Signs, Signifiers, and Stones of Remembrance
A Walk Through A Familiar Christmas Story
For those familiar with Charles Dickens’ story A Christmas Carol, what comes to mind when you hear the name Ebenezer Scrooge?
Could it be an image of a miserly man who refuses to give, lend, love, or share? Is it an icy cold businessman who withholds fair wages to his impoverished employees? Could it be his deeply cynical “humbug” response to all good things?
The American novelist, William Faulkner, often gave his detestable characters names that begin with “Sn–” such as Snope, which has the same ring as the words snake, snitch, snicker, snoop, and snot. For Dickens’ part, the word Scrooge reflected Scrooge the man and his morals. For the naming, Dickens was able to draw from England’s rich lexical heritage. Consider:
Scrooge: generic for “miser” was in use by 1905 due to Dickens’ 1843 story “A Christmas Carol.” Scrooge, an 18th century variant of the word Scrouge (to squeeze, press or crowd someone) and Scrudge, a 18th century provincial word that is the source of Scrounge, which means to acquire something by irregular means, This was a 1915 alteration of the word scrunge, which means to search stealthily, rummage, or pilfer. Scrunge may have come from Scringe, meaning to “pry about” and to “push or jostle” which was also a 1755 Cockney slang for a crowd. Source:
https://www.etymonline.com/
All that to say, the English “Scr” words describe, well, Ebenezer Scrooge.
Dickens describes him as a sad, wealthy, mean, lone man who rejects others and their stories of suffering and loss. He rejects his own family, because he believes they are only after their money. He rejects himself by living in cold and isolated austerity, friendless and joyless. He even rejects his money, as misers do–rejecting its purpose and saving for literally nothing.
The word “humbug” refers to deceptive or false talk or behavior. ES’s constant use of the word reveals how he sees everything as false and deceiving: good masking the trick and trap he will not fall for. He will not be taken advantage of–he sees it a mile away, and sits satisfied in his own denial of humanity. Humbuggery is a cowardly choice, and often borne out of a self-righteous need to be right at everything rather than risking rubbing elbows with others who may reveal that one is not right after all.
We have considered the Scrooginess of Scrooge, so what about the Ebenezer part? Some may be acquainted with the line from the hymn “Come Thou Fount” that has stumped church kids for decades: “Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’ve come.” That line is rooted in the time described in 1 Samuel when the hearts of God’s covenant people turned back to the Lord. It was a time of repentance and faith, which resulted in God delivering them from their enemies.
So the Judge Samuel “Took a stone and set it up…and named it Ebenezer, for he said, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us.’” The word refers to a token that testifies to the LORD’s help and kept promises. It is a strong statement of faith and commitment to following the Lord.
So why “Ebenezer” for such a Scrooge? And why in the world is the story named “A Christmas Carol?”
The answers to both questions are in the name itself. Scrooge was faced with the certainty of his judgement and death at his future gravestone, revealed to him by the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come. It became his own stone of remembrance, signifying Ebenezer’s repentance and transformation.
It was at the grave that Scrooge could no longer reject the truth as “humbug.” He, undeceived, renounced his own cynicism, burying it in his own grave, and believed in a Good that the shrewd businessman was not able to obtain or to bargain with. Released from the death grip of judgment, he completed his repentance by restoring Shalom to all those lives he impoverished.
The Christmas Carol was told in five chapters which Dickens called staves. A staff refers to the five lines on which musical notes are written. Ebenezer’s transformation is told in the fifth “stave,” completing the staff on which the carol notes could then be written.
This last stave is a celebration of light and laughter: Ebenezer embodies the Christmas Carol as he moves through church, town, and homes with the lightness and uninhibited joy of a child, making restitution as best as he knows how and affirming the full humanity of each one he meets.
And suddenly, Ebenezer is no longer alone.
Come Thou Fount (Official Music Video) | Celtic Worship
