James T. Cleland - "The Three Holy Ghosts of Christmas" (December 6, 1970)

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	(holy music)	0:36
-	Our Father God said the son's innocent child,	4:56
	by his innocence he has judged our face	4:59
	in the coming ways.	5:02
	He's led us together to express our sin	5:04
	and take (indistinct).	5:06
	Almighty God knowest our temptations	5:16
	and the weakness by which we are often betrayed.	5:20
	Comfort us with thy mercy when our sins rise up	5:24
	and shame us.	5:28
	Grant that we may not only have a Godly resolve	5:30
	for our past sins, but that we may	5:33
	have grace for (indistinct).	5:36
	We pray thee to forgive us, Lord,	5:40
	of all our transgressions, our broken vows,	5:42
	our duties left undone, our weak faith,	5:47
	prince of peace, our lack of hope for this advent.	5:51
	Our tendency to make with this burden	5:55
	a selfish celebration.	5:58
	Our preoccupation to official and all other ways	6:00
	by which we die in heart.	6:04
	We make this prayer for pardon in the name	6:07
	of Jesus, amen.	6:10
	He has made us holy, yes, the Lord,	6:15
	the mighty one.	6:18
	His mercy ensures generation to generation	6:19
	for those who fear him.	6:22
	Praise to the God of Israel, for he has turned	6:25
	to his people, saved them and set them free.	6:28
	As he promised, he has raised up a river	6:31
	of victorious power.	6:34
	He will lead his people to salvation	6:36
	by the forgiveness of our sins.	6:38
	For in the tender compassion of our God,	6:42
	the morning sun from heaven will rise upon us.	6:44
	It will shine on those who live in darkness	6:47
	under the cloud of death.	6:50
	Dye our feet in the way to salvation and peace.	6:52
	There are two announcements, first,	7:02
	there are no tickets for Zion	7:06
	on next Sunday afternoon at 7:30.	7:08
	The first anvil been going eight years,	7:14
	but the glory (indistinct).	7:18
	(holy music)	8:23
	The lesson today is from a Christmas Carol	11:56
	by Charles Dickens,	11:59
	the second last to the last paragraph.	12:00
	Scrooge was better than his word.	12:05
	He did it all, and infinitely more.	12:07
	And to Tiny Tim, who did not die,	12:11
	he was a second father.	12:14
	He became as good a friend, as good a master,	12:17
	and as good a man as the good old city,	12:21
	or any other good old city, town, or borough,	12:25
	in the good old world.	12:29
	Some people laughed to see the alteration in him,	12:32
	but let them laugh, and little heeded them;	12:35
	for he was wise enough to know	12:39
	that nothing ever happened	12:40
	on this globe for good, at which some people	12:42
	did not have their fill of laughter	12:46
	in the outset.	12:47
	And knowing that such as these	12:49
	would be blind anyway, he thought it quite	12:51
	as well they should wrinkle up	12:53
	their eyes in grins, as have the malady	12:55
	in less attractive forms.	12:57
	His own heart laughed	13:01
	and that was quite enough for him.	13:04
	He had no further intercourse with spirits,	13:08
	but lived upon he total abstinence principle	13:12
	ever afterwards, and it was always said of him	13:14
	that he knew how to keep Christmas well;	13:19
	if any man alive possessed the knowledge.	13:22
	May that be truly said of us,	13:27
	and all of us.	13:29
	And so, as Tiny Tim observed	13:31
	God bless us, every one.	13:34
	(male mumbles indistinctly)	13:39
	(holy music)	13:42
	Lord (indistinct).	14:23
	Let us pray.	14:26
	We thank thee, our Father,	14:37
	you have come to us as a man.	14:39
	To live as one of us in order	14:43
	to show us the way.	14:45
	As men thank you for the sounds of life,	14:49
	the cry of a child, the sounds of teaching	14:53
	in the classrooms.	14:57
	The sounds of laughter, playing.	15:00
	The sounds of worship, of music and (indistinct).	15:03
	And the sounds of wind (indistinct).	15:08
	We thank thee for the silence and rest	15:14
	in good times, the silence of learning.	15:17
	The silence of joy and (indistinct).	15:23
	The silence of worship and praying.	15:28
	The silence of sleep and rest.	15:32
	We thank thee for words,	15:37
	which contain the gospel.	15:39
	The words of the evangelists who tell	15:42
	us the story.	15:44
	The words the prophets promised	15:47
	to deliver salvation,	15:50
	and for the words of Charles Dickens	15:53
	who wrote about Scrooge, the man who changed.	15:56
	Remember, Father, it's all the church	16:02
	in the world hear from a new vision,	16:05
	a new wisdom and a fresh understanding	16:09
	of the tasks you tell us to keep.	16:13
	Remember, Father, the wisdom of this university,	16:17
	give us strength to accept the truth in our mind	16:22
	and to use our knowledge wisely.	16:26
	Friends, folks, (indistinct) administrators,	16:30
	teachers, or students that they come	16:34
	with your mind of right purpose	16:37
	and the constance that you were and (indistinct).	16:40
	Remember, Father, a mercy for those of the church,	16:46
	and those who have heavy hearts,	16:49
	troubled minds, and bodies in pain.	16:52
	Be merciful to them, give	16:58
	them strength and patience for the homecoming	17:00
	and the certainty of you.	17:04
	Remember, Father God, those who are near to us,	17:10
