December 8th, 2024 - "The Poky Little Puppy, the Three Magi, and the First Christmas" - Rev. Dr. Michelle Morris

Matt Nelson: Welcome to the Sermon podcast from First United Methodist

Church in downtown Bentonville.

If you have questions related to what you hear today or just want to find

out more about the ministries of First United Methodist Church, please visit us

online at FUMCbentonville.org or check us out at Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

Rev. Dr. Michelle Morris: I have told some people this week that

this series that we're looking at, children's books and scripture has

just revived my Christmas spirit.

So I hope it does a similar thing for you.

Today we're going to look at the pokey little puppy and the Magi.

So to get us in that frame of mind, let's hear these words from the

scripture from Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during

the rule of King Herod, Magi came from the east to Jerusalem.

They asked, where is the newborn king of the Jews?

We've seen his star in the east and we've come to honor him.

When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in

Jerusalem was troubled with him.

He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts, and asked

them where the Christ was to be born.

They said, In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote, You, Bethlehem,

land of Judah, By no means are you least among the rulers of Judah, because

from you will come one who governs, who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod secretly called for the Magi, and found out from them the

time when the star had first appeared.

He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go, and search carefully for the child.

When you have found him, report to me, so that I too may go and honor him.

When they heard the king, they went, and look, the star they had seen in the

east went ahead of them, until it stood over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were filled with joy.

They entered the house and saw the child with Mary and his mother.

Falling to their knees, they honored him.

Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts

of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back

to their own country by another route.

This is the word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

Lord, open our hearts, our minds, and our eyes that we might see and know

the word you have for us this day.

In your holy name we pray.

Amen.

So some of you may not be familiar with The Pokey Little Puppy, but the

very first Pokey Little Puppy book, aptly called The Pokey Little Puppy,

written by Jeanette Lowry, was one of the 12 original little golden books.

Yeah, so it's been around a long time.

Now, it was enormously popular, so it was followed by at least

15 more Pokey Little Puppy books.

Including, Where is the Pokey Little Puppy?

The Pokey Little Puppy in the Patchwork Blanket.

The Pokey Little Puppy's Naughty Day.

And The Pokey Little Puppy's First Christmas.

Now, let's be honest, if these books were written today, some of these

books would have a different tone.

Particularly the very first Pokey Little Puppy book, and something

like the Pokey Little Puppy's Naughty Day, in which the puppy is very much

scolded for being who he really is.

And we would view that differently.

In essence, we would recognize that the pokey little puppy has ADHD.

And so we would acknowledge that reality.

The pokey little puppy has bursts of energy, wanders off, is easily

distracted, but the pokey little puppy also takes notice of things.

And that is certainly at work in this story.

So if you're unfamiliar with the story, I cannot read you the story

because we can't read the books.

They're under copyright, but I can summarize it for you.

And, uh, the pokey little puppy has gone out with his family.

The McRae's, of course, he's the last one to wake up.

He's dragging behind everybody.

The family's going off to cut down their Christmas tree.

And while they're on that journey, the pokey little puppy smells something and

he wanders off and he falls into a hole.

And a skunk finds him and helps him get out of the hole.

And while they both acknowledge that they each smell weird, they

decide they'll play together.

So they spend the day playing together.

In the meantime, the McRae's cut down their Christmas tree, bring it back.

One of the pokey little puppies dies.

Siblings comes and gets him and he goes home and on his way home He also

notices there's something sticking out of the snow and it is a red rubber boot

And he is so excited and he spends all this time dragging the red rubber boot

back Which just makes him that much more late getting home And then when

he gets home his mother tells him that he cannot bring that old dirty boot

in the house The puppy is crushed.

But he goes inside and finds out that it's Christmas Eve and he

doesn't know what Christmas is.

So his mother shares with him what Christmas is and tells him that in the

morning they will all exchange gifts.

And so he and his brothers and sisters all cry.

Climb into bed, and they all sleep soundly, dreaming of

dog bones and, you know, toys.

But the pokey little puppy cannot sleep because he's just obsessed

about the boot that's still outside.

He wakes up the next morning, they exchange gifts, and guess what?

The boot has been cleaned up and given to him as his present, and he is so excited.

He's so excited he wants to go tell his friend the skunk, Herman is the skunk's

name, all about the fact that he has this new boot and what Christmas is all about.

But it takes him forever to find Herman.

Herman had told him that he lived in a log just over the hill.

Took him forever to find him.

When he finds him, he finds that Herman is cold and wet and shivering because when

the McRae's cut down their Christmas tree.

The tree fell over and smashed the log.

And so Herman has no place to live.

Well, the pokey little puppy just will not stand for this,

so he brings the skunk home.

And the mother dog hears the story, and she agrees that the skunk needs

a good place to sleep, so she allows the skunk to sleep in the dog house

that they usually use in the summer.

And the pokey little puppy sleeps out there with him, so

he won't be alone and too cold.

The next morning, the pokey little puppy is the first one awake.

And he has run off!

And so everyone goes to find him, and they find him over the hill, close to

where the log used to be, with his boot.

