The list lengthened month by month. Which list? Not the Christmas wish list, or the naughty vs nice list, but our 2020 Grinchy list of woe-is-me. It turned us not only green from sickness but a putrid pea color from yearning for what was and maybe can never be again.
And because 2020 resembled a “three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce,” (Dr. Seuss) we may feel more grinchy and grumpy than joyful and jubilant.
Isaac Watts was no stranger to hardship. A minister in his thirties, he suffered a health breakdown in 1712, some think it was mental. Yet seven years later he still knew where to find joy and penned arguably the most famous hymn to date—Joy to the World.
Joy to the World; the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.
Watts words of joy are based in part on Psalm 98.
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth:
make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.”
Psalm 9:4-9
So we can choose to overcome adversity with joy like Isaac Watts or to get stuck in the grinch-iness of 2020.
“Blast this Christmas music! It’s joyful and triumphant.” — The Grinch
“You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch / You really are a heel / You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel / Mr. Gri-inch! / You’re a bad banana with a…greasy black peel.”
“You’re a rotter, Mr. Grinch / You’re the king of sinful sots / Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots / Mr. Gri-inch! / You’re a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!” – Dr Suess
“The Grinch hated Christmas—the whole Christmas season. Oh, please don’t ask why, no one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right. But I think that the most likely reason of all…may have been that his heart was 2 sizes too small.” – Dr. Suess
“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more?” – Dr. Suess
Whatever our circumstances, God’s promise to us endures through the ages. The true meaning of Christmas cuts through all the grinch-iness and grumbling.
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12
No matter the rotten meanness of a grinchy 2020, the truth is our God—who loved us so much— sent his only son to save us.
Jesus our savior remains the true joy to the world.
And a reminder that Christmas is just a bit more…