1 John 4:7-11

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

C.S. Lewis wrote the seminal book on the concept of love in his work, The Four Loves. In it, he identified four distinct aspects of love: affection, friendship, erotic love, and divine unconditional love. As you might expect, C.S. Lewis champions divine love as the love that exceeds all others, namely for its power to transform one’s self into the image of God.

It is this divine unconditional love that Franciscan Father Richard Rohr is addressing when he writes, “There’s no other way you can know who God is, and who you are, but to love….God is not saying, ‘I demand this of you.’ Rather, God is saying, ‘I invite you into this mystery of who you already are in me.’ Love is not something you decide to do now and then. Love is who you are! Your basic, foundational existence—created in the image of the Trinity—is love. Remember, Trinity is saying that God is not an isolated divine being; God is a quality of relationship itself, an event of communion, an infinite flow of outpouring. God is an action more than a substance, to put it succinctly.”*

I thought briefly about selecting the holiday-themed film, Love Actually, as my subject for this evening. However, as much as I enjoy this movie in all its cheesy British-humor goodness, I couldn’t recall anything powerful about its depictions of love. It is full of uplifting depictions of affection, friendship, and romantic love, but offers little in the way of divine unconditional transformative love.

I did, however, find divine unconditional love portrayed in the 1966 program How the Grinch Stole Christmas, based on the book by Dr. Seuss. In case you haven’t seen this, or if it’s been a while, I’ll briefly set up the story.

A creature called the Grinch lives far enough away from the happy village of Whoville (home of the Whos) that he is not a part of that community. He is close enough, however, to hear all the noise they make, particularly around Christmas time. He resolves to ruin the Whos’ Christmas by sneaking in on Christmas Eve and stealing all their trees, decorations, musical instruments, food, and toys.

This is where our clip begins.

Hopefully you see the story of the Grinch as a wonderful example of the power of love to transform one’s self. There is beauty in the Whos lovingly welcoming the Grinch into their community. There is beauty in the Grinch’s literal change of heart. But what struck me (on this, what I can only assume is my eightieth time watching this movie) is what happened to allow love into the Grinch’s heart: he listened.

Recall the image of the Grinch putting his hand to his ear, expecting to hear the groans, angst, and disappointment of the Whos mourning the absence of everything they no longer have. Instead, however, the Grinch hears the unexpected sound of joyful singing.

This is not a new sound that the Grinch is hearing. After all, it was the joyful singing that he refers to as “noise” early on. But for the first time he listens instead of merely hears.

You know the difference between hearing and listening, right? Hearing is what we refer to when we acknowledge the sounds coming in our ears. But listening is a whole-body experience where the sounds serves to create relationship. You don’t just hear your favorite song, you listen to your favorite song. You don’t just hear the person tell you they love you; you listen to the person tell you they love you.

And even though it was a cold-hearted impulse that led the Grinch to listen, he listened nonetheless. In listening he was revealed a truth about life that introduced the concept of love into his heart.

The importance of listening in this day and age cannot be overstated. In a world where we are bombarded with noise, it is increasingly difficult to listen to what is actually true. In a world that can seem so polarized, angry, and isolated, the call to listen to others remains critical. In a world that spends millions of dollars convincing you who you are and what you need to buy in order to be happy, God calls us to listen to the voice of God animating each one of us – the voice that tells us we are loved; the voice that tell us we are called and capable of sharing that love with others.

So, to conclude, I would like to invite you into a spiritual practice of listening.

For a couple of minutes I invite you to take a comfortable posture and sit in silence.

As you find a comfortable position on your chair, close your eyes. Begin to focus around your chest area, your “heart center.” Breathe in and out from that area, as if you are breathing from the heart center and as if all experience is happening from there. Anchor your mindfulness only on the sensations at your heart center, focusing on your breath.

Continuing to breathe in and out, think this phrase several times: “God is love and God is here.”

Repeat this phrase in the hopes that this will eliminate all other noises.

Listen to the truth that God is love and God is here.

Next, think of a person who most invites the feeling of pure unconditional divine love. Perhaps someone you consider a mentor. It might be a parent, grandparent, teacher, someone toward whom it takes no effort to feel respect and reverence, someone who immediately elicits the feeling of care. Repeat the phrases for this person: “God is love and God is here.”

Continuing to breathe out of your heart’s center, think of a person you regard as a dear friend and repeat the phrase: “God is love and God is here.”

Now think of a neutral person, someone for whom you feel neither strong like nor dislike. As you repeat the phrase, allow yourself to feel tenderness, loving care for their welfare.

Now move to someone you have difficulty with–hostile feelings, resentments. With this person in mind, repeat the phrase: “God is love and God is here.”

Let this phrase spread through your whole body, mind, and heart.

Stay in touch with the ember of warm, tender loving-kindness at the center of your being as you slowly begin to draw awareness back to the rest of your body, your chair, and the room around you.

In closing I return to the words of Richard Rohr,

“Jesus says, ‘I’ll be with you only a little while longer. So I’m going to leave a sign that I’m still here. I’m going to reveal myself in the presence of loving people.’ That’s the only way anyone can know God. If you’ve never let anyone love you, if you’ve never let love flow through you—gratuitously, generously, undeservedly—toward other people, you can’t possibly know who God is. God is just a theory or abstraction. But ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). And those who live in love live in God and know God experientially.”*

God is love and God is here. Amen.

