“Finding the Gospel in Dr. Seuss: Horton Hears a Who!” Romans 8: 18-25, Psalm 24: 1-2

We are about to embark on an adventure together to find gospel truths in the writings of a beloved children’s book author, Dr. Seuss. “But Pastor Michelle, why are we looking at children’s books? Is that really Biblical?”. To which I would answer, yes it certainly is. We are not saying that Dr. Suess’s writings are the gospel. What we are saying is that the Bible speaks to the condition of our spirit. The Bible is a collection of stories and letters and laws that tell us about who we are. Because it speaks to human nature, those same themes can be seen in the world around us - movies, art, theater, literature. If only we take time to look. Further, Jesus preached using stories. He took things that people knew about family and farming and money and wove them together into narratives for the purpose of teaching people about God. For the next four weeks we are going to be taking modern stories, as presented by Dr. Seuss, and look at what they say about our human condition and what they can teach us, as Christians, about God, if only we look at them differently.

I’m sure many of you have noticed by now that I am quite short. Petite if you want to try to put it nicely. Standing less than 4 feet 11 inches tall, I have always resonated with a popular quote from Horton Hears a Who! - “a person’s a person - no matter how small.” I even have those words on a placard that hangs in my office. Because we all need a reminder that people are people - no matter what. We live in a world that teaches us to quickly judge people and decide if they are worth our time. Based on how they look - their size, gender, or color of their skin. The accent they speak with. The way they conduct themselves. We, oh so quickly forget that which Horton is trying to impress upon us - a person’s a person, no matter how they look.

The truth is all people are important to God. When God first created human beings in the Divine image, they, and everything else created by God was pronounced to be good. Very good in fact. When the people of God strayed, prophets were sent to declare that God was doing a new thing. A radical thing. And when the people of God still missed the mark, still didn’t live into their image of being very good because of the sin present in their lives, God sent Jesus Christ to teach us how to live, to give his very life for us to be  made new, and offer us the renewed hope. We are all that important to God. 

But even as Christians we fail to remember how important other’s are to God. All others. Not just those we like. Or agree with. Or those who look like us. Its as if we cognitively realize that Christ has come to save us, but haven’t taken the time to do the hard work of examining our hearts and seeing what sin we have in there - especially in how we treat other people. For when we sin against people, we sin against God, because they are God’s beloved. The Psalmist states in this morning’s scripture - the earth and everything in it is God’s alone. They belong to God - not us, and therefore they are not ours to judge and deem worthy or unworthy. 

So how can we honor folks in such a way that reflects God’s love for each and every one of them? First we can confidently witness to how we are experiencing God in our lives. 

Second, we can remind ourselves that God cares for people. God came to earth in Christ to save the people. Not just the one’s we like. We can value them as God does.

Thirdly, we can give voice to the voiceless. There are 6 billion people in this world who have immediate needs. We may not be able to help everyone, but we can help one person know that they are the beloved of God, and make a deep impact on their lives. 

I graduated college a semester early and had to decide how to best use my time for Spring semester and summer before I entered seminary. I found myself working for my church, and as part of that job, working for the local women’s shelter that the church wished to partner with. While working there, a woman, we will call her Mary, came into my life. Mary was having a child outside of wedlock. She had no idea how to care for a child, though the shelter was teaching her new skills every day for childcare. But Mary had nothing for her child, not a single blanket or bottle – she simply could not afford one. And without a supportive family, Mary had no one to help her prepare during this period of waiting for the baby to be born. I approached the Sister who ran the shelter and asked if I could throw a surprise baby shower for Mary. The Sister was astonished that I wanted to help her prepare for this child – a woman whom I did not know and other’s had deemed unworthy, dismissed to the point where had to live in a shelter that was not truly her home, and a baby whom I may never meet. What happened next was only through the grace of God. I took the list of supplies that Mary would need for her baby and gave it to my church. I explained what we were doing and how we only had about a month for collecting the items. The church not only collected enough items to get Mary and her child through the first year of their life together, but enough to help seven more women throughout the county who were in need of help preparing for their unborn children. 

Brothers and sisters, it still makes me sad this day that the Sister was shocked that I, as a young woman about to enter the ministry, wanted to reach out and touch the life of this woman and her child. Church we need to step up. We need to be the first place people think of when they need love and acceptance and to be reminded they are God’s beloved, not one of the last. We need to hand out more than items to folks who need basic necessities, we need to be offering Christ right along with them. We need to be the voice reminding folks that all people are children of God, who God desperately wants a relationship with. One’s that God is waiting to adopt if only they would accept the gift of God’s love and grace in their lives. We need to witness to the hope we have with our lips and our lives, because as Paul reminds us in Romans, hope that is not seen and witnesses to isn’t really hope at all.

There are people right here, in our community, that we know need to not only hear about the hope in God that changed our lives, but experience it through our love and actions. People who go through life each and every day feeling unheard, unrecognized, unloved, just like the Whos. What are we willing to risk in order to share our hope in Jesus Christ? Are we willing to be criticized? Looked down upon? Are we willing to give our all so that people can come to know Jesus Christ? May we hear and respond with love and hope to the cries of the world around us, for we know that our loving God is listening and just waiting for us, the children of God, to respond. Amen.