Hey, Charlie Brown!
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Barbara Jurgensen is writing on 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 this week: eternal comfort. Eternal comfort comes from God. It may be that we "look for love in all the wrong places," but most of us also look for comfort in all the wrong places. We seek it in sensual pleasure, in human relationships that never quite measure up, in personal achievement, in fame, or in wealth. God wants us to be happy -- although the only place any of us can find lasting happiness is in God. Scott Suskovic writes Another View concerning contentment. There are illustrations, a worship resource, and a children's sermon included.
Hey, Charlie Brown!
by Barbara Jurgensen
THE WORLD
Good Ol' Charlie Brown and his beagle Snoopy -- is there anyone in this whole country, or even on this whole planet, who doesn't know and enjoy Charlie Brown and his pals Lucy and Snoopy, Linus and Sally, Peppermint Patty and Pigpen, Woodstock and all the others?
They've given us so much pleasure of realization over the years as we've watched Lucy inviting Charlie Brown, just one more time, to kick the football she's holding, then pulling it away at the last possible moment, sending him reeling.
And Linus sucking his thumb and snuggling into his security blanket. Charlie trying to keep the kite he's flying from being eaten, yet again, by the ferocious, kite-eating tree -- to no avail.
Their lives are just like ours!
Charlie and his Peanuts friends have helped us smile over the frustrations we each face each day at the hands of football-snatchers and kite-eaters. It helps to know that we're not alone in our struggles with the Lucys and kite-ivorous trees of our lives.
The creator of the Peanuts comic strip, Charles Schulz, seems to have had plenty of difficulty himself in dealing with day-to-day problems. A new book about his life, Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, and the PBS special "Good Ol' Charles Schulz" that aired last week show Schulz to have had at least as many struggles with life as the rest of us.
Fortunately, there's help for all of us. There is One who loves us and through his grace gives us comfort and hope -- an eternal comfort and hope that can see us through all our trying days. In our lesson today from 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes (2:16-17):
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
That's what the Christian faith is all about, Charlie Brown.
THE WORD
Our lessons for today give us encouragement that we're not in this alone, that our Lord knows what we're going through and has chosen to be with us to help us. We can call on him as the writer of our alternate Psalm did:
Show me your marvelous lovingkindness,
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand,
from those who rise up against them. (Psalm 17:7)
Our Haggai text urges us to:
Take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord;
work, for I am with you. (Haggai 2:4)
Psalm 145:14 reminds us to take heart because:
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
And Psalm 98:4 assures us that:
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.
And in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 Paul calls down a blessing on the people, including us:
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
Therefore, we can lift up our voices in praise:
O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. (Psalm 98:1)
And:
I will extol you, my God and King,
And bless your name forever and ever. (Psalm 145:1)
And we can remember that the Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Comforter, the Paraclete, from the Greek word paraklesis, eternal comfort.
In our times of need, help is abundantly available -- our Lord is with us.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Charles Schulz, for all his outward success -- as a cartoonist he was one of America's most highly paid entertainers, at one time earning over a million dollars a week -- this same Charles Schulz apparently had trouble finding peace of mind for himself.
His biographer says that Schulz never did break out of the perpetual gloom that seemed to surround him from his earliest days.
Happiness might be a warm puppy, but Schulz never did seem to be able to allow himself to enjoy the good things around him when those things were actually good -- home, family, the everyday pleasures of life.
If money could buy happiness, Schulz had the money to buy it. With all the royalties that were pouring in, not only from the comic strip but from all the T-shirts and plastic cups and other Peanuts gift items, his wife Joyce was able to turn their California estate into a veritable Disneyland, even building a hockey rink for Minnesota-born Schulz, who loved ice skating -- and for the whole community.
But from his earliest days Schulz felt left out, unappreciated, misunderstood, and nothing he did seemed to work out the way he wanted it to.
His boyhood home had not given him much support; his parents seemed to have little time or affection for him, and he was an only child, so there were no siblings to make common cause with.
When he married, he told his wife on their honeymoon that he didn't think he'd ever be happy. Throughout his life he kept reliving the way playground bullies way back in his grade school days had made his life miserable.
