From Pastor Tad
Christmas with Charlie Brown
Most of us, if not all, have a list of favorite Christmas movies and TV shows we always make sure to watch during the holiday season. These shows have a similar place in our hearts that our favorite Christmas hymns and carols occupy. Whether it be A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, Love Actually, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, or any other, when we miss them, Christmas feels just a tiny bit less jolly.
Appointment viewing for me every year is A Charlie Brown Christmas. I love the music, especially Schroeder’s jazzy piano number the kids all keep dancing to, instead of rehearsing the Christmas play as they should. The chief reason I love this show has more to do with the main plot. Charlie Brown is feeling depressed, and no one’s “helpful” recommendations make him feel any better. It all boils over when Charlie goes to pick a Christmas tree. He chooses the only real tree available for sale. This tree is a bedraggled little tree, which just like Charlie, looks anything but festive. When Charlie brings this tree back with him, all the kids heap scorn, disdain, and even outright hostility on both the tree and Charlie. But this is when Linus comes, like a prophet of old, and reminds Charlie of the Christmas story, quoting nearly all of Luke chapter 2. The show reaches its climax when Charlie, feeling even worse than before, tries unsuccessfully to decorate the tree and thinks he’s killed it. Once again, Linus the prophet comes forward, insisting all the scraggly tree needs is love. He wraps his beloved blanket around the tree and invites the others to help. When the dust settles, the little tree looks fantastic! The kids realize it’s beautiful, and Charlie Brown also rediscovers joy.
To me, this tree is a visible symbol of Charlie Brown’s inside. The official social commentary of the show is a rebuke of commercialism; but to me, this story shows how the family of Jesus can live out the Gospel this holiday season. Charlie is briefly comforted by hearing the Bible story, but he is not truly comforted until that story is enacted through Linus’s act of sacrificial love toward the tree. Linus loves his blanket. He takes it everywhere; but he is willing to give it up to love the depressed little tree. What is more, Linus’s example inspires the others to live out the Gospel story themselves. Once they all step into the story’s purpose, they see new beauty and they extend love to Charlie Brown.
I hope this Advent season, and in the new year to come, we all can realize the power our own “blankets” have to bring life and joy. I hope even more that we will be ready and quick to wrap the blankets of our hearts around someone who needs it. We all know someone who needs to see the good news acted out in their life. The Christmas story is beautiful, but its power lies less in the words, than in the actions of God first, followed by actions of our own. “Remembering the reason for the season” or “keeping Christ in Christmas” is not accomplished through words. When Christ is in Christmas, he reveals himself in concrete acts of love.
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!