Part III – Where are You Taking the Tree?

Sermon Title: Part III (Grinch): Where are You Taking the Tree

Good News Statement: God sends us joy

Preached: Sunday, December 12, 2021 at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): Matthew 1:18-25: Today’s scripture reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter one verses eighteen thru twenty-five. Listen to the words of Matthew…

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰ But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

²³ “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

²⁴ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵ but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

 

Introduction:

Several Christmases ago, when my sister and her family came home for Christmas, my nephew, who was six years old at the time, was at the stage in his life where he no longer wanted to sleep in Nana or Papa’s room. Nana and Papa were heart broken, but glad that they would be able to sleep without a squirming and kicking child between them.

With this sudden change in sleeping arrangements, the question my brother and I were fearing came out of my sister’s mouth, “Kohen, who do you want to have a sleepover with? Uncle Thomas? or Uncle Daniel?” My brother quickly responded, “I’m sleeping in the cold, dark, basement where there are lots of scary sounds at night.” I thought to myself, “How can I top that?” I remained silent because I knew I was going to have a roommate for the next week and a half!

Without hesitation, Kohen said, “Uncle Daniel.” Not soon after his response, I saw five toys, four sacks of books, three stuffed animals, two blankies, and a  partridge in a pear tree…I mean a suitcase travel into my bedroom. There was no turning back now: it looked as if it was my turn to be kicked, rolled over, and without sleep for the next several nights.

The first night went well; quite possibly because the fourteen hour car ride wore him out. The second night, I had to remind him that we can’t get up until we see the sun. The third night, I said “Uncle Daniel’s music box hadn’t played music yet.” Now, the fourth night, although not much sleep happened, was the night that I realized how precious my nephew can be. At 4:30 in the morning, he woke me up, starred at me, and asked, “How far is up? Why is red the color red? Why is my sister so loud? Why does the sun come up and go to sleep?” To be honest, at 4:30 in the morning I can barely spell my name let alone answer these questions.

Nevertheless, I responded by simply saying, “Let me tell you a story…” Before he fell back asleep, I heard him say as his eyes closed, “I love you Uncle Daniel.” I couldn’t wait for my music box to play music. I realized something that night, something by which the Grinch even experienced as he was stealing Christmas. I realized that no matter how small the words of a child affect us all.

Isn’t it amazing to think about how God uses the simple, the humble, and the less fortunate to change our hearts? Isn’t it beautiful to realize that those who impact our lives may only come around during the holiday season? Isn’t it astonishing and joyful to hear the questions of a young child? God sends us joy in the form of a young child to help us understand that Christmas shouldn’t be something we over think; but rather Christmas should be something that we feel and experience. Cindy Lou Who was that small child who grew the Grinch’s heart. Jesus is the small child that changed the heart of the world.

 

Opening Prayer:

            Let us pray… Dear Lord of Joy, as we continue to grow older, help us to keep our hearts young. Help us to hear your children, our children, when they ask us questions. Lead us towards being present in the moment. Lord, allow today’s message to influence the hearts of those present. 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:

In the middle of the night the Grinch is up to no good. He enters one of the Who’s homes to steal away anything and everything that might have something to do with Christmas. The presents, the stockings, the decorations, and the food are shoved into sacks and sent up the chimney with ease. There’s no hesitation or remorse from the Grinch. He doesn’t even second guess his actions. The Grinch resembles a champion bagger at the checkout during the holiday rush: shoving everything in, with no rhyme or reason, before time runs out. And before leaving, the Grinch even takes the log for the Who’s fire. “On their walls he left nothing but hooks and some wire. And the one speck of food he left in the house was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.”

But in the act of “stealing Christmas” it would appear that the Grinch was caught in the act. When the Grinch begins shoving the Who family’s Christmas tree into the chimney at night, he notices young Cindy Lou Who standing and watching him in some fright. Cindy Lou asks why the Grinch is taking the tree away. At this point, from an audiences’ perspective, we are shouting, “You’ve been caught Mr. Grinch. The gig is up!” But without so much of a blink, the Grinch says, “My, my, sweet little tot…there’s a light on this tree that won’t light on one side. So I am taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I’ll fix it up there and I’ll bring it back here.”

I don’t think it’s an accident that the Grinch calls attention to lights not working. A Christmas tree with broken lights is like a Grinch with a heart two sizes too small. According to Matt Rawle, “The tree can still hold ornaments and be a placeholder for gifts, but without the lights, there’s something missing.” The Grinch still has a heart. It’s just not big enough to be much good. There’s something missing. Again, according to Matt Rawle, “The Grinch doesn’t try to quickly scurry away, or yell angrily back at Cindy” for catching him in the act of stealing Christmas. Instead, the Grinch conceals the truth, and the only reason one tries to hide the truth is because we know the truth is powerful.

Like the Grinch—“a nasty-wasty skunk”—Joseph is reminded about the truth of Mary—whom he is in engaged to—from an innocent and pure voice. Joseph—a simple, humble, carpenter from the small town of Bethlehem, located about ninety minutes from Elizabeth and Zechariah—is visited by an angel during a dream. The angel says, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). Not only will this child save his people from their sins, but he will be the light of the world (John 8:12), a light that will never go out: a light that won’t have to be fixed there and brought back here.

