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What is your favorite Christmas movie? When I ask that question, I’m sure there are a lot of classics that come to mind. It’s a Wonderful Life. The Miracle on 34th Street. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Among my generation, millennials, you’ll hear a lot of folks say they love to watch the Harry Potter movies or The Lord of the Rings around Christmastime. Home Alone is also a classic. But there is one Christmas movie that holds a special place in my heart—one that the title of this article gives away.

I adore the 1966 cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I have always loved that movie and the book it is based on. My grandmother used to read it to my brother and I anytime we went to visit her at Christmas. I have such fond memories of reading about that grinchy old Grinch and all his Christmas-stealing shenanigans. And I adore the animated version of the story, particularly the song, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” And, of course, I also love the message of the story—that Christmas is not about the things that we get—the ribbons, the tags, the packages, boxes, and bags. But there’s one important thing to remember in the final moments of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

For those that may not have seen the movie or read the book, the Grinch is a mean, green, Christmas-hating monster that lives on a mountain above the town of Who-ville. The Whos are people that adore Christmas and they celebrate it each year—loudly. That noise carries up the mountain and infuriates the Grinch. So, one year, he decides to go down into Whoville and steal all the trappings of Christmas—the presents, the trees, the lights, and the food, in particular the roast beast. After stealing everything and loading it up on a sleigh, the Grinch takes the presents up to the top of Mount Crumpit in order to dump them all over the edge. But as he’s standing there, he pauses to listen to what he assumes will be the weeping of the Whos. Instead, he hears them singing and celebrating Christmas all the same. It causes a change in his heart as he realizes that there is more to Christmas than just the material things. So, he races back down the mountain and returns everything to the Whos. The book and the movie end with a town-wide feast and the narrator saying, “He, he himself, the Grinch, carved the roast beast.”

What’s the thing to remember? The Whos open up their celebration to the Grinch without any questions. They simply accept him into their community, bringing him into the joy of Christmas. Later adaptations of the story (2000 & 2018) have tried to figure out some way to qualify the way the Grinch gets accepted by the Whos. Neither Dr. Seuss nor the 1966 movie do that though and that’s important. One of the points of Christmas is the reminder of the unconditional love that God has for all people in all places at all times. There are no qualifications to be loved by God. There is no transaction. There is no “proof” that you deserve God’s love. God just gives it to you. The Whos end up modeling that by creating a space for the Grinch in their celebrations—no questions asked. Not only do they bring him in, they place him in a position of respect and honor. The Whos saw this green monster who “stole Christmas” and chose to include him, to see him as their guest, to invite him into their community. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is, in part, a story about radical love and hospitality for all people.

I’ve mentioned this to a few of you in passing over the last few weeks, but one of my favorite nights of the year is coming up. Let me explain. I enjoy the Christmas season and I enjoy a lot of the decorations that go along with the season. I like the reds and greens and golds of Christmas. And I’ve got a good number of Christmas decorations myself. But you know the problem with decorations? They have to be dragged out of storage, dusted off, and then put up. That takes a lot of time and energy and thought and precision. When it comes to decorating, I don’t necessarily have all those things. That is especially true when it comes to the Christmas tree. All those ornaments. All those branches. It’s just too much!

The other problem with decorations? I really do like them! So, on the one hand, I enjoy having all these things around my apartment. On the other hand, I don’t want to take the time to put them all up! So, years ago, I asked myself, “How do I decorate for Christmas without decorating for Christmas?” And then it came to me! I texted some of my friends and invited them over to my apartment to help me decorate my Christmas tree. “In exchange,” I told them, “I’ll make a pot of chili and feed you.” I’m not great at decorating, but I’m pretty good at making chili! Sure enough, they showed up! We ate chili, decorated my tree, and spent the evening talking and catching up with each other.

We have gotten together every year since 2017 (with one notable exception in 2020) to eat chili and put ornaments on my tree. It has become a tradition among my friends and me. And every year the tradition flexes to include new people and new ideas. My friends will bring new dishes to go with the chili. They’ll bring presents if we’re not sure when we’ll see each other next. We’ll invite other friends to come and join us. This year I think we’re going to bake cookies together as well that night. But in all of it, we reaffirm our love and friendship. What started out as a sneaky way to get my tree decorated has morphed into a sincere night of friendship.If you were here for the Hanging of the Greens service, you’ll remember I talked about the idea that the traditions we carry forward tell a story about what we believe. They are a refrain to a song that we sing throughout our lives. In the church, we carry traditions regarding the birth of Christ, his death and resurrection, and all manner of other wonderful things God has done for us and for our world. They tell the story of our faith. They tell the story of the God we worship. They are beautiful expressions of our shared beliefs, as long as we remember that they tell the story of a God who loves all people in all places.

What are the traditions in your own family? What story do they tell? How do they connect you to others? How have they changed to accommodate new people? And what does all that say about the God we worship?

Merry Christmas,

Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

By the time you read this, Thanksgiving will already be over. I would imagine your fridges will be full of food, your shopping carts full of Black Friday deals, and/or your TV full of football games. Thanksgiving is a time of year that reminds so many of us Americans of the fullness there is to life. It is a season associated with abundance and bounty leading into the Christmas season.