Life is not easy for any of us. Do you remember M. Scott Peck's book The Road Less Traveled? Peck begins the book by saying something like: Life is not easy. Life is difficult. Life is a struggle.
Would any of us disagree with that? Who among us hasn't known family problems? Who hasn't had problems with other kids, with teachers, with bosses, with coworkers? With our health and our job and finances and our neighbors?
Charlie Brown's baseball team regularly got pounded, sometimes as much as 40-0, or 123-0, or even 200-0. When Charlie Brown finally -- finally -- did hit a game-winning home run, it turned out that the pitcher had thrown one down the middle only because she felt sorry for him.
The pros, who can manage to hit the ball as often as three times out of ten, say that baseball is a game of failure.
Charlie Brown seemed to know failure -- pure, drag-yourself-back-home-with-your-bat-in-the-dust failure -- better than any of us.
Why is life -- your life and mine -- so difficult?
Partly it's because there's so much to learn. No one can step up to the plate and bat 1,000 every time. Even the pros do well to bat 300.
Partly because we get tired of putting out so much effort. Why can't we just run the bases without having to connect smashingly with that ridiculous ball?
Partly because we've been so self-centered, so centered on our own lives, that we haven't developed a realistic view of the whole of life. We've locked ourselves in our own airtight little universe.
Too often we expect everything to go our way, to go the way we think we have a right for things to go, to make an out-of-the-park home run every time we step up to the bat.
Fortunately, it's okay if we strike out, not only now and then but over and over again. Because fortunately we have someone who cares for us, who says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." And "I will never leave you nor forsake you." And "Lo, I am with you always."
So take heart, Charlie Brown. Happiness is not just a warm puppy. Happiness is our Lord who loves us and who is holding us strongly in his warm embrace.
Here's a Newsweek review of the new Schulz biography.
Here's a New York Times review of the Schulz biography.
Here's a review of a recent PBS TV special about Charles Schulz.
Here's an earlier New York Times article, dating to the time when Schulz was still living...
ANOTHER VIEW
The Gift of Contentment
By Scott Suskovic
Introduction
We have heard from the primary article about the tormented life of Charles Schultz. This is not the first time that we have heard of a rich person, surrounded with all the abundance that this life has to offer, being discontent. It seems in our pursuit of the American Dream, true contentment cannot be found in fame or riches. They can certainly make life more enjoyable -- at times. But they cannot promise contentment. Where can that rare gift of content be found?
Philippians 4:10-13
Paul, writing from a dark and dank prison cell, awaiting his own execution at the end of a difficult life when he was beaten, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, hungry, cold, and persecuted, can somehow write these amazing words.
"... I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." vv. 11-12
What is that rare gift of contentment? It isn't apathy with the status quo. It isn't a laziness that shuns hard work. It isn't a complacency that takes the path of least resistance. What is it?
From these couple of verses, Paul gives us a glimpse into his world of contentment.
First, it is a learned behavior. "I have learned to be content." That's the good news. It's not that some people have the contentment gene while others do not. Paul learned how to be content. I would venture that this is a lesson that Paul learned over a great deal of time. We are trained through advertisement to expect the instant gratification. We don't like to wait. Contentment, delaying gratification, seeking the higher things, holding on to that which will last is a learned behavior that comes from seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness instead of my own.
Second, contentment is not circumstantial. "... whatever the circumstances." Too many of us speak in terms "someday." When I get that new job, new house, new relationship. When I retire or travel or get that addition to the house, then I will be happy. Someday. Paul says that contentment is not based on the circumstances. Paul has learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. The first step is knowing when enough is enough. Howard Hughes was once asked, "How much money does it take to make a man happy?" He said, "Just a little more."
Third, contentment is adapts to change. "whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Alone, cold, tired, old -- Paul refuses to play the victim. His contentment is not based on his living conditions or the growl in his belly or the loneliness in his heart. His contentment remained constant while the rest of his life was in constant flux.
Fourth, contentment comes through knowing Christ. He is able to say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Many people like Charles Schultz sought contentment by looking outside of themselves at possessions, money, and success. Others take a more introspective journey and look deep within themselves for significance and meaning. Scripture provides us with that third option that leads to the cross, knowing that my purpose, meaning, and contentment come not through dollar bills or navel gazing but through the one who has named and claimed me as his very own. Without Christ as the center of your contentment, everything else either rusts or runs away.