Upon receiving this news, Joseph, like Mary, is told to not be afraid. How can that be? Several hours ago, Joseph just found out that Mary was pregnant: not recently pregnant, but three months pregnant. Several hours ago, Joseph realized that the child is not his. Several hours ago, Joseph was a simple carpenter looking forward to marrying Mary and starting a life with her. Several hours ago, Joseph wasn’t considering dismissing Mary; but now he is thinking that he should dismiss her privately so that she won’t be publicly disgraced and stoned to death. Several hours ago, life seemed normal. And now an angel is beginning the conversation by saying something that we all know Joseph is experiencing: the angel said don’t be afraid. If I were Joseph, I would be scared. Not only would I be scared, I would be terrified, wanting to run and hide, and wanting to forget that all this happened. I, too, would be doing my best to avoid the truth.

Have any of you ever felt like Joseph? Life is going well, nothing could possibly go wrong. And then…and then, something does go wrong. You try to hide from it; you try to run from it; and you try to avoid it. But unfortunately, it won’t leave you alone. The truth continues to find you, run with you, and seek you out. You try to develop lie after lie after lie after lie, reason after reason after reason, to why this incident is not true. But the more you do so, the more you realize that there is no escaping from it. There is no escaping from the truth.

Moses tried to deny his calling; Jonah fled 2,000 miles; Joseph sought divorce; and the Grinch covered up his pain by stealing away something that couldn’t be stolen. God reminded Moses that he will be there with him by talking to him through the burning bush; God found Jonah and made him a prophet; Joseph became the earthly father of Jesus after listening to the voice of the angel; and the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes after realizing the truth. The truth that these four characters, and many others tried to avoid, is the truth that will bring us joy on Christmas morning. It will be a joy that tells us to not be afraid. It will be a joy that that happiness and blessings. It will be a joy that will come from a voice that we least expect—similar to Isaiah when he writes, “A voice cried out in the wilderness.”  It will be a joy that comes from the small and changes all. It will be a joy that God promises: a joy that will light our world. Lastly, it will be a joy named Jesus, the very truth that will set us free (John 8:32).

When Joseph awoke from his sleep, it is recorded, “He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took [Mary] as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus” (Matthew 1:24-25). Joseph, after some convincing, no longer tried to develop a lie or reason to why this all took place. Instead, he accepted the truth. He stood by Mary, helped raised Jesus, and became a biblical figure that has no recorded words in scripture but has a lasting impression on our lives. So, when you encountered that thing in your life which you didn’t believe could ever happen to you, how did you respond? Are you still responding today? It took Joseph several hours, quite possibly several days, to accept the truth. It took the Grinch to hear “Fahoo forays, dahoo dorays Welcome Christmas! Come this way….’ from the top of Mt. Crumpit. We can only out run the truth for a short period of time. Sooner or later, the truth will catch up to us and we will be caught in the act. The truth of God will find us and will lead us towards eternal light.

Conclusion:

The scene of the Grinch stealing the Who’s family Christmas tree is only about two-minutes in length. Yet, within these two minutes, we get a glimpse of what is to come of the Grinch. Little Cindy Lou Who, doesn’t have many lines in the original 1966 debut of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. For those of us who have seen the live-adaption, we know that Cindy Lou Who has a significant part as she interviews countless Whos to learn more about the Grinch. Needless to say, little Cindy Lou Who from 1966 reminds us all that even the voice of the young and the small can change us all. The Grinch finally had to live up to his lie: he fixed the light and returned the tree to the Who family. The Grinch, through Cindy Lou Who, realized that his heart was acceptable to receiving the truth.

Joseph doesn’t have any speaking lines in the Bible, but yet his presence and place in the birth narrative of Jesus, help us understand the truth that awaits in the manger. Joseph, like the Grinch and so many of us, tried to avoid the truth and tried to develop his own sense of joy. But in the end, he realized just how powerful the truth can be. The truth can bring us joy when we are afraid. The truth can provide us with hope when nothing seems right. The truth can help us seek peace in the chaos of life. The truth can guide us towards eternal love. The truth can grow our hearts three sizes. And the truth can fix any light that decides to go out. The truth that we seek is the Truth—with a capital ‘T’—that resides in our hearts.

After several nights of being kicked and rolled over, I wanted to come up with a lie so that my parents would take my nephew for the remainder of the visit. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I couldn’t do it. The phrase, “I love you Uncle Daniel,” kept playing in my head on repeat. The small voice that took over my room took over my heart. Like Cindy Lou Who with the Grinch and Joseph with the angel, I experienced the truth; and this truth came from a little boy filled with joy and excitement and honor because he got to have a sleepover with his Uncle. Who would have ever thought that a single voice from someone so young and so small could change me, could change you, and could change us all.

As you think about those moments in your life where things didn’t go right, just remember that your light is always shining because your heavenly Truth is constantly there giving you both the truth and joy to keep going. When things don’t seem right, remember the small voice that changed your heart. Like the Grinch, we have to listen to those around us especially if they remind us that “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more.” Who is changing your heart today?

 

Closing Prayer:

            Let us pray…Dear Lord of joy and truth, we give you thanks for letting our lights shine. Even when we feel like we can’t keep our light lit, you provide us with someone in our life to remind us that we can keep going: that your truth will set us free. Lord, help us to experience your truth this Christmas Season. Help us to light the way for your Son, Jesus Christ. In your name we pray, Amen.

 

Benediction:

As you continue to prepare for the Christmas season, take time to seek the truth. Take time to listen to those around you. And take time to remember that with Christ in your heart, your light will never go out. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, go in peace and joy as you live wisely and well in God’s world. Amen. Amen. Amen.