INTRODUCTION WHILE THE CHILDREN ARE WITH US:
‘HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!’
Somewhere around about the beginning of 1957, Dr Seuss started to write the story, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ It was published later that year. That was almost 70 years ago! Today, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ is still among the top selling books – not just top selling children’s books. And the word ‘grinch’ has come into our vocabulary. You could call someone ‘an old grinch’.
What the story?
The Grinch lives near the town of Whoville. He’s mean. He’s a spoilsport, a killjoy. He doesn’t like other people to have fun. And he’s particularly fed up with Christmas. All that noise! All that eating! For 53 years, the Grinch has been putting up with it. Dr Seuss was 53 when he wrote the story so maybe he was saying something about himself.
But this year, the Grinch has a horrible, devious plan. He’s going to steal Christmas!
Grinch dresses up as Father Christmas. He comes down the chimney. He STEALS the stockings. He STEALS the turkey. He even STEALS the Christmas tree. Off he goes with all the things he’s stolen. Then he listens. What will he hear? The Grinch expects to hear lots of wailing as people discover their Christmas stockings, their turkey and their Christmas tree are gone.
But that isn’t what he hears. He’s shocked! Because what he hears is a merry sound. Everybody is singing! The Grinch hadn’t stopped Christmas at all!
And at that point, the Grinch started to wonder.
‘How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!’
The Grinch went on puzzling over it for three hours. And then, the Grinch thought of something.
‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more.’
After that, the Grinch went back to Whoville. He took all the presents back. And the food. And later that day, he himself carved the roast beast.
In the story, the Grinch wakes up to the fact that there’s more to Christmas than the things around the Christmas tree or the Christmas meal. But the Grinch doesn’t seem to know what Christmas is REALLY about. Or if he does, he doesn’t say.
Perhaps that’s where we are. Like the Grinch, we sense that Christmas is deeper than presents and turkey. But we don’t know what it’s really about.
At this point, I’ll hand over to Charlotte. Charlotte, what is Christmas really about? What is at the heart of Christmas? ...
MAIN TALK: CUT OUT THE LIGHT POLLUTION!
Sometimes, to see something clearly, you have to clear everything else away. At Christmas, Christians need to do that. I’m going to tell you a story about an astronaut. Then we’ll think about the wise men. Then we’ll think about the Grinch. Then we’ll think about us.
The story about an astronaut comes from the American astronaut Jim Lovell. Lovell became an astronaut after the American moon missions ended. He wasn’t one of the 12 American astronauts who walked on the moon. But he commanded the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. It almost ended in disaster – but it didn’t.
Lovell had another very scary moment in 1953. He was flying a plane from a US aircraft carrier. He took off but while in the air he accidentally short-circuited his instrument panel. Everything went black. He was in trouble. He needed the instruments to guide him back to the aircraft panel. He wouldn’t be able to see the ship because it was in blackout mode. Then, in the darkness, he saw a glow from the sea. It was coming from phosphorescent plankton churned up in the carrier’s wake. There is a kind of plankton in the ocean which has bioluminescence. It glows, and it especially glows if a large ship churns up the plankton as it moves through it. The glow told Lovell that the aircraft carrier was close. Lovell followed the trail and found the carrier.
Lovell could see the glow of the plankton once the cockpit was dark. When all the instruments were on, he couldn’t.
Let’s now turn to the wise men. The wise men who came looking for the King of the Jews are among the most iconic figures of the Christmas story. How did they find Jesus? We know the story. They saw the star, sensed what it meant – and then followed it. The wise men would have seen the star at night when it was dark. They couldn’t have seen the star in the daytime. The light of the star couldn’t compete with the light of the sun.
Let’s now turn to the Grinch. The Grinch steals everything to do with Christmas – so he thinks! The presents, the turkey, the Christmas tree. He expects everyone to be miserable. But to his great surprise, everyone is still singing! In the story, the Grinch muses over it. ‘Maybe Christmas’, he thinks, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more.’ But it seems as though the Grinch doesn’t know what that might be. Personally, I think the Grinch did the people of Whoville a favour. When the things that might easily distract them were taken away, they could give their attention to what Christmas is all about. That is, of course, Jesus.
Let’s apply these ideas to ourselves. It would be impossible to overstate how important Christmas is. It was important to the people of Jesus’ time. It is important in world history. And it’s important to US.
Jesus turned the world of his time upside down. But the impact didn’t stop after he was crucified. Not at all! H.G. Wells, the author of novels such as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, once said, ‘I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.’ That’s quite a commendation.
But think about what Jesus means to us today. The passage which Scott read for us [Matthew 1:18-2:6] is packed with reasons why Christmas is SO important … to US.
Look at 1:21. Jesus would be a SAVIOUR. An angel tells Joseph that his wife Mary, ‘will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ Because Jesus came into the world, I have a saviour who has set me free from my bondage to sin.
Look at 1:22. Jesus would be ‘IMMANUEL’, God with us. The angel tells Joseph that what Isaiah had prophesied was about to take place [Isaiah 7:14]. Because Jesus came into the world as Immanuel, I have Jesus with me through the Holy Spirit.
Look at 2:1. Jesus would be KING. The wise men from the east come asking, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’ Because Jesus came into the world, I have a king who looks out for me and whom I must obey.
Look at 2:6. Jesus would be a SHEPHERD. The chief priests and scribes tell Herod that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. That’s what the prophet Micah had prophesied [Micah 5:2]. He would be ‘A ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ Because Jesus came into the world, I have a shepherd who leads me and protects me.
All these things are VERY important to me! Jesus’ INCARNATION calls for REFLECTION and CELEBRATION! I think it calls for some PROCLAMATION too.
But at Christmas time we’re in danger of not seeing Jesus and of not reflecting on who he is – to US and to the world. The presents and Christmas trees and turkeys and all the other distractions of Christmas are like bright lights in Lovell’s cockpit or like the daytime sun for the wise men. They keep us from focusing our gaze on Jesus, the person who Christmas is all about. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a place for presents and Christmas trees and turkeys. Christmas IS a time for CELEBRATION. But during Christmas we need to take time out. We need to turn the cockpit lights off. We need to set off at night. We need to get rid of the light pollution. When we do that, we won’t see phosphorescent algae or a star above, but Jesus, the Light of the World.
The Grinch wanted to steal Christmas. The Grinch is fiction. But sadly, there’s a lot of truth in the story. There are things which really do steal Christmas if we let them. For some of us, parties and presents distract us. For the business person, November to January is ‘The Golden Quarter.’ Making money occupies our thoughts. For some of us, tiredness or worry or busyness sap our energy.
Let’s not allow things like this to steal Christmas. Christ is God’s gift to us. He is the greatest gift that could possibly be given. Forget everything else. HE is all I want for Christmas.
TALK GIVEN AT ROSEBERY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH, BOURNEMOUTH, UK, 8TH JANUARY 2024, 10.30 A.M. SERVICE
