Advent: Stories, Movies and more ways to grow and change
Christmas is all about stories. It always has been. The Gospel of Mark gets right to the gritty and real, with the honey and locust eating, John the Baptist echoing the prophets and calling to make a path for God’s love expressed in Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke give us something a little more cozy. Luke’s Angles proclaim Good News visiting the vulnerable, both shepherds and Mary until they all say, “Yes” to something new. Matthew weaves a story of dreams inspiring a righteous man, Joseph to really be righteous and stars beckoning the wise ones across the horizon. The stories are different, entirely different and both are true. Which is a lesson from the very start, that early faithful loved all the stories and were wise enough to take them seriously but not literally. They remind us that the stories are not about facts but truth. Truth so deeply felt it opens our eyes, changes our heart and sends us in new directions.
That’s why we are in a season of stories because truth deeply felt doesn’t follow any old rules. It can be secular and sacred, it can be sung in a carol, whispered in a card, echoed in prose and animated in hearts that grow three sizes.
The Gospel of John, names Jesus in epic origins as the word. “In the beginning was the words and the word was with God and the word was God ... and the word became flesh.” John begins the story of Christmas with the cosmos and puts the power of words at the center.
So what are the words that matter to you? What are the stories that open your eyes and make your heart grow three sizes? This season of Advent I want to invite you to listen for the words of all the stories that inspire us as a culture and you as an individual.
Stories are sacred. And not just the ones in the Bible. In this season of advent, as we wait in longing for Christmas, I want us to listen to all the stories. Watch all the movies. Cozy up with all the books and blankets. Sing all the carols, over and over even. So we can find the words that mean the most to us.
Elf
Elf may not seem like a Christmas movie if you are someone who wants to make sure everyone puts the Christ in Christmas. But just like Santa says “You're more of an Elf than any I’ve ever met” when he asks Buddy to fix his sleigh; I say Elf tells the story of good news and great joy just about as well as any other story out there. Perhaps it is the Giant man dressed as an Elf that somehow charms us with his big heart. It could have been mean and weird and crass but this giant elf is never mean, crass, harsh or rude. The worst violence might be the moment Buddy tries to hug a New York racoon or tells all the children the department store Santa sits on ‘a throne of lies’ and ends up in a lego smashing fight. Otherwise it is almost all sweetened just right (with four different kinds of sugar to be exact) and a chance to peer through new eyes at our culture. The crosswalk can be hopscotch, the gift for someone special means lingerie for your long lost father and the elevator buttons can light up your day.
In Buddy’s quest to know where he belongs, he helps and charms just about everyone he meets, except one ‘angry elf’ at his Dad’s office. Buddy’s biological Dad, Walter, is the foil - the masterclass in transformation. There is room for everybody on the nice list and Walter has “lost sight of what’s important.” Buddy helps him see it but not by himself, Michael forces Walter to choose family over corporate values, numbers and bottom lines. Michael gives it a fine point, “Buddy cares about everybody. All you care about is yourself.”
Buddy saves Christmas and finds a sense of belonging. To a ‘human raised by elves’ even the toilets being the right size is shout worthy news. In his moments of struggle, Buddy struggles with belonging and while he finds his way by the end of the movie this is his central struggle. This struggle could send him into despair but joy remains ever present.
We always underestimate Joy. Like it’s just silly, something for a child and everything has to be pure bliss. But that’s not how joy works, it cozies up to our grief and worry, it holds hands with our loss and keeps a little spot in our hearts on matter what hurt is happening. Even Hallmark movies have a spot of conflict and struggle to make the point. Elf shows us this connection to joy and longing, joy and loss, joy and seeking despite brokenness, harm, loss and fear.
Elf’s Prayers of the People
Between each phrase you are invited to meditate, draw and reflect.
For the big hearted that don’t always fit in the boxes and norms,
the desks and assembly lines no matter how hard they try.
For the snow globes that help navigate
and the identities that intersect in magical ways.
For the shame that shouts, “Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins”
As we, are so quick to forget we are
beautifully and wonderfully made.
For the corporate meetings held on Christmas Eve,
without a thought to humanity
but an obsession with the bottom line
that keeps us grasping and racing
when we could be home singing of peace.
For the angry elves in each of us shouting our value through zeros and commas,
action and domination,
naming our conquests and living our ego’s great fears out loud
When we could be painting the stories of a loving creative dream.
For the songs that echo from the smallest, lonely spaces,
that begin tender and low until we are brave enough
to stand up and sing out over the cynics and critics.
For papas and step-moms and little brothers who love
beyond difference and distance,
who get curious and make space little-by-little
who show up day in and day out, at every stage on the journey.
For love that makes all things new,
that warms hearts and swells tongues,
that makes crosswalks into hopscotch and revolving doors into games
that opens our eyes to joy in seasons of sacristy and inspires us to treat every day like Christmas. Because everyday and everything is sacred.
For hearts that grow and quit the race to keep up,
for snowballs and trees that outsize and outshine,
that drives the bullies away and brings light and life into the concrete space.
For the syrup and the sugar and the sugar and the sugar
that we eat and bake and give and consume,
in just the right amounts.
For Christmas Spirit, that fuels and fires,
an unlimited source of energy that makes us and all things new.
For the gift of this season. May we have the courage. Amen.