Part I – “A Wonderful, Awful Idea” (Grinch)

Sermon Title: Part I (Grinch): A Wonderful, Awful Idea

Good News Statement: God expects us to follow His Commands

Preached: Sunday, November 28, 2021 at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): Jeremiah 1:4-10:  Today’s scripture reading comes from the Prophet Jeremiah from chapter one verses four thru ten. Listen to the words of Jeremiah

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
⁸ Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”

⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

 

Introduction:

Expectations can be high or low, reasonable or unreasonable, good or bad. The Bible speaks of expectations of redemption in Romans 8:19, expectations of judgment in Hebrews 10:27, delayed and realized expectations in Proverbs 13:12, and unrealized expectations in Proverbs 11:7. Jesus told us to expect His return—although the timing of His return is beyond our knowing. Luke states, “Be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Luke 12:40).

Have you ever found yourself expecting something to happen in your life? Have you ever expected something, but then your expectation was unmet? You wanted this one thing for Christmas, but never got it. You wanted to receive a phone call from this one specific person, but your phone never rang. You wanted to be like so-and-so when you grew up or maybe you wanted to have this one specific job, but then life had different plans. We all of expectations: these expectations are what we want for ourselves in our own life.

Simply put, expectations are beliefs that come from a person’s thought process when examining evidence. Sometimes the evidence around us fulfills our expectations. However, there are moments in our life in which our expectations are false: we “get our hopes up” based on the evidence but only to find out that our hopes missed the mark.

The Grinch, from Dr. Seuss’ book How the Grinch Stole Christmas, has developed expectations for what might happen when the Whos down in Whoville wake up on Christmas morning without packages, without decorations, and without the roast beast. The Grinch expects that the Whos will be mourning the loss of what makes Christmas Christmas: the material items of life. Based upon the evidence, the Grinch puts together “a wonderful, awful idea” to make sure that his expectations are met. The Grinch decides to steal Christmas…

Opening Prayer:

            Let us pray… Dear Heavenly Father, sometimes in life we have expectations that resemble what we think we need in life. But, we know that your expectations for us supersede our own wants and desires. Help us to learn to better fulfill your expectations rather than our own. I pray that my words fall to the ground as your words settle in the hearts of all those before me. In your name we pray, Amen.

 

Body:

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel (guy-zal), is a children’s Christmas story that follows a grouchy, miserable Grinch who lives in isolation above the town of Whoville. In the book, published by Random House in 1957, Dr. Seuss narrates what Matt Rawle notes as a “Christmas classic” detailing how the Grinch plots to steal away everything that has anything to do with Christmas.

The Grinch lives alone on the top of Mt. Crumpit, with only his dog, Max, as a companion. We are told by Dr. Seuss that the Grinch hates Christmas. Dr. Seuss doesn’t tell us exactly why the Grinch hates Christmas, but he does. It could be that “His head wasn’t screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps his shoes were too tight” (Dr. Seuss). In the live-action adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), director Ron Howard attempts to provide some sort of back story to why the Grinch hates Christmas. The Grinch, like all the other Who children, made a special Christmas gift: this gift was never properly given to the individual because the Grinch fell victim to criticisms and harsh words by his classmates. Therefore, from that moment on, the Grinch hated Christmas. But is that why he truly hated Christmas? Whatever the true reason may have been, his hatred for Christmas caused him to expect what the true meaning of Christmas might be: packages, ribbons, boxes, and bags.

From the cliff of Mt. Crumpit, the Grinch devises a wonderful, awful idea. Donning a Santa suit and riding a sleigh pulled by his reindeer-dressed dog Max, the Grinch sneaks into Whoville in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve to steal all of the presents, decorations, and Christmas food. When he returns with a sleigh full of goodies, the Grinch waits to hear the tears of the Whos as they wake up with nothing to celebrate Christmas with. He expects that because Christmas “Came without ribbons; came without tags; and came without packages, boxes, or bags,” that the Whos will also begin to hate Christmas. Not hearing what he expected, something happened inside of him.  The Grinch realized that, “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little more.”

What the Grinch expected to happen did not happen. The Grinch expected that without ribbons, tags, packages, boxes, and bags that Christmas would now be hated by all of Whoville; therefore allowing the Grinch to have more than a single companion. The Grinch’s expectations lead him to experience false hope. So what is it about the Grinch’s expectation that teaches us that Christmas doesn’t come from a store?

In the scripture passage that we read earlier, Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, receives the word of LORD during the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign (Jeremiah 1:1-3). When Jeremiah receives the word of the LORD, he responds to the LORD in a similar fashion to how Moses reacted towards being called to lead the Israelites to the Promise Land. Jeremiah responds with doubt, uncertainty, even questioning God’s decision. Upon receiving the word of the LORD, Jeremiah says, “Ah, LORD GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy” (Jeremiah 1:6). Jeremiah, because of the evidence that he has grown up with, expects that only the wise, the elders, can receive the word of the LORD. Therefore, how can this possibly be true: that God is calling on him? He is neither wise nor an elder: he is just a boy. Jeremiah responds to God, “I am only a boy.”

