This is one of my Favorite parts of the Movie Musical Scrooge. Just watch –
“To begin again.”
I’m a fan of Charles Dickens and think we should give a grateful nod to him for his impact on all of our Christmas’s. But I know he didn’t choose the name Ebenezer casually. It has an important meaning to the story.
The name is only mentioned once in the Bible – 1 Samuel 7: 12. 12. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
The Prophet Samuel wanted the Israelites to remember that without God the Philistines had beaten them twice, but now with the Lord’s help they had been victorious. So he raise a stone pillar and called it Ebenezer, or a Stone of Help. Remember, God has help us.
Robert Robinson – 1757
Robert Robinson was just a small boy when his dad died. In 18th century England, there was little in the way of a social welfare system and this meant that he had to go to work while still very young. Without a father to guide and steady him, Robert fell in with bad companions.
One day his gang of rowdies harassed a drunken gypsy. Pouring liquor into her, they demanded she tell their fortunes for free. Pointing her finger at Robert she told him he would live to see his children and grandchildren. This struck a tender spot in his heart. “If I’m going to live to see my children and grandchildren,” he thought, “I’ll have to change my way of living. I can’t keep on like I’m going now.”
Robert Robinson decided to go hear the Methodist preacher George Whitefield. To cover his “weak” urge, he suggested that the boys go with him and heckle the gathering. Whitefield preached on the text: “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:7). Robert left in dread, under a deep sense of sin that lasted for three years.
Finally, at the age of twenty, Robert made peace with God and immediately set out to become a Methodist preacher himself. Two years later, in 1757, he wrote a hymn which expressed his joy in his new faith – Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I hope you know the song.
Mack Wilberg, you might know, is the Director of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but before that he was a Professor of Music at BYU. And he made his own arrangement of Come Thou Font of Every Blessing (This is its first performance with Mack and BYU choirs). As you watch, note two things – you know what the phrase “Here I raise my Ebenezer” means and watch these young ones pouring their hearts out and pleading with God –
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Winter Solstice and Kwanzaa. May this next year be your best ever, but remember to bind your heart to the things that bless.
Dave and Paula Thomas