POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - Do not Let ANYTHING Steal Your Christmas Spirit
Time Sensitivity: Sunday Before, or Wednesday Before, Christmas
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Have you ever seen the cartoon movie “How The Grinch Stole Christmas?” The Grinch had an idea as to how to keep Christmas from coming. Do you what that idea was? He tried to turn his little dog into a reindeer (by putting some antlers on his head) and made him pull a big sled down to Whoville. Then the Grinch took all the Christmas trees, all the presents, and all the decorations from Whoville, loaded them into the sled, and took them out of Whoville.
The Grinch just didn’t like Christmas; he had a problem. His heart was too small, so he wasn’t able to find the joy in Christmas.
Did he succeed? Did he take Christmas away from the Whos in Whoville? No. Even though he tried to take Christmas away, he could not because he couldn’t take away their love. And that is what Christmas is all about.
What happened when the Whos woke up on Christmas morning and noticed all their Christmas presents, Christmas trees, and decorations were gone? They formed a circle, held hands, and sang a song. So, nothing was able to keep Christmas from coming in Whoville. And at the very end, we found out that the Grinch was not a bad guy; he just needed love.
Christmas is all about love. As I thought about what I wanted to say, speaking so close to Christmas, the message kept coming to me — love and joy. I saw it so beautifully illustrated in this Christmas classic that I wanted to share pieces of it with you and talk a little of how I see the Grinch story unfolding.
The Grinch’s real problem was that his heart was too small. I believe that one of the things we often find ourselves experiencing in life a sense of ourselves as being somehow unworthy (which sometimes comes in the form of anger, jealously, possessiveness, shame, or guilt).
I have even come to the place of believing that whenever we are experiencing a negative state of mind, it really has to do with our own sense of unworthiness in life.
We have a God-given right to be here. What represents a Grinch state of consciousness? He was really loving all along. Though he appeared to be trying to take Christmas away from everybody else, what he really wanted was to have his own Christmas experience.
But it did not look that way. Oftentimes, as we approach the Grinch’s in our own lives, it doesn’t seem as though they are there to bring us a gift of something good.
All of the Whos down in Whoville, on the other hand, represent those parts of ourselves that are loving, and that truly want to experience Christmas as an opportunity to be filled with love and joy.
No matter what we are encountering in life, we have the opportunity to adopt either a Grinch state of mind or a Who state of mind.
Oftentimes, we may feel as though these characters are imposed upon us from somewhere outside of us, but the truth is we know life is a spiritual within, and so without, experience. So, if we encounter a Grinch somewhere in our world outside of us, where does that Grinch really live? Nowhere but in our own thoughts and awareness.
This makes the decision to be a Who or a Grinch very much our own choice. We really are not victims of circumstances or the actions or activities of other people outside of us. We are always – moment-by-moment throughout our lives – making the choice to either view the experiences that come to us from the perspective of the Grinch or that sense of learned unworthiness that we accumulate through life. Or we can choose to see opportunities in our lives as chances to love, as chances to affirm our natural worthiness and live – in joy.
You see, our natural state is one of worthiness. It is one that knows, as Jesus said of us, that we are children of God. What could possibly be more worthy than a child of God?
But oftentimes, we are not very convincing with ourselves because, since we were little children, there have been so many aspects of ourselves that we were taught not to appreciate. I think of this as the difference between the recognized spirituality of us and the unrecognized spirituality of us.
The truth is, my friends, that we are, right now, living in the kingdom of God, but we do not always choose to perceive our lives as kingdom experiences. We always have that opportunity, but it is not always easy to choose it, because of the aspects of ourselves that we have learned to deny, those aspects that make us feel so unworthy.
What happens when we are in a great Grinch consciousness? Just like the Grinch in the movie, we tend to want to persecute and, yes, even to be persecuted. So, the unpleasant episodes we have in our lives are oftentimes experiences in which we are trying to inflict a certain sort of punishment or torture on ourselves.
It is not necessary for us to go on living that way any longer. It is possible for us to live in a world of love. This means that the Christmas experience can become incredibly real to us if we will take an adventure from right this moment through Christmas and begin to view the opportunities or experiences in our lives as the chances in which we can bring forth this Who consciousness, this consciousness of love, this consciousness of worthiness, this consciousness of joy. If we are to truly follow Jesus Christ, we have to realize “WHO” we are.
We can begin to see that everything in life is sacred – one Presence and one Power of God. Everything is sacred. Our relationships with our families, friends, and co-workers are sacred. When we encounter unpleasant experiences with them, it is an opportunity to see the Grinch part of ourselves that still needs healing, that still needs prayer, that still needs to move from the unrecognized spiritual to the recognized spiritual human.
Everything in life is sacred. The time we have between now and Christmas is a great opportunity. It could not be a greater time of year with the gathering of friends, with the stresses of buying that last gift, or whatever might be on your list to complete. The tendency is to let that Grinch rise forth from within us. What we need to do is love the Grinch.
When the Whos in Whoville loved the Grinch, what happened? He became loving also. He wanted to share. And so, the neglected parts of ourselves want to share in the Christmas experience, too.
We are at a critical time in human history. We are at a time in human evolution where we can begin to make choices. We do not have to live as unconscious victims any longer. So, when we encounter friction in our lives, difficulty in a relationship, or when things appear not to be going the way we want them to go, we can make a choice.
