A Christmas Yet To Come

A Christmas Yet To Come
by Louise Bergmann DuMont

My assignment was simple – write a story entitled “A Christmas Yet to Come.” Visions reflective of a Charles Dickens tale raced through my mind. Stories that held ghostly apparitions and futuristic sagas with unexpected twists came in rapid succession. While I sipped my coffee topped with a mound of sweetened whipped cream, I wove the opening paragraphs of the manuscript.

It was set in the year 2052. It would take place just a month short of my 100th birthday, as four generations of family gathered at a Christmas reunion. The events in my story were both humorous and appropriately sappy for the season. I trashed the story shortly after I wrote a detailed description of myself fifty years hence. No previously written ghost of Christmas future ever scared me that much.

Yesterday evening I began a new story and God once again led me to fact rather than fiction.

***

Scott, our youth leader clutched his clipboard like a drowning man holds to a life preserver. When his words came, he spoke haltingly.

“Michael is 17. He’s a senior in high school and he asked me to share a prayer request with you. Last week he found out that he will most likely not be here next Christmas.”

Scott paused, hoping the truth of what he said would sink into the minds of the teens that surrounded him.

“So…where is he going?” one teen asked, taking a gulp of cola and popping a few Doritos into her mouth with practiced precision.

“He’s going to be with Jesus next Christmas. The doctors told his family that he has a very rare blood disorder and that there is no cure.”

Silence fell over the room like a thick blanket.

Scott continued, “I would like to pray for him and I want to ask that you pray for me as well. I’m going to see him tomorrow and…I really don’t know what to say to him.”

A low mummer replaced the silence. That night we prayed for Michael and for Scott but something gnawed at my insides. I kept seeing visions of old Ebenezer Scrooge with Tiny Tim perched on his shoulder. Scrooge’s step was light and snow flurries merrily danced about them. In A Christmas Carole, Ebenezer Scrooge saves Tiny Tim. When he purposes to keep Christmas in his heart, when he supplies enough funds, when he eases the burden of the poor and lame – Ebenezer is able to fix the problems of this world.

A dose of reality settles into my spirit as I think of Michael. His rare blood disease isn’t going away because someone donates a turkey and some presents. If Christ does not miraculously intercede, his parents will find an empty chair at their dinner table next Christmas.

For a brief moment I felt both helpless and hopeless. Then a scripture verse popped into my head. I don’t know when I memorized it or why but there it was – shedding hope where a moment before there was none. “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 NRSV)

That in a nutshell is the story of “A Christmas Yet to Come.” The first Christmas was about Christ coming to meet us. The Great Christmas Yet to Come is when we, as believers, go to meet Christ. Whether we are here on earth for His second coming to this world, or we are called to meet Him on the other side of death – it does not matter. There will be a great reunion of Christ with His people…and that will be one heck of a Christmas party.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 NRSV)

©2007 Louise Bergmann DuMont. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Bio:
Louise Bergmann DuMont, is the author of two books Grace by the Cup: A Break from the Daily Grind (Revell) and Faith-Dipped Chocolate: Rich Encouragement to Sweeten Your Day (Revell). She includes among her loves and many interests; her precious family, Biblical archeology, gifted/learning-disabled children and fiction/fantasy writing.