Part II – The Grinch: A Hero of Peace

Sermon Title: Part II (Grinch): The Grinch, A Hero of Peace

Good News Statement: God restores us with peace

Preached: Sunday, December 05, 2021 at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): Isaiah 40:3-5: Today’s scripture reading comes from the Prophet Isaiah chapter forty verses three thru five. Listen to the words of Isaiah…

 

God’s People Are Comforted

³ A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
⁵ Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

 

Malachi 3:1-2: The Coming Messenger

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

 

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, Amen.

 

Introduction:

In 1946, director Frank Capra opened the eyes, ears, and hearts of this very nation by reminding the people that there is more to Christmas than all the “hustle and bustle.” In his movie, It’s a Wonderful, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, Capra rescues George Bailey (played by James Stewart), a frustrated businessman, by sending an angel from Heaven to help Mr. Bailey overcome his frustrations: the angel, Clarence, shows him what life would have been like if he had never existed. Mr. Bailey, amongst all the “hustle and bustle” of Christmas, lost sight of what Christmas really means. He was putting himself before others, focusing so much on work that his own family was beginning to worry, yelling at his daughter for not being able to play other songs on the piano: Mr. Bailey could no longer hear the “silver bells.”

At the end of the movie, George receives a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a gift from Clarence, with a note reminding George that no man is a failure who has family and friends that are looking at for him. Because of Clarence’s work in saving George Bailey, he received his wings. As the movie shares, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.” When a bell on the Christmas tree rang, George’s youngest daughter, Zuzu, explains that it means that an angel has earned its wings. At this point in the movie, George Bailey “above all the bustle” is finally able to hear silver bells because he has found the true meaning of Christmas.

Sometimes in life, we, too, are unable to hear the silver bells of Christmas.  As author of The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg, notes, “At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.” We get caught up in the hustle and bustle, in the buying and trading, in the travelling and cooking, and in the decorations of the Christmas season that we forget how beautiful and sweet the sounds of Christmas really are. When was the last time you found yourself pausing, searching for peace, during the Christmas season? When was the last time you heard the silver bells on Christmas morning?

The Grinch, like so many of us—like George Bailey and the young boy from The Polar Express—longs to hear the true meaning of Christmas. However, it seems as if other items of Christmas are blocking the true sounds of Christmas from being heard. Peace is absent while chaos is present more than ever. It’s time to hear the silver bells and to find peace this Christmas season. It’s time to think of the Grinch as possibly a hero who reminds us that God has the strength and will-power to restore us back to peace.

 

Opening Prayer:

            Let us pray… Dear Prince of Peace, I pray that today’s message be a realization that with all that the Christmas season brings, there is peace behind everything that we do. Help us to hear your word as we strive to hear the sounds of Christmas. 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:

Thinking about the Christmas season, what comes to mind when you hear the word “Christmas”? Do you think of Santa Claus, a person dressed all in red, carrying a bag full of toys, and knocking the soot and ashes off of his suit as his belly shakes like a bowl of jelly? Do you think of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and the most famous reindeer of all, Rudolph? Do you think about Christmas trees, lights, presents, and garland draped throughout your home? Do you think about candy canes stuffed in stockings? Do you think about family and friends? Do you think about those who are celebrating alone on Christmas day? Do you think about the less fortunate? Do you think about the baby lying in a manger? When you think of Christmas what is the first thing that comes to mind?

Eagerly standing on the top of Mt. Crumpit, with expectations to steal Christmas, the Grinch noticed something about the Whos down in Whoville that the Whos themselves did not notice. The Grinch, quite possibly flirting with being a hero at this point in the story although is still seen as a mean old Grinch, noticed that Christmas had become something from which comes from a store. Dr. Seuss writes in his 1957 classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,

 “[W]ith his Grinch fingers nervously drumming, he said, ‘I must find some way to keep Christmas from coming! For, tomorrow, I know all the Who girls and boys will wake bright and early. They’ll rush for their toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!…. And they’ll shriek squeaks and squeals, racing ’round on their wheels. They’ll dance with jingtinglers tied onto their heels. They’ll blow their floofloovers. They’ll bang their tartookas. They’ll blow their whohoopers. They’ll bang their gardookas. They’ll spin their trumtookas. They’ll slam their slooslunkas. They’ll beat their blumbloopas. They’ll wham their whowonkas…. Then the Whos, young and old, will sit down to a feast. And they’ll feast! And they’ll feast! And they’ll FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!’”

The Grinch continues:

“And then they’ll do something I hate most of all! Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, they’ll stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing. They’ll stand hand-in-hand, and those Whos will start singing! ‘Fahoo forays, dahoo dorays Welcome Christmas! Come this way….’ And they’ll sing! And they’ll sing! And they’ll SING! SING! SING! SING!” And the more the Grinch thought of this Who Christmas Sing, the more the Grinch thought, “I must stop this whole thing! Why for fifty-three years I’ve put up with it now! I must stop Christmas from coming! But how?”