The first thing that is necessary to move from a Grinch into a Who is to develop a part of yourself that can become a gentle, non-judgmental observer of your own activities. It’s hard for us to move out of the Grinch state of consciousness if we don’t even realize we are in it, or if we’re always seeing that Grinch in other people and never recognizing that it resides in us.
We can go on living like that for decades, but we will live a life of unhappiness because we are making unhappy choices. We are not pulling far enough away from our own behavior in life to be able to observe it non-judgmentally and gently, and to be able to say, “If I’m experiencing a Grinch out here, there must be some Grinch within me that has been activated. This is an opportunity for me to find and claim my own worthiness as a child of God, and to choose joy and happiness, instead of fear and unhappiness.”
This is a choice that you make many, many times, every day of your life. From the simplest gesture you may make to another person when you are Christmas shopping, be aware of your relationships. Be aware of how you feel inside. Do not necessarily try to change it, but just be aware. “I must be in a Grinch state of consciousness,” or “I must be in a Who state of consciousness.”
Give thanks when you are experiencing that Who state of consciousness, the loving state of consciousness. But when you find yourself experiencing the Grinch–and you will, because we all do, because we’re all in this human drama together–take just a moment to remember that everything in life is sacred, including the Grinch’s. They bring you the greatest Christmas gifts of all.
Oftentimes the relationships in our lives that are the most difficult have the greatest gold within them, if we will only be persistent in seeking and finding the goodness that is there. How many opportunities we will have ahead of us.
I think that as we move into this new time, in human consciousness and evolution, we will find that this tradition of celebrating Jesus birth, is actually a living process that takes place day-by-day within us as we choose love, as we choose not to allow our perceived unworthiness to keep that Christ essence from being born, from being realized inside of us.
This takes tremendous commitment. It is much easier to blame the challenges in our lives on society, our work, or even on our religion. But the truth is, we are free agents. We are free to make the choice. We are free to develop that observer within us, and then to become particularly good decision-makers and make a choice to love.
That is the opportunity that is before us this Christmas. I believe that is the opportunity that lies before us in the New Year we are moving into. I believe that, within the next few months, we will begin to see the Christmas experience move from one of trees, and decorations, and gifts, to a Christmas experience that happens every day of our lives, because we are going to be choosing to love. God is love and worship God every day we too must become love
It is a decision, a commitment that takes place inside of us. It is a commitment that I believe you are capable in joining me in pursuing because you are here, because the circumstances in all of your lives have lead you to this place, this time, and this God Truth. It is the recognition that you can take responsibility for your life, that you are not a victim of the whims or the negative states of mind of other people. No matter what situation you are in, you can choose the Jesus Christ way of love.
It is time to redefine Christmas in Webster’s New 21st Century Dictionary. Would you like to write it with me this morning? Let’s redefine Christmas. Let’s take it from a date on a calendar or an experience that happened 2,000 years ago and redefine it as an experience of love and joy, in our lives today. What better way to follow Jesus Christ than to have rebirth of spiritual consciousness in us.
Two-thousand years ago, Mary and Joseph made a difficult, arduous journey to the city of Bethlehem. Mary was with Child. You can imagine how difficult and challenging that journey was.
Well, my friends, we are on that same journey today – the journey from being a Grinch to being a Who; the journey from being unworthy to being worthy.
You can do it this Christmas. In fact, you are destined to do it – to give birth to that Christ Child in your daily actions and re-actions. Today, we are taking the same journey Mary and Joseph took. It is difficult. It is challenging. It is not always easy to be human, but we can do it. That is why we are here. We can endure that journey and give birth to a pure form of Christ love in our hearts.
I think we can do it this Christmas. I know we will do it as a human family and a human race in the future. It is our destiny. It is the way we are destined to travel.
So, why not start now? Why not make a commitment this morning, right here in this room, that you will experience the essence of Christmas love and joy no matter what is happening outside of you. Why not make a commitment his morning, right here in this room, that you will experience the essence of Christmas love and joy no matter “who” is happening outside of you. No matter where you may encounter those Grinch’s – love them. They cannot take away the spirit of Christmas from you. They cannot take away the spirit of joy you feel in your heart when you listen to a Christmas carol or you gaze at the beautiful shining lights on you Christmas tree. Don’t let them.
We do not need to live that way anymore, friends. We are moving out of that way into a new way – a way in which peace on earth is going to be more than words in a Christmas carol. It is going to be carved across our hearts.
My friends, we are beings of love. This Christmas, may we all recognize that love in a new and powerful way, and let it move our lives and the life of all humanity to a height beyond anything we have imagined.
God bless you and Merry Christmas.
PRAYER / MEDITATION___________________________
I would like to share with you the following words which were found in old St. Paul’s Church in Baltimore, dated 1692: Desiderata.
“Go placidly amid the noise the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
“Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they, too, have their story.
“Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
“Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career; however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
“Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
“Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
“Take kindly to counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
“Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, … … YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding just as it should.
“Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive God to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
“With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.”
Let us rest, reflect, in the silence of prayer … …
In the name of the Babe born in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ … … Amen
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GOD BLESS YOU,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Christopher Ian Chenoweth