	our friends, and our families.	17:14
	Surround them by love	17:18
	and make their cup filled with joy	17:20
	and that they may (indistinct).	17:24
	Hear O'Lord, our prayer, blessed be thy name,	17:29
	from a difference of weakness and purpose,	17:34
	from carelessness and sincerity.	17:36
	From dishonesty (indistinct).	17:40
	From self-love and justice to others,	17:44
	and from all temptations of pleasure.	17:49
	From the (mumbles indistinctly).	17:53
	To confirm us with life in you.	17:57
	Strengthen us (indistinct).	18:01
	Move from us fear (indistinct).	18:05
	Grant we may never (indistinct).	18:09
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	18:13
	Our Father, who art in heaven,	18:21
	hallowed by thy name.	18:24
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	18:26
	on earth as it is in heaven.	18:29
	Give us this day, our daily bread,	18:32
	and forgive of our trespasses	18:35
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	18:37
	And lead us not into temptation,	18:41
	but deliver us from evil.	18:44
	For thine is the kingdom,	18:46
	the power and the glory forever and ever, amen.	18:48
	(people chatter indistinctly in the background)	18:59
-	Did you know it was one man	19:26
	with which is-	19:29
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	19:30
	Did you know that to die,	19:39
	one must forgive those that-	19:41
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	19:43
	Do you know what it takes?	19:47
	Of course you do.	19:50
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	19:52
	and a Christmas Carol has been called	19:54
	the greatest little book (indistinct).	19:58
	One could take vows that it has done more good	20:03
	than all the books during Christmas.	20:07
	And well-	20:13
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	20:14
	So, on this Sunday in advent,	20:18
	to leave care from Christmas, let us look	20:20
	at the simple book.	20:24
	In particular that Ebeneezer Scrooge on the-	20:27
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	20:32
	the villain of bah humbug.	20:37
	Do you know, who knew how to treat Christmas well,	20:43
	any man alive would-	20:48
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	20:51
	How was Scrooge first presented?	20:54
	He had a (indistinct).	20:59
	Oh, but he was a tight fisted hand	21:03
	at the grindstone.	21:07
	A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping,	21:10
	clutching, covetous old sinner.	21:15
	The cold within him froze his old features,	21:20
	nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek,	21:24
	stiffened his gait; made his eyes red,	21:29
	his thin lips blue.	21:33
	And spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.	21:36
	A frosty rime was on his head,	21:41
	and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin.	21:45
	He carried his own low temperature	21:50
	always about with him.	21:53
	He iced his office in the dog days	21:56
	and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.	22:01
	Dear men-	22:09
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	22:10
	let us diagnose the symptoms-	22:13
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	22:16
	There are three lovely characteristics-	22:27
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	22:31
	The first is the sarcasm with which he-	22:39
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	22:44
	of wishing Scrooge a merry Christmas.	22:47
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	22:52
	Scrooge's response begins with bah humbug.	22:57
	And then (indistinct) to find kindness.	23:04
	The Greek root of sarcasm-	23:13
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	23:17
	The intention was to inflict pain by-	23:32
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	23:36
	Second step towards Scrooge's malady	23:42
	is seen in his inhumane behavior to	23:45
	the new property tenant,	23:48
	the sort of description for-	23:51
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	23:53
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	24:03
	No, but men would rather die	24:12
	than go there, he answers.	24:14
	If they would rather die, they had better do it	24:17
	and decrease the surplus population.	24:22
	It's not my business, it's not mine.	24:26
	There's a cruel, an indifference	24:34
	to the sufferings	24:38
	of others (indistinct), inhumanity.	24:39
	He reveals an absence of any feelings	24:43
	which normally characterizes a human.	24:46
	It says that when the gentlemen were through,	24:51
	Scrooge presumed the flavor with an-	24:56
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	25:01
	Thirdly, his attitude to Bob Cratchit	25:06
	and his clerk (indistinct).	25:11
	This being dramatic, this pinpoint,	25:15
	pinpointed in a callous, day to day,	25:19
	face to face, man to man relationship.	25:23
	From Cratchit's office fire	25:29
	which was so small that it looked like one coal.	25:31
	Wretched was the use to wear it,	25:39
	his long white comforter indoors	25:41
	to warm himself at the candle.	25:45
	Scrooge pondered about retiring at the bedpost	25:51
	when the clerk wished Scrooge, his nephew-	25:55
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	25:58
