December 1
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Not only has 2020 given us wild fires, a pandemic, and a contentious presidential election, but word has also spread that A Charlie Brown Christmaswill no longer flood the airwaves this year, as access will be limited to Apple TV+ subscribers. One more symbol of the growing gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” although the back lash has allowed for some free viewing opportunities, if only through a small window of time - thank you PBS.
This 1965 animated film was predicted to be a disaster, lacking a sound track and using the music of jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. – jazz! It also used children’s voices to speak for the characters, and recorded the entire script in one day – what an undertaking. Now, fifty-five years later, it’s one of our most beloved symbols of Christmas.
Featuring Lucy as a Christmas queen and the pathetic Charlie Brown Christmas tree, the cartoon pushes against the commercialization of Christmas impacting even the Peanuts gang. When Charlie Brown pleads with the children to find someone who knows what Christmas is all about, Linus recites from the book of Luke, “And there were, in that same country . . .”
Linus Van Pelt, the proclaimer of the gospel and the teller of truth, said: “I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.” Charlie Brown’s tree, you, me, the world. Linus was not alone, for in that very same year, Hal David and Burt Bacharach shared a similar thought as sung by Jackie DeShannon: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love, No not just for some but for everyone.” Can I get an “amen!” for 2020?
See what great love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
I John 3:1 (NIV)
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