And he says to Herman, look Herman, you now have a home.

And he gives him the boot

and the mother dog says she's so proud of her pokey little puppy because on

his very first Christmas, he learned that the best gift of all is to give.

Now I have also just read you another Christmas story, the story of the

undetermined number of wise men.

I always like to point that out because we like to say three wise men, but

we assume that's the case because.

There are three gifts, but we don't actually know.

It's never stated how many wise men there are.

And it's actually never stated that they're actually all just men.

So a lot of times in this part of the world, we talk about our wise ones.

So we have this undetermined number of wise ones.

Now, I have just read you this story, but in light of the pokey little puppy

and some other things that I've learned about the Bible recently, I'm gonna

propose for us that we re hear this story.

Except this time, imagine that the wise ones are all on the autistic spectrum.

Hold someone in your heart that you know is on the autistic

spectrum as I re tell this story.

And if you don't have someone in your heart that you can do that with, imagine

Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory.

Alright?

So, these wise ones notice a change in the stars that no one else sees.

They recognize there's a difference in the heavens.

And they know that this is significant.

And so they pack up to head out.

They do what they think you ought to do.

You go to the leader of the area where this star is and ask him questions,

because he's the leader of the area, so surely he would know something.

Never mind the fact that maybe you shouldn't go to a king and say, Hey,

there's another king born in your area.

But they know you go to the person who ought to know the most.

They are dismayed to learn that he doesn't know anything about this king

that's born in his kingdom and has to consult other people, and then calls them

in and says, I need you to go find out.

about this other king.

All right, fine.

They're on this mission anyway.

They will go.

They get so excited when the star stops.

Now they have come to see what this problem, this new thing that's

happened in the heavens, it will be revealed now what its purpose was.

They go in, they find this king, and they bring gifts appropriate for a king.

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Not gifts that are appropriate.

For a poor baby.

I mean, gold, okay.

That's good for anybody.

But frankincense, frankincense at the time is most popularly known as a cosmetic.

And myrrh, myrrh is what you use to anoint someone who has died with

strange things to bring to a baby.

Well, they're strange unless you see where the story is headed.

Unless you have a different understanding than the people around you.

And you know that a king who's in another king's kingdom may have to leave and go

to Egypt, where frankincense is highly valued and can be sold for a lot of money.

And you know that a king who's in another king's kingdom

probably faces an early death.

You've logicked that out.

Then after you have given these gifts, You feel absolutely no social

responsibility to return to that other idiot king and let him know what happened.

And you go your own way.

You see, we don't know if the wise ones were autistic.

They wouldn't have had that word.

But we can see that they see patterns that no one else sees.

Really significant, profound, universe moving patterns.

And we see that they over and over defy social convention for what makes sense

in the moment, the way they see it.

What if the ancient world viewed autism as those who had

mystical wisdom or knowledge?

And what if a quieter world that was not filled with so many lights and

so many noises allowed that kind of wisdom to flourish and be acknowledged?

And also gave space for them to go off and be the wise sage that

was called in from time to time when deep knowledge was needed.

These stories, for me, raise the question of what gifts we bring.

I think about the gifts that the pokey little puppy and the wise men brought.

They saw beyond typical use to meet new needs.

They saw differently than the people around them saw.

And what that meant was that that boot could not only be a shiny

new toy, but could be a home.

And gold, frankincense, and myrrh would be incredibly useful for a family fleeing

Egypt and for a savior who would die.

But that's seeing beyond.

seeing differently.

I also think about the fact that if you put these two stories side by

side, then you have one who loved his neighbor and another where we

see the love of God and love for God.

It's the fulfillment of the great commandment in these two stories.

I also want us to remember that I have said to you from time to time that the

image of God, when we were created in the image of God, we were created in the

image of God, that all of us collectively show us something about who God is.

So, I'm going to stand here and say that a God who has a hand in creating

the moon and the stars and the solar system and the platypus has ADHD.

And a God who can count every hair on our head has autism.

My friends, in this season of giving, I challenge us, how different would our

world be If we truly honored each other's gifts and giftedness, we're doing better

at this, but we still have work to do.

But imagine what a beautiful world it would be if everyone knew their purpose

and everyone knew their worth and truly believed that they have gifts.

To bring each other and to bring God.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Matt Nelson: Thanks for listening to the Sermon Podcast from First United

Methodist Church in downtown Bentonville.

If you would like to let us know you were here, follow the link below to connect.

To participate in worship through giving, you can give

online at FUMC Bentonville.org or on Venmo @FUMCBentonville.

FUMC Bentonville welcomes all.

Because we believe the communion table is God's table, we invite

everyone into our church family.

We welcome and celebrate every race, gender, gender identity, sexual

orientation, marital status, age, physical and mental ability, national origin,

economic station, and political ideology.

We come together in action and outreach, aspiring to follow Jesus' example of

radical hospitality, love, and grace as a transformative movement in our community.

Please join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 9 and 11 a.

m.

both in person and on Facebook Live.

All are welcome and we'd love to have you with us.

Grace and peace.