In light of that, though, I want to be sure to remind us all that Advent is also a time of abundance. We typically think of it as a season of waiting, of anticipation—and it is! —but it is also a time when we remind ourselves of the love of God that pours over all of Creation. That love was so abundant that God chose to come and live among us, to take on flesh and be a part of our world. God came to us in the per-son of Jesus Christ and experienced all that it means to be human, to be one of us.

In response to that abundance, to that love, and to all the human experiences Christ had, we at Hope Valley Baptist Church have planned many different special services this year. I want to be sure to run through all of them with you and give you an idea of what we’re planning this season.

The first special service will be on Sunday, December 3rd during morning worship. It will be our annual Hanging of the Greens service as we mark the beginning of the Advent season. The Hanging of the Greens is a beautiful service in which we, as a church, finish decorating our sanctuary. It is an intentional service in which we remind ourselves why we do the things we do during Advent and what they say about our faith.

The second special service is our Service of Lament. This will be on Wednesday, December 6th at 6:30 pm in the church sanctuary. The Service of Lament is a unique service that carves out space for those of us who are mourning or carrying grief through the holidays. It is a service that reminds folks that even if they do not feel particularly joyful right now, the church has room for them.

Our third special service will be our annual musical service on Sunday, December 17th at 5:00 pm in our church sanctuary. This year, it is entitled, “Let There Be Christmas,” and it promises to be a beautiful, joyful service that sings out the wonder, the joy, and the beauty of this season. In addition to wonderful music, there will be delicious food served at a reception immediately following in the Fellowship Hall.

Finally, we will be having our Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion Service this year on Sunday, December 24th at 5:00 pm in our sanctuary. I love this service. It is a time for all of us to come together as a church family on the most exciting night of the year—the night when we celebrate the birth of our Savior. It is a service filled with joy, with singing, with the celebration of communion, and finally with the lighting of candles. Be sure to bring your family with you as we come together as a church family in celebration of all God has done for us.

So, there you have it. Love. Grief. Joy. Celebration. This year, our special services look to tell one overarching thing—God is with us, always. The love of God is abundant in this season.

What good news!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,
Six months ago, I wrote an Illuminator article entitled, “The Legend of Zelda and Loneliness.” In that article, I wrote about a game called Tears of the Kingdom and how it addresses themes of loneliness and finding community. And I remember telling you all then that once I beat Tears of the Kingdom, you could expect another article about the game. Well, I beat the game! So I want to talk about one of the aspects of the game that Zelda fans like myself particularly enjoy before connecting it back to our lives as Christians.

The Legend of Zelda games are known for a lot of different things. The gameplay is great. The characters are iconic. The stories are simple, but deeply moving. But perhaps more than anything else, Zelda games are known for their music. And while every new Zelda game has its own unique musical sound, they also tap into themes from previous games and use them to help tell their story.

In Tears of the Kingdom, the music is played by a full orchestra. One of the most celebrated musical moments comes early in the game. Link, the hero of the story, is battling a giant flying worm-thing called Colgera. Colgera is a wind monster and so most of the battle takes place in the sky. Because of that, the music that plays during the fight is carried by lots of wind instruments—oboes, flutes, saxophones, etc.

As the battle wears on, Colgera gets more aggressive and so does the music. Longer, soaring wind sections are interrupted with sharp, aggressive punches of sound from horns. Strings come in and play a tight loop of anxious notes as Colgera throws massive attacks at Link. But if the player dodges those attacks, the orchestra bursts into this bombastic, triumphant choral rendition of a song from a previous Zelda game, The Wind Waker. For those of us that played The Wind Waker back in 2002, it feels like the hero of that game nudging you and saying, “Hey, you’ve over-come challenges before. You can do it again.”

This past Sunday, we celebrated All Saints Sun-day. We took time during our worship service to read out the names of our brothers and sisters in Christ who had passed away within the last year. We talked about the ways in which our brothers and sisters in Christ have shaped and molded our faith over the years. Sometimes their influence is as broad as, “I come to church because this person invited me years ago.” It can be as personal as a relationship—someone from a church who stuck with you during hard times and who is the first to celebrate with you in good times. Sometimes it is as literal as something you say or do because someone else influenced you. Growing up my youth minister began every prayer with, “Gracious and loving God.” When you hear me pray on-the-spot, you’ll notice that I often start with, “Gracious and loving God.”

As we move through life, the saints remind us that we can meet highs and lows. I am reminded of Scott and my home church family at FBC Goldsboro every time I pray. I remember the way they all guided me and showed me how to be a Christian. It is as if they are nudging me and saying, “You’ve got this.” We are never truly alone in our faith journey and that’s a comfort. There will always be things we do that remind us of our brothers and sisters in Christ—those that are with us and those that have passed on. But isn’t it comforting when life throws challenges at you to know there are people in your corner who believe in you? That is part of the gift God gives us in the church.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

P. S. If you’d like to hear the music I mentioned in this article, go to YouTube and type in, “colgera battle ost”. The moment I describe starts around the 2:35 mark, with the choir joining in at 2:55. The whole piece is just under 5 minutes—listen to it all!