	Scrooge was indignant when he realized	26:01
	he had to pay taxes for Christmas day,	26:04
	a day of waste for no work.	26:09
	Now, many folk are (indistinct),	26:15
	but there'd be so-	26:21
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	26:22
	so insen...	26:24
	Insensitive to a fellow creature	26:26
	who worked under the same roof six days a week.	26:29
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	26:35
	There and then were the symptoms	26:43
	of a sick Ebeneezer Scrooge, of a man	26:45
	who didn't know that he was sick.	26:49
	Sarcasm-	26:53
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	26:55
	Spirit of assisting partner, Jacob Marley.	27:06
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	27:11
	John the Baptist (indistinct).	27:13
	Even though we summarize the (indistinct)-	27:19
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	27:24
	The man (indistinct).	27:31
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	27:36
	reminds us to-	27:38
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	27:39
	when a golden idol is replaced,	27:44
	(speaker drowned out by background static).	27:48
	There was an exclusive self-centeredness	27:55
	about him, which made (indistinct), entitled,	27:58
	and a count house (indistinct).	28:03
	Who was it not?	28:08
	A self-made man, who worships (indistinct).	28:12
	Loyalty wasn't a big thing,	28:18
	an ordinand love of wealth,	28:20
	Scrooge was the deadly sin of absence.	28:22
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	28:27
	And there was within Scrooge,	28:29
	an absence of any capacity to love anybody else.	28:31
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	28:36
	Never knew-	28:43
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	28:44
	type discovery.	28:47
	He said, "Man, kindness was my business,	28:49
	the common welfare was my business.	28:53
	Charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence	28:58
	were all my business."	29:04
	Christmas night, Scrooge was completely unaware	29:08
	that the clock looked down on this.	29:13
	His love for money-	29:18
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	29:20
	Love for all-	29:23
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	29:24
	Scrooge was not for Christmas,	29:33
	Christmas was a non-	29:37
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	29:41
	I never-	29:42
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	29:43
	And what is the remedy in here	29:49
	for such a thing?	29:51
	If one does not know-	29:55
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	29:57
	It's an old cure, old yet ever true-	30:01
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	30:06
	The description which unites	30:12
	all which identifies Christmas,	30:15
	we poke around (indistinct).	30:18
	At all the goodwill-	30:21
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	30:26
	one of two major themes, Christmas.	30:35
	Just as we read Dickens own words about it,	30:42
	just as (speaker drowned out by background static).	30:47
	I've always thought Christmas and I	30:56
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	31:00
	carols and presents are all in my mind,	31:06
	or the long-	31:11
	(speaker drowned out by background static).	31:12
	And to think of people (indistinct)-	31:22
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	31:25
	And not another-	31:33
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	31:34
	Though it has never stood us in the path of-	31:41
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	31:44
	I believe that we have forgotten and will-	31:48
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	32:00
	Affirmation of love of anything-	32:05
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	32:09
	Dickens reiterates the message to-	32:11
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	32:15
	Love and propose a toast for Christmas-	32:29
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	32:33
	To all our husbands-	32:47
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	32:48
	Today, Christmas Day (indistinct).	32:53
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	33:02
	Regardless of what Christmas means to me,	33:13
	Christmas presents-	33:16
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	33:18
	Now, granted that the theoretical remedy	33:31
	would wield them in valid,	33:34
	how is it applied?	33:37
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	33:38
	No, the spirits of Christmas past,	33:40
	present, and get to the past-	33:43
	(speaker drowned out by background static).	33:45
	Gather the three holy ghosts for Christmas	33:58
	pulled and scared Scrooge into joining masses.	34:02
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	34:09
	The Ghost of Christmas past	34:12
	recalls Scrooge's time, pass back	34:14
	to the days there of Scrooge's (indistinct).	34:19
	Scrooge as he makes more,	34:23
	at the moment-	34:27
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	34:28
	so with that then comes sorrow,	34:31
	and joy, and (indistinct) together.	34:35
	Scrooge's reaction is, "Spirit, show me no more,	34:39
