The Grinch of Faith

Lenny Wrigley
Hebrews 10:32–36

My love for the Christmas holiday is zealous and fervent to the point where I experience many grumbles as I show people pictures of my decked-out Christmas Tree the first week of November. Yes, I decorate WAY before the Thanksgiving holiday, but that is a story for another day. Usually, after the grumbles from the Christmas-Haters, the iconic song, You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch plays in my head, and I can’t help but wonder what made this person so cold towards Christmas.

You’re a monster
Your heart’s an empty hole
You’re a goner
You got garlic in your soul….Mr. Grinch, you’re a bad banana
You’re gonna spoil everybody with your bad attitude.

I’m also reminded of this song when reading through the book of Hebrews as it encourages its audience to not grow cold or bitter about their faith in Christ. Although the author is unknown, we do know that the targeted audience is broad, and the verbiage suggests that the readers have previously practiced or at least knew of the Jewish faith. The author is writing to those who are starting to fall back into their old practices and not practicing the exciting freedoms that come in Christ. There were others still who were holding onto resentment towards faith altogether because they had experienced much hurt from those who proclaimed they were men of God.

The most recent example of this in my life is now, as I am in my last semester of seminary. When your book of faith becomes your textbook, it’s easy to fester hidden bitterness towards your faith. I needed a reality check, just like the passage in Hebrews, Chapter Ten. I got my reality check when I went home for the Thanksgiving holiday. My extended family bombarded me with questions about seminary and what I was learning. Their zeal for picking my brain on all symptomatic theological questions that don’t really have answers exhausted me to the point where I realized how burnt out on anything with theology I was.

I had a “come to Jesus” moment when I realized this and had to reflect on the “earlier days” when I was “enlightened” to follow my calling and the excitement I had starting seminary. Funny enough, I also was able to reflect on many times in my journey that I was either burnt, hurt, or dismissed by other Christians or the Church. There was a hidden bitterness which had grown in my spirit until I had to have this “come to Jesus” moment to get back to the root of authentic faith in Christ I had experienced throughout my journey. The moment I realized that I was a Grinch of my faith, I had to dig deep, just as the writer of Hebrews encouraged. I was then able to address the root of the bitterness and pain, which has led me to where I am now in my faith journey.

The holiday season is rough for many, and there are a lot of people who feel somewhat of a Grinch. Maybe you are in a place where you feel like a monster because you had such traumatic experiences happen during the holidays that you feel you can’t find the excitement others have during Christmas. Or maybe you could be at a point where you feel like your heart has an empty hole because your faith has been burnt to ashes because of the Church or someone who hurt you at the Church. Maybe still you are struggling with someone who really hurt you to the point where you feel like your soul is nothing but garlic (but not garlic bread, because who doesn’t love some garlic bread). Whoever the author of Hebrews was writing to, they were writing to encourage those who were growing in their bitterness, hurt, and pain instead of their faith in Christ. My hope is that you too can grow in your faith instead.

Whatever it is you are feeling, know it is okay and valid, but my prayer and hope for you this holiday season is that you will take this encouragement from Hebrews, Chapter Ten. Dig deep, talk about your pain and hurt, make amends, forgive even without an apology, and just let go. It might not be easy this holiday season for many reasons, but don’t let it be a permanent grinch towards your faith. And I purposefully used “permanent” because if you recall the story of The Grinch, he grows the biggest heart after he overcomes his letdown, bitterness, hurt, and pain that Christmas brought to him. Therefore, let your heart grow “three sizes”, and have a wonderful, joyful, and very merry Christmas in what every way that looks like this year.