* “Disciples: Those Who Love Others.” Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation (Tuesday, December 20, 2016)

Meditation adapted from “Loving-Kindness Meditation” from the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. (http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree/loving-kindness)

2 John 1:12

Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

The Second Letter of John is one of the shortest works collected in the Bible. Not much is known about its context, save for the fact that it is a letter written by a leader of one faith community addressed to the leader of another faith community. It is a letter of encouragement to the community to continue to prioritize truth and love, and act accordingly.

At the conclusion of the letter the author indicates that joy can reach “completion” or fulfillment only in face-to-face relationship.

I can think of many recent encounters with this truth. The first is when Lindsey and I went to Guatemala. There I was able to reconnect with a close friend and his family. We’ve stayed in touch as they’ve traveled the world, serving in the State Department, but this was the first time in a long time we were able to be together in the same place. There was a level of joy in spending time together that cannot be duplicated electronically.

Also, there was my encounter while at a conference in Nashville, TN a couple weeks ago. I was awake early and headed to a coffee shop. After ordering I found myself standing next to Olympic figure skater Scott Hamilton. I leaned over and told him how much he meant to me because we had both grown up in the same city – Bowling Green, Ohio – and I grew up thinking of him as a role model and hero. Much to my surprise, his face lit up when I told him I was from Bowling Green. We ended up having what I would consider to be a nice conversation. The chance encounter and five-minute face-to-face relationship indeed filled me with a sense of joy that I would have missed out on had I not awoken early that morning and decided to explore the city.

Joy is made complete when we come together and talk face to face.

In a way, this is the message at the heart of the Christmas film, Elf. For those of you who are not familiar with this movie, here’s a synopsis:

A human baby accidentally ends up in the North Pole. Santa's most trusted helper took the boy under his wing and raised him as an elf. But when he matured, and grew over 6 feet tall, it became clear that Buddy would never quite fit in the elf world. Told the truth about his real father, Buddy sets off for New York City to find him. Buddy soon learns that life in the big city isn't all sugar plums and candy canes. Everyone in New York seems to have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, especially his father. And it's up to Buddy to save Christmas.

Elf is a story about identity, risk, bravery, and authenticity. At it’s heart, Elf is a tale about one man’s journey from the familiar to the foreign, in search of a face to face relationship he believes will bring real joy into his life. In the end, he initiates relationships with dozens of initially-reluctant scrooges, only to melt their hearts with his innocence, persistence, and joy.

Elf would have been a terrible movie if it was all about a human who lived happily ever after in the North Pole. Instead, the bulk of the movie deals with tension and a sense of being displaced and without a tribe to call his own.

In her chapter about “Ecstasy” in the book Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris writes,

“People like to know where they stand. And to be put “out of place” is a disaster; it conjures up images of eviction and homelessness…. But I am tempted to say that without ecstasy, there is no love. If we lack the ability to even imagine ourselves without a place, we are not likely to be able to love wisely enough to heal our society of its schizophrenia.”

Elf is a comedy all about joy. There is a slapstick sense to the film’s humor, but it is balanced nicely with a deeper elements about disappointment, identity, love, resilience, and hope. Joy pulses through Buddy’s veins (along with an inhuman amount of sugar). While Buddy’s joy initially comes across as annoying, he ends up transforming many peoples’ lives for the better.

I had picked out scenes from the film that illustrate each of the 8 Pillars of Joy, as written about in the phenomenal book The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. In the book, they identify the 8 Pillars of Joy: Perspective, Humility, Humor, Acceptance, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Compassion, and Generosity. Much of the foundation work of joy is to be done alone, through meditation and contemplation. But joy only finds completion in relationship.

Perspective - your problem will pass.
Buddy most clearly embodies this in his eternal optimism. For him, each rejection and setback is only temporary.

Humility - you are deeply connected with all people.
Buddy’s mission is to spread Christmas cheer. He doesn’t set himself over and above others, rather he engages in unconditional love because, for him, no one is beyond redemption.

Humor - laugh at your problems, shortcomings and frailties.
Buddy has nothing to lose because he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Acceptance - in order to make the most positive contribution to the situation, one must accept the reality of its existence.
Buddy understands a problem that few bother to recognize – namely, the absence of Christmas cheer.

Forgiveness - recognize you have hurt and will be hurt by others.
At the conclusion of the film, Buddy gladly receives his father’s acceptance without a trace of frustration or anger.

Gratitude - for whom and for what you are thankful.
Buddy sees everything and everyone as a gift and engages in the world in a sense of wonder and awe.

Compassion - Buddhist practice of tonglen – breathing in the suffering of an environment and breathing out love, courage, strength, and joy from one’s heart

Buddy single-handedly changes the environment of the department store, publishing office, disgruntled apartment of his family, and the mail room.

Generosity - desire to give gifts.
Buddy spends no energy debating who deserves what; rather, all he wants is for people to give and receive gifts.

This holiday season, perhaps what the world needs are more Buddy the Elves – people who engage in the world with a sense of wonder, seeking to spread Christmas cheer, and transforming entire communities. That sure sounds like Christian discipleship to me.

So may you come face to face with people who need your friendship and unconditional love. May you find joy in being displaced and uncomfortable. And may entire communities be transformed by joy and grace.

Amen.

Advent Movie Series: How the Grinch Stole Christmas – 1 John 4:7-11

Advent Movie Series: Elf – 2 John 1:12