place in the cosmos reflecting a far greater glory than self. It is the glory of the Son.

* Randon House Webster's College Dictionary

Every time I need a quick pick me up or just want to get a little joy in my life I click on the You Tube clip of Susan Boyle and the magic happens all over again. I laugh and cry, I clap my hands and cheer just like the audience in the Britains Got Talent show.

Why do I have this response to this clip? Why did the world have this response? It is not enough to say we like to see an underdog win. No there is something truly magical happening and I think I know what it is. In one word....Glory.

We are watching in a few minutes time the unveiling of glory. Here is a perfectly plain earthen vessel and the world mocks, scorns, and ridicules her. You can see it on their faces. Ha! Let's have a good laugh at her expense. And then she opens her mouth and begins to sing the song of all the miserable outcasts. But the voice, her voice is glorious.

Yes, hidden glory is being revealed...unveiled. It is the same moment the butterfly comes out of the cocoon, or when the ugly duckling becomes the swan and it is happening right before our eyes on You Tube! No wonder people stand and cheer, weep and laugh, click the play button one more time. Way down deep everyone has the hope that this is not all there is... that I am not all I am. It is as if we have a memory of something much more but have fallen into a sorry estate. Isn't that like all the fairy tales? So we cheer for her voice, her song and we love her. It is the happily ever after and if there is a hidden glory in Susan Boyle well just maybe......

"But we shall all be changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye"
I Corinthians 15: 51-52

Yesterday was trash collection day. I went for my usual morning walk and came upon an unpleasant sight. Someone had rolled their container out to the curb the night before with way too many bags. The overflowing container was raided during the night by hungry animals and now in morning light trash was flying all over the neighborhood. What struck me at that moment was how one person's inappropriate disposal of their trash had now become another person's problem.

Not too unlike our sin I thought. When sin is not properly disposed of by confession, repentance, and taking it to the cross, it overflows and affects everyone we come in contact with, especially those who are really "close neighbors". It was a good reminder that there is no such thing as my own personal private sin. I wonder how many lives are cluttered with my resentment, anger, unforgivness, jealousy, pride etc.

The trash made me think of Pixar's movie Wall-E where the whole earth is made uninhabitable because of human waste. Perhaps what is going on in the natural is a picture of what is taking place in the spiritual. If we want to clean up the environment maybe we ought to start in that realm first. If we only understood that God has provided a way out of the mess, a way into new life and new creation.

"But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed". Isaiah 53:5.

Yesterday I went to an animal park with my grandchildren. What a glorious day! We took the horse drawn wagon ride that takes you through the park and allows you to feed the animals. Deer, water buffalo, elk, pot bellied pigs all circle the wagon wanting you to feed them. You get up close and personal with wet noses, long tongues, and big eyes. Great fun.

The only part of the ride that always tends to make me sad is when you go to see the rhino. He is all alone in a walled compound of dry Carolina clay. Usually he is lying under his little shade canopy. Every time I see him I think" this is not how it is supposed to be ...you don't belong here." But for the other animals I have always thought what a great life, until yesterday.

I drove home and pulled into my driveway at 2:00 in the afternoon, and there in my front yard stood a doe and a very young fawn. If it hadn't been my house I might have thought they were statues! I live on a city street not out in the country and yet here they were, very much alive. Not only were they alive and well, but they were beautiful and glorious.

What really caught my attention was my response to the deer. I was enthralled with them. I wanted to stand and watch them. I wanted to love them and take care of them. Their beauty captured my heart. Then I realized I didn't have that response to the deer at the park...or the goats...or the sheep... or the elk... or the birds. What was the difference?

In a word CAPTIVITY. I think I realized in a moment the glorious beauty of God's original creation and the great tragedy of the "fall". Our original job description was to take care of the zoological kingdom ( Genesis 1:28). We can only imagine what that might have actually looked like. Animal parks as good as they may be, are a faint reflection of that original calling. Captivity as kind and good as it may be some how shrouds the glory. That is what I was "seeing"; the animals at the park had lost their glory. I'd always seen it in the rhino, "this isn't the way it is supposed to be, you don't belong here". Now I could see it in the deer and the other animals. We purchase animals and put them in parks or zoos so we can get up close and personal and we see them like specimens, rather than an incredible part of God's glorious creation.

Glory is lost with captivity...it happens to humans too.

I went for a Ferris wheel ride. It wasn't a grand Ferris wheel like the one in Paris, no it was the kind found in small amusement parks. This one was perched on the side of a mountain in North Carolina.

My granddaughter was with me and perhaps that explains the reason for my death grip on the pole that acted as our safety bar and seat belt. Well at least I can use that for an excuse...but really I think it was fear.

What I noticed was a strange phenomenon. For most of the ride I was gripping very tightly on the bar and there was no joy, no beauty, no sense of anything but the feeling of that grip. But there were a few moments of freedom, of letting go, of release and in those moments came a flood of sensations. My senses awakened. I could feel my hair blowing in the breeze, I saw the the clouds and the mountains, I felt the warmth of the sun, I heard the laughter, and I tasted joy. Then the death grip returned and all that went away; eyes closed , ears deaf, touch gone, nothing but fear.

The next day I heard a sermon. It was all good information but toward the end the pastor said something that really caught my attention. "I have been told there are two kinds of people basically, those who are manipulative ( he had his hands closed tight in a fist facing down) and those who are contemplative ( he opened his fists and turned them palms up)."

Oh I got the message. I knew exactly what the Lord was showing me on that Ferris wheel ride. I spend most of my life gripping the bar in fear which is a control/manipulative based life. Shutting down my senses of sight, taste, touch, hearing, smell and most of all my heart.

The times I let go of this fear based life and become "contemplative"  my hands are open to receive all the life the Lord has to give me and I come alive....fully alive. What is impressed in my memory of the Ferris wheel ride are those few moments of well, glory. I have forgotten all the rest.

Ten cubic yards of mulch did not sound like very much. However, when the dump truck unloaded it in my driveway it was a mountain. A mountain of dirt basically. It took me about ten hours of hard labor to distribute the mulch to the beds in my backyard. I moved that mountain shovelful by shovelful, one cart load at a time.

In late afternoon, tired and very sweaty I put my shovel into the pile of mulch and  heard the Lord speak to my heart. "Each shovelful is like one prayer, by itself it doesn't seem to make much difference but look around."
I stopped and looked. The mountain was a small pile by now and the backyard landscape had been transformed. Prayer changes the landscape. Mountains of dirt are transformed into beauty one prayer at a time.