The Gospel According to Once Upon a Time
#5 – Are You the Real Thing?
John 3:1-8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NRSV)
By John Gill ~ August 4, 2024

Years ago, there was a commercial on television that combined a 1960s folk song with their companies Jingle... Maybe you remember it: “I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I'd like to buy the world a Coke, and keep it company... It's the Real Thing (Coke is), that's the way it should be, What the world wants to see... Is the Real Thing.”

As you can see, I am a “Coke fanatic.” I'm insulted when I go to a restaurant and ask for a Coke, and they give me a Pepsi, instead! I have always known that Coke was “the Real Thing,” even before it became the company's jingle.

I suppose that's why I ended up at Emory University for my seminary training. You see, Atlanta is “Coke Mecca.” It's where Cokes world headquarters is located. And so, guess who Emory university's major benefactor is? The Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola money has been poured into Emory by the 10s of millions over the years.

And, don't think the administration isn't grateful! Not surprisingly, at least in the years that I was a student, there wasn't a Pepsi machine to be found anywhere on campus! I suspect that is still the case. In fact, there was a joke in our seminary that, when we had communion in Chapel, we used Coke instead of grape juice! Talk about The Real Thing!”

As you may know, this morning we are continuing our sermon series entitled “The Gospel According to ‘Once Upon a Time.’” The children's story we will be focusing on this morning is not a traditional fairy tale or a Disney cartoon like most of the other stories we have looked at. Our story this morning is a children's book that was written by Margery Williams in the first half of the 20th century, and has become a beloved classic of children's literature.

The Velveteen Rabbit is the deceptively simple story of a little boy and his beloved stuffed Bunny. But, as we get caught up in it, we discover that this isn't merely a children's bedtime story, but a parable about life… about the difference between being the “genuine article,” and being a mere facsimile of the “Real Thing.” Listen, as Meryl Streep narrates part of the story:

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Without going into too much detail, through the love of the boy, the Velveteen rabbit graduates from being just one of many toys in the boy's playroom, to the most beloved and cherished toy of all. The boy sleeps with his Bunny, and they spend countless hours together out in the forest, where the stuffed animal sees real live rabbits for the first time. The Velveteen Rabbit longs to become “Real.”

Then one day, when his nanny tries to throw out the dirty and threadbare toy, the boy pleads with her to save him. She says, “fancy all that fuss for a toy!” But the boy shouts back, “give me my Bunny! You mustn't say that. He isn't a toy. He's Real!”

Then the story continues: “When the little rabbit heard that, he was happy, for he knew what the skin horse had said was true at last. The nursery magic had happened to him, and he was a toy no longer. He was Real. The boy himself had said it.”

But then, the boy contracts scarlet fever, and all his bed clothes and contaminated playthings are sent out to be burned, including his precious rabbit. But the story doesn't end sadly, because the nursery magic fairy comes along, takes the toy rabbit in her arms, and flies him to the forest. And when she sets him down, he is no longer a stuffed toy. He

discovers that he has been transformed into a Real live Bunny, able to move and dance and play with all the rabbits in the forest. The love of the boy had made him Real.

A beautiful and heartwarming story! So, what can the Velveteen Rabbit teach us about the Christian life? I believe it tells us a lot:

The first Thing we learn from this story is the harsh truth that, like the boy's nursery, our world is full of unReal people.

Lots of people are like those shiny mechanical toys in the nursery. They boast and swagger, thinking that, just because they are beautiful or expensive or sophisticated, they are Real, - when, in truth, they go through their entire lives unReal. They may look shiny and new, and pretend to be the Real Thing, but sooner or later, life breaks their mainspring, and they are no longer considered treasures, but fit only for the trash heap.

You know them… they are popular but have no principles that guide them; They hoard valuables, but have no values; they are full of straw, but no substance, beautiful on the outside, but inside, their lives are empty. When thinking about these unReal people, the title of a movie that came out several years ago keeps coming to mind, ‘Dead Men Walking,” because these unReal folks are spiritual corpses just going through the motions of living.

Jesus described these kinds of people as “whitewashed tombs, full of dead men's bones.” Their lives are devoid of meaning because they are spiritually dead. In biblical terms, they are “lost.”

