Stop Living on Mt. Crumpit!

I know there is always plenty to complain about in this world. Just in the last few years alone we have endured an epidemic, inflation, hostility in the world, and polarizing politics. Does that mean we get to have a pity party and sit alone in our house on Mt. Crumpit?

Do you know what or where Mt. Crumpit is? Mt. Crumpit is the fictional mountain that sits just to the north of Who-ville, where the Grinch and his dog Max reside in the story by Dr. Suess called, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Grinch hated Christmas and the Whos down in Who-ville. The reason for his hate, we learn in the story, is that the Grinch had a heart that was 2 sizes too small. The question I have is how did the Grinch’s heart get that small?

This month we concluded our worship series on gratitude and learned how intertwined gratitude and joy are. I believe that the Grinch tried to ruin Christmas for all of the Whos down in Who-ville because he lacked joy in his own life and hated seeing it in the lives of the Whos. Towards the conclusion of the story, the Grinch takes away from the Whos everything that he believes provides them joy. He is then shocked to see them still joyful while they demonstrate gratitude for having one another despite everything they have lost. The Grinch learns that joy cannot be taken away as long as there is something to be grateful for. I believe his heart was 2 sizes two small because he was ungrateful and struggled to find anything to be thankful for.

Are you finding yourself like the Grinch hating the Christmas season, hating life, or even the people around you? Maybe you are sitting alone on your own Mt. Crumpit. Maybe you need to rediscover joy by finding what there is still to be grateful for. It is difficult to be unhappy when you are grateful! Join us this Sunday for worship at 8:30 or 10:45 AM as we rediscover joy and gratitude this holiday season through the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas in our new worship series called The Heart the Grew Three Sizes. You may even want to join one of our Advent studies on the same topic taking place during the Sunday School hour at 9:30 AM and later at 3:00 PM. Let us all come down from our Mt Crumpit!

In God’s grip,

Pastor Chuck Church