By: Annwen Quilliam
It’s not ‘Home Alone,’ or ‘Love Actually,’ nor is it ‘Elf’ or ‘Die Hard’. When leave kicks in and the days are free for activities, top of my Christmas movie watch list must be ‘The Grinch who stole Christmas.’ If you are questioning my inclusion of Die Hard in the list of Christmas movies, there are numerous blogs and threads to follow the debate.
“The Grinch who stole Christmas” was written by Dr Seuss and can be badly summarised as the green character of The Grinch hating Christmas and the occupants of Whoville because he was bullied when he was younger. Cindy Lou Who, a young girl in Whoville makes friends with the Grinch and invites the hated character to the Christmas celebration. The Grinch is hate personified who despises the materialism of Christmas and all its trimmings and does everything in his power to steal and plunder all the Christmas gear and ruin it for everyone. The Grinch feels as if he has won and finally beaten the Christmas spirit out of Whoville. Even though the Grinch ‘stole’ Christmas, he learns that it is not about the gifts or the feast but rather the true loving spirit of Christmas and miraculously his heart grows two sizes bigger. The end.
When looked at, we can understand how people, even ourselves, despise the capitalism and consumerism associated with Christmas. The pressure of gifts and gatherings. The festive season can include reminders of forgotten family, or lost loved ones, hurt people and just like the Grinch it is easier to despise the whole thing, rather than grow your heart. We have most probably heard at least one person say, ‘I do not celebrate Christmas.’
The festive season as the name suggests should be a season where there is joy, happiness, and celebration. And after a year filled with fear and doubt, I believe a season dedicated to joy is needed. Luke 2:10 (NIV) “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” The Good News is that the promise of a Saviour was fulfilled through the birth of someone who would change the world. In the words of the carol” Hark! The Herald angels sing,” ‘God and sinner reconciled’ means the separation that took place in the garden of Eden where sin was introduced and separated us from God was now bringing the sinner and God back together through Jesus. Matthew 1:23 (NIV) “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (Which means ‘God with us’) “. As Jesus dwelled with us in human form it was God with us.
Psalm 42:5 (NIV) ‘Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour, and my God.’
The Grinch was a miserable character who hated lots of things but mostly the occupants of Whoville. He has been mistreated, mocked, rejected, and had chosen to live a life of distrust and hatred. Look around, people have had a challenging year and sometimes the celebration of the festive season heightens people’s hatred and hurt. Those Grinches need Good News. If Cindy Lou Who had not approached the scary, isolated Grinch, and told him about the wonders and hope of Christmas, he would never have changed his life and restored his broken heart.
Do you know The Grinch? Someone who has lost the hope and joy of Christmas and who has forgotten about Jesus being the greatest gift ever given? Someone who has set their eyes on the ways of the world and not on heaven? Colossians 3:2 (NIV) “Set your minds on things above, not on early things.” Why not invite them into the festivities. As disruptive and difficult as they may be, or as much as they protest, include them in the Good News about the Prince of Peace being born. At many Christmas tables growing up my family had the recently divorced dad who was not spending Christmas with his children, or the widow who had lost her husband or the person whose family no longer lived near them. Many invites had been rejected but the invite had still been extended. When we speak about sharing the joy and the great news, there is no better time to do that with a Grinch than at Christmas. And that is what Christmas means to me. I love hearing the story again and being reminded of the joy and hope after a year that was filled with more fear that I would have liked. A reminder of the gift Jesus was to the world. How we came into the world to reconcile sinners to God. How He came to save us, even the Grinches.