Not only does Dr. Seuss provide his readers with a glimpse into the Christmas Day of the Whos, with all the noises, feasting, and singing, but he tells us that the Grinch has stood from Mt. Crumpit and witnessed not one, not two, but fifty-three years of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. For fifty-three years the Grinch as thought about Christmas. For fifty-three years, the Grinch has witnessed how Christmas has changed overtime. Like many of us, the Grinch has seen how Christmas has gone from peaceful and silent to busy and loud. On top of all this, Dr. Seuss allows his readers to ask the question, “Is the Grinch’s awful idea to steal Christmas a positive act for the people down in Whoville?”

The Grinch, as a character, is treating things that we often associate with Christmas—like Santa Claus, reindeer, and sleighbells—as the very things that make Christmas what it is. But through the Grinch, Dr. Seuss is revealing a more powerful message. According to Matt Rawle, “Dr. Seuss is revealing that the decorations and the traditional cold weather symbols we easily associate with Christ’s birth aren’t what Christmas is all about.” Even Cindy Lou Who in the live-action adaption of the Grinch realizes what Dr. Seuss is hinting at. While all the Whos are busy running around from store to store, maxing out their credit cards, wanting things mailed yesterday, and decorating their homes with Christmas lights, Cindy Lou, from behind a stack of presents, asks, “Don’t you think this is a little much?”

“Don’t you think this is a little much?” I love decorating for the Christmas season: putting up the Christmas tree, putting up the lights, wrapping gifts, trying to figure what looks best where. But in the process of decorating, I often forget what it is that I am preparing for. Am I preparing for the commercialized Christmas or for the true Christmas. The Prophet Isaiah, from the scripture reading notes, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). Isaiah doesn’t say prepare the way for the Christmas tree or prepare the way for the presents or prepare the way for the decorations. Isaiah says prepare the way of the LORD.

We come across this same message in Malachi 3:1. Malachi, writing during the time of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, 515 BCE, notes, “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple….” Both Isaiah and Malachi are warning us that we should be preparing the way of the LORD. This means we should be opening our hearts, being receptive of the word, and living into the true meaning of Christmas by striving to find peace when we think things are a little too much. We should strive to find peace in the hustle and bustle, we should strive to find peace during the shopping, baking, and decorating, and we should strive to find peace that helps us prepare the way of the LORD—a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Isaiah and Malachi want you to find peace in your life so that the coming of Christ will not be hampered by noise, noise, noise; but instead by hope, love, and joy. When was the last time you took time to find peace? When was the last time you deliberately prepared the way of the LORD by removing the commercialism of Christmas and focused on the love that lays in the manger? When was the last time you reminded yourself that peace feeds the heart and comforts the spirit? When was the last time you thought about “stealing Christmas” so that you and others could hear the silver bells on Christmas morning?

Conclusion:

As I stated earlier, the Grinch may seem like a villain but maybe his actions can be considered as portraying a hero. At the end of both the book and movies, the Whos down in Whoville still gather around the tree, holding hands and singing. Without packages, ribbons, tags, boxes, and bags, the Whos still celebrated Christmas. The Grinch prepared the way of the Whos so that they would remember what Christmas is all about: being together and celebrating what they already have, love, kindness, and togetherness. After fifty-three years of witnessing the hustle and bustle of Christmas, the Grinch stole Christmas so that peace would find the hearts of the Whos. Have you found the peace of the Christmas season? What do you need to do to find peace?

Like George Bailey, do you need an angel to bring you peace? Like the young boy from The Polar Express, do you need a sleighbell to remind you of what it means to believe? Or like the Grinch, do you need something to “steal” away Christmas so that you can truly prepare the way of the LORD? What is it that you need in your life, right now, to remind you that you have the peace of Christ inside of you and that you have the ability to hear the silver bells on Christmas morning?

The Grinch may have stolen gifts, decorations, and the last can of Who-hash, but he didn’t steal away the hope, peace, joy, and love of the Christmas season. Instead, he prepared the way for the true meaning of Christmas, the love that comes down from heaven to save us all and to comfort our hearts with the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). He prepared the way, but are you willing to make straight the paths in the desert? What do you need to do in your life so that the way of the LORD is prepared? Is your heart open to the LORD’s peace? Is your mind receptive to the LORD’s peace? Is your spirit ready to embrace peace? Isaiah cried out into the wilderness, the Grinch found the true meaning of Christmas from Mt. Crumpit, and George Bailey found love in his family. Are you willing to do the same? Are you willing to cry out into the wilderness, from the top of a mountain, and in the company of your family that you are here to help prepare the way of the LORD? The time has come to prepare the way of the LORD. The time has come to find peace. The time has come to bring back the true meaning of Christmas. So, I ask you again, what do you think of when you think of or see the word Christmas?

 

Communion Transition:

During the last supper, Christ offered the very peace in which we long for during the Christmas season: a peace that leads us to salvation, a peace that guides our hearts in love, and peace that reassures us that we are capable of rejoicing in the abundance of hope. Christ, through his body and blood, grants each of us peace.

 

Benediction:

As you continue to prepare for the Christmas season, take time to find peace. Allow this peace to help prepare the way of the LORD. 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.