	leave me, and want me no longer."	34:44
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	34:49
	And that is a recollection-	34:54
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	34:59
	may well be that a man made a man,	35:08
	kept a man.	35:11
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	35:16
	The second Ghost of Christmas Present	35:26
	was a living giant, jolly, flooding (indistinct).	35:28
	Surrounded by everything that make yule tide-	35:34
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	35:37
	It was a different Scrooge through and through.	35:40
	But the old miser was running-	35:44
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	35:47
	He was not chained, but unchained,	35:50
	and could it be that the spirit (mumbles)	35:57
	wondered through the contemporary (mumbles)?	35:59
	And everywhere the (mumbles) one of the-	36:03
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	36:08
	He had a wallop (indistinct).	36:14
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	36:19
	Scrooge saw how he was supposed to-	36:25
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	36:30
	But the generation wants (indistinct).	36:42
	It's a combination and fruit and love,	36:47
	honesty and generosity.	36:50
	Neither in isolation of the other,	36:53
	but to (indistinct) together.	36:56
	Scrooge was (indistinct)-	36:59
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	37:03
	The Ghost of Christmas yet to come,	37:18
	the third visitor crowned him-	37:21
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	37:26
	Scrooge went on about-	37:34
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	37:38
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	37:52
	but a flat (indistinct).	38:03
	Right there was the third (mumbles) ghost,	38:10
	here and then, (mumbles indistinctly).	38:17
	It was not only the fear	38:23
	of what may happen after death.	38:24
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	38:27
	(speaker drowned out by background static) talk	38:33
	about going on an isolated, unborn,	38:35
	almost anonymous day (mumbles indistinctly).	38:40
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	38:45
	These made up the Lord's secret (indistinct)	39:06
	the application of the good feelings	39:10
	and the goodwill.	39:12
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	39:14
	You know the outcome-	39:29
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	39:33
	Scrooge comments and there he goes.	39:41
	I will honor Christmas-	39:45
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	39:47
	I will live in the months,	40:01
	in the present and in the future.	40:03
	The spirits of all three ghosts lie within me.	40:07
	I will not (indistinct).	40:11
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	40:17
	Scrooge's nephew-	40:27
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	40:28
	Read about this Christmas shuffling,	40:35
	(mumbles) must be generous (mumbles indistinctly).	40:38
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	40:44
	He knew how to keep Christmas well	40:51
	and (indistinct) alive (indistinct),	40:55
	but there was a second (indistinct).	41:00
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	41:08
	They've enchained his own (mumbles).	41:21
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	41:24
	Scrooge (mumbles indistinctly).	41:41
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	41:47
	At Christmas time-	41:50
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	41:52
	a serial common parable of (indistinct).	41:56
	A serial common parable of (indistinct)-	42:01
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	42:05
	He's free to choose (mumbles indistinctly).	42:08
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	42:13
	(indistinct) above and he's going alone.	42:32
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	42:40
	God keep and bless you, everyone.	42:54
	(holy music)	43:06
	(soft singing)	49:54
	(holy music)	51:10
	♪ Now and forever ♪	52:21
	♪ Glory God ♪	52:32
	(holy music)	52:49
-	Giver of all complete and separate (indistinct),	54:13
	(mumbles indistinctly) that he may bring peace	54:20
	and goodwill, amen.	54:25
	(speaker drowned out by background static)	54:37
	(soft singing)	54:54
	(holy music)	56:44
	(male mumbles indistinctly)	56:57
	(people chatter indistinctly in the background)	57:02
	(footsteps resound)	57:25
	(people chatter indistinctly in the background)	57:34

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "The Three Holy Ghosts of Christmas" (December 6, 1970)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4ms3q317

Date:

December 6, 1970

Speaker:

Cleland, James T. (James Tough), 1903-1974

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Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0549
ref6301_8op
uachapelsermaud
duke:628150
dcrau002538
ark:/87924/r4ms3q317
eaab8801-d368-4c45-81fa-0a5bb473c976

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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James T. Cleland - "The Three Holy Ghosts of Christmas" (December 6, 1970)

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