Certainly, the world is full of unReal people. But I've got news for you - there are also plenty of lost people sitting in the pews of churches this morning! There are many folks who have been faithfully attending church for years who in Reality are not the Real Thing, at all. These unReal church members are like the Velveteen Rabbit in the story, who “wish that he could become Real without… uncomfortable Things...” They want salvation without sacrifice. They want the benefits of following Jesus without being willing to take up his cross. To put it bluntly, they want to be church members, but are not interested in being disciples. Like that stuffed Bunny, they might resemble the “Real McCoy,” but on closer look they are only cheap imitations.

And, they can get away with their masquerade for a long time, fooling the world, and even fooling those in the church. They can fake it, until they come face to face with someone who really is Real - an authentic Christian whose faith is the genuine article - and then their fraud is exposed. Yes, tragically, a lot of people go through their entire lives only to discover, in the end, that they are not Real at all.

But, good news! UnReal people are not without hope! This is the second thing we discover from the Velveteen Rabbit... that God has placed deep down in the heart of every person a desire to be Real.

Way back in the 5th century, Saint Augustine described that longing this way, “thou hast made us for thyself, and the heart of man is restless, until it finds its rest in thee.” Or, as the old Christian children’s video series we used with our children years ago, The Donut Man, sang: “Life without Jesus is like a Donut, like a Donut, like a Donut; life without Jesus is like a Donut... There's a hole in the middle of your heart.” And until that hole is filled with Jesus, we will never be Real.

The Velveteen rabbit knew instinctively that he wanted to be Real, even though he was unsure all that it meant to be Real. The good news is that even those who claim to have no interest in Christ or the church still have a spiritual hunger that only Christ can satisfy. They may grope around for spiritual gimmicks and quick fixes, but that aching desire to be Real will not go away... That is, until they meet their own “Skin Horse” and he or she shares the secret to becoming Real.

And what is that secret? Simply this. We become Real, not because of who we are, or what we can do - (remember... The Skin Horse said that the train and mechanical toys, as wonderful as they were, were not Real). We become Real because we have been loved unconditionally, and-we have accepted that love. That is what makes us Real.

The Velveteen rabbit was made Real by the unconditional love of the little boy who treasured this stuffed animal above all else, even though he was shabby, dirty, and worn out. As the wise old skin horse put it, “when a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real.”

The scripture tells us that you and I are loved like that. God loves us. He has loved us for a long, long time... God REALLY loves us: in spite of how we look - no matter how shabby, or dirty, or worn-out our lives may be, he loves us. It is God's love - and only his love - that can make us “The Real Thing.”

And, - how much does God love us? Just listen to his word: “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). “God proves his love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

Jesus is God's ultimate expression of unconditional love. When we receive and accept that love, we become Real in him.

To the best of my knowledge, the Bible never talks about being Real (that's a modern phrase). But it speaks over and over about what it means to be Real using lots of different words and phrases: for instance, Jesus is talking about being Real when he tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. Paul writes that, when we are in Christ we are a new creation. Peter writes that we are receiving” the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls." New birth, new creation, salvation, whatever word you want to use, you are talking about becoming the Real Thing,- the genuine article. The Bible is all about becoming Real.

I think I know how the Velveteen Rabbit must have felt. For more than 35 years of my life, I was unReal. Sure, I looked like a Christian and talk like a Christian. I even preached like a Christian. I had convinced myself and others that I was a Christian. But I was a fraud. Looking back over those years, I now see that I was a cheap imitation of the Real Thing- until i took the Walk to Emmaus.

The Walk to a Emmaus, a ministry of The Upper Room, is a three day spiritual journey (that a number of folks from our church have also attended); a very intentional retreat where you are able to focus on your relationship with God in a very deliberate and powerful way. [Unfortunately, our local Emmaus Community is now dormant, but people can still attend weekends in Leesburg or Jacksonville.]

Anyway - on that weekend in 1995, I discovered something - that God loves me, warts and all. That he has forgiven me for all the times when I messed up and disappointed him. That he loves me unconditionally and eternally. And, that he wants me to live in the joy of his love.

That weekend changed my life! Since that time I have had a hard time finding the words to describe what happened to me. Was I saved? Was I reborn? Did I become a new creation? I don't know. What I do know is that, before I left for my retreat on Thursday evening, I was NOT the Real Thing. But, by the time I returned on Sunday afternoon, God had made me Real.

Which brings me back to the Coke jingle: “it's the Real Thing period.. That's the way it should be... What the world wants to see... Is the Real Thing.”

That's the question the story of the Velveteen rabbit leaves us with - a question only you can answer. Are YOU the Real Thing?

© 2024 by John B. Gill, III

Footnote:

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