The Theology of Dr. Seuss

          Someone was telling me the other day that they had pity on me for a situation I was facing. I decided to do a little research and see what pity really meant. One definition puts it this way, “Through insincere usage, it now has more unsympathetic connotations of feelings of superiority or condescension, usually seen as derogatory. According to this view, it's based in conscious or unconscious lack of respect to the sufferer's dignity who is seen as inferior.”

            While I hardly think I need pity, it got me thinking. What kind of emotions does God feel towards us? What kind of emotions that have become human are more of God’s making? What kinds of emotions are more on the human side of things? I decided to pull down a book my friend reminded me of the other day that has been around since before I was born, 1990 to be exact. Dr. Seuss’ last book published before his death, Oh, the Places You’ll Go speaks wonders in a world bent on pity. As the book states, “I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you. You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.”

            Life may have its downturns, it’s upturns as well, but in reality we should never feel pity for someone, in the context of a negative sense. We all deal with life’s dark moments, but God never pitied us. You may be thinking that’s so far from the truth, but God continued to amaze us all as he translated a pity into empathy. God came and took on human form, God came and now can say, “been there, done that” The wonderful thing about Dr. Seuss is that he knows that life doesn’t end on the prickle-ly perch. Dr. Seuss goes on to say, “So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off the Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So... Get on your way!”

            Sometimes in life, when you’re thrown a curve ball, it’s easy to be consumed by that curve ball. I was never big into sports but I know that if a curve ball is thrown, it can throw the baseball player into confusion for the rest of the game. Don’t let situations in life get to you, that’s the great adventure of life. The holistic approach to life is the concept of knowing that things will become stumbling blocks, but you have to be willing to move those stumbling blocks and in turn you become a better person. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly things in my past I would change, take-back or recreate. But God comes to us, not with pity, but empathy.

Dr. Seuss couldn’t have said it better than this, “You'll get mixed up, of course, 
as you already know. 
You'll get mixed up 
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's 
a Great Balancing Act.
 Just never for get to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
” Never ever show someone pity, try for a change being empathetic, and those mountains will suddenly make more sense. 

Don't Let People Rob You of Your Joy

                    Recently, I attended a late night worship service at Clark’s Chapel Baptist Church on Eufola Road here in Statesville. Pastor Charles Mingo was welcoming and gracious in making sure I was comfortable during the service, it was a truly wonderful experience. This service commemorated the passing of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. As the service progressed, it came time for a testimony from some of the congregation. A lady stood up for the testimony, a lady I had come to know as much of the church had as Mother Aleen.

            Now Mother Aleen was speaking of the past year and she said something so incredibly profound that I was taken aback at the significance of this in our daily lives. She proclaimed, “Don’t let people rob you of your joy, God gave you that joy, don’t let others take that away.” We live in a world in which joy is hard to come by. Look around you, you see politicians squabbling over the hot topic of the day, you see wars across the planet that threaten global stability, you see people who can’t eat meals to keep themselves alive. How can we be joyful amidst the sorrow and pain?

That night I realized that joy is something beyond the measure of human capability. We’d rather crucify joy than find hope in it. We are toiling in our own pain and God interjects in our lives with a new and gracious joy. God comes and tears open our sorrow with joy. What hope? What peace? As the old hymn goes, “Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; 
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above. 
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!” As we are filled with the light of day, we see the grace of our Savior as part of our own lives. God is love, but in that love we also see the joy of grace, and peace. So as our world sometimes crumbles around us, simply ask for joy, and by God don’t let anybody steal that joy from you.

I once heard the phrase, “God is dying to meet you” while I ponder that statement from the perspective of a mainline faith I see this, “God is dying to show you joy” this time of year we forget the joy that comes after the cross because we’re too busy still wrapped up in the beginning of the year. We are tempted to forget about the death of Jesus, we are tempted to forget the pain of the world. Theologian Stanley Hauerwas puts it this way, “It’s all about love and joy. The light has come into the world, but the light that illuminates from the cross does not rid the world of snakes trying to get at you.” Dr. Hauerwas goes onto say, “To be raised with Christ means the end of any attempt to passively stare and sometimes forget about the crucifixion. You cannot stare at that in which you participate” Thanks be to God, that we die and are raised in joy with Christ, so by all means protect that joy.