Have any of you been expected to do something but then questioned that expectation because you didn’t believe in yourself? I think about when my oldest brother found out he was going to be a dad for the first time. All of a sudden he was expected to take care of this child even though he never had the proper training, or at least felt like he didn’t have the proper training. I think about those individuals who all of sudden have to take care of their parents. I think about those who are usually second in command, but then all of sudden are put in charge of the whole operation. In moments like this, we are expected to do more than what we expect of ourselves. We are expected to believe in ourselves so that the child will have a healthy life, so that our parents will live to be over one-hundred years old, and so that the rest of the team accomplishes what it needs to accomplish. In life our expectations are often met with a sprinkle of uncertainty. This uncertainty leads to unmet expectations. But with God in our life, our expectations are not only met but are filled with hope.

The LORD reassures Jeremiah that Jeremiah is the one that God is seeking. The LORD said to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you…” (Jeremiah 1:7-8). God, through reassurance, is giving Jeremiah hope to fulfill the expectations that God has for him. It is not our duty to say that this is or that is my expectation. Instead, we must say that “this is God’s expectation, and I am here to fulfill what needs to be accomplished in order to make disciples of Jesus Christ.” Mary, a teenage virgin, engaged to Joseph—a carpenter—simply expected that her life would be of work, marriage, and providing for her family. She expected to live a “normal life” like Jeremiah. Living a normal life was Mary’s expectation, but it wasn’t Gods purpose for Mary.

It is stated in the Gospel of Luke chapter one, “In the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary” (Luke 1:26-27). Luke continues, “The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus’” (Luke 1:30-31). Mary’s expectation of just being a wife to Joseph has now turned into carrying the expectation of hope that you and I long to see and witness. Mary had an idea of what she wanted her life to be like, but God had a plan for Mary like He did for Jeremiah and the Grinch.

The LORD came to Jeremiah saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). The LORD knew the true expectations of Jeremiah before he entered this earth. The LORD even knows your expectations even when you don’t know them yourself. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). It is through God that we experience hope: that we get to live into the expectations that He has laid on our hearts. It’s time to lean into the expectations of God, and to realize that our expectations are only temporary and that His expectations are eternal.

Conclusion:

So what does the Grinch teach us about expectation? And how does the Grinch’s expectation help us to better understand the Christmas narrative? While standing on the cliff of Mt. Crumpit, the Grinch devised a wonderful, awful idea that would change his fate. At least that is what he expected. The Grinch planned to steal Christmas from the Whos in Whoville. By doing so, he was expecting to hear mourning, to hear crying, to hear screams of fear that Christmas was no longer near. Because there were no ribbons, tags, packages, boxes, or bags, Christmas didn’t exist. What the Grinch expected did not happened.

The Grinch learned that just because he expected something to happen, doesn’t mean that it will happen. The Grinch learned that there is more to Christmas, that Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Sometimes we have to pause, take a step back, and remind ourselves that God is the one who truly and sincerely, with love, knows our expectations. God is the only one who can use our expectations to change our heart. Maybe God knew the Grinch? May God knew that the Grinch could never really steal Christmas? Maybe God knew that even little Cindy Lou Who, as small as she was, could help grow the Grinch’s heart? Maybe, just maybe, the Grinch realized the true meaning of Christmas by having his expectations not met.

The Grinch, with terminates in his smile, being as cuddly as a cactus, and being as charming as an eel, helps us to better understand the Christmas narrative by reminding us that sometimes in life, in order to more fully understand our place in this world, our expectations have to be unmet. From Jeremiah, who thought of himself as only a boy, to Mary, a pregnant virgin teenager, to Joseph, a carpenter from Bethlehem, one’s expectations of living out their dreams in a magical world like Whoville have to go unmet so that God’s expectations will have room in their life.

As you anticipate the expectancy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this Advent Season—as you await for his arrival—try your best to not be a Grinch. Don’t’ allow your expectations to supersede the expectations of God. And when your expectations go unmet, simply say to God, “God, there is room in my heart for your expectations.” Each of you will encounter unmet expectations this Advent Season: gifts won’t arrive on time, family gatherings may not be what they used to be like, the Christmas lights that you just bought have decided not to work, the Christmas card that you started planning for in July is buried beneath weeks of mail, the gift that you thought would be the show stopper ends up under a pile of news clothes, and the list goes on.  But when these expectations go unmet, just remember that God hasn’t forgotten about you: He hasn’t placed you under the piles of new clothes! As a matter of fact, He is giving you new expectations of hope. Through hopeful expectations hopefully you realize that “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little more.” You all of expectations, but God has greater expectations for you: expectations that lead you from Mt. Crumpit to the people.

What will you do when your expectations go unmet?

Closing Prayer:

Let us Pray…Dear Heavenly Father, we have begun our season of anticipating the birth of your Son. During this season we will encounter expectations that will go unmet; and when we do so, Lord, help us to realize that you have a plan for us, that your expectations are the expectations that can grow our hearts to be more loving, kind, and hopeful. In your name we pray, Amen.

Benediction:

As the Advent Season enters your life, I challenge you to not be like the Grinch. Instead by like Jeremiah and Mary who put their trust in the Lord, who set aside their own expectations so that the expectations of God would guide their foot-steps. Don’t be discouraged when your expectations go unmet. Be thankful that God is watching out for you. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, go in peace and hope as you live wisely and well in God’s world. Amen. Amen. Amen.