Contentment doesn't mean liking the situation you are in. Paul didn't like being in prison awaiting his execution. However, contentment and enjoyment are two separate things. It depends what it highest on your ultimate pursuits -- a happy life or a content life.
Crafting the Sermon
It was in 1965 that the Rolling Stones recorded the song, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."
I can't get no satisfaction I can't get no satisfaction 'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try I can't get no, I can't get no
Even today, over thirty years later, we are still saying the same words and feeling the same emptiness of no satisfaction. Commercials promise it with whiter teeth and fresher breath. Wall Street promises it with higher returns. Soap operas promise it with a dynamic love life. Yet those who have conquered each of those summits come up with the same cry, "I can't get no satisfaction." Can you?
Contentment is a rare gift that comes through a deep, personal relationship with Jesus that transcends circumstances. It flows from a sure and certain hope that because Jesus lives, I will, too, and that neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come will separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. In that promise, we find that rare gift of contentment.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There's a famous Peanuts comic strip in which Lucy is standing in the outfield of the baseball field. A fly ball is heading her way. She raises her glove to catch the ball, but then we see her remembering all the times she missed the ball in the past. Sure enough, when the ball comes her way, she drops it.
She explains to Charlie Brown: "I almost had it, but then my past got in my eyes."
Charles Schulz, we are now learning, lived that sort of experience, all his life. Sometimes the greatest obstacle to our happiness is how we handle memories of days past.
***
There's another Peanuts strip in which Lucy asks, "Why do you think we're put on earth, Charlie Brown?"
Charlie replies, "To make others happy."
Lucy responds, "I don't think I'm making anyone very happy... Of course, nobody's making me very happy either."
In the final panel, Lucy is in full fussbudget mode as she bellows, "SOMEBODY'S NOT DOING HIS JOB!"
Sometimes, we make the mistake of looking to others to make us happy. Given the reality of human sin (other people's as well as our own), that strategy is doomed to fail.
***
In his autobiography, Surprised By Joy, C.S. Lewis describes joy as "an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.... I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world."
The distinction between joy and pleasure is an important one. It is lost on many in our culture, who expend vast amounts of time, money, and energy seeking fleeting pleasures that cannot yield satisfaction. "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" asks the prophet Isaiah (55:2).
It is a life-changing insight to realize, as Augustine did at the time of his conversion experience, and recalled in this famous prayer: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you."
God is our joy, and none other.
* * *
"Happiness is not a criterion for the truest kind of family loving, any more than instant gratification is a criterion for joy. There seems to be an illusion in some of Christendom that Christians are always happy. No matter what tragedies happen, Christians are supposed to be happy if they truly have faith. It's only an illusion and can cause enormous trouble. Jesus was not always happy. He was, indeed, the suffering servant Isaiah talks about. Happiness, unquestioning happiness, is not the sign of the Christian. Even the Holy Family was not, in the superficial sense of the world, happy.
Simeon warned Mary that a sword of anguish would penetrate her own heart. And, indeed, it did."
-- Madeleine L'Engle, Sold Into Egypt
* * *
"I think we have lost the knowledge that happiness is overrated -- that, in a way, life is overrated. We have lost, somehow, a sense of mystery -- about us, our purpose, our meaning, our role. Our ancestors believed in two worlds, and understood this to be the solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short one. We are the first generations of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth, and our search for it has caused such -- unhappiness. The reason: if you do not believe in another, higher world, if you believe only in the flat material world around you, if you believe that this is your only chance at happiness--if that is what you believe, then you are not disappointed when the world does not give you a good measure of its riches, you are despairing."
-- Peggy Noonan, speechwriter for President Reagan; from an article in Forbes magazine, date unknown
* * *
"I want to beg you to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
-- Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
* * *
Sometimes in searching for happiness we want to keep too many options open.
Burt Reynolds starred in an old film titled The End. In the film he has given up on life and finds himself swimming out from shore as far as he can until he is exhausted. As he slips beneath the surface and he contemplates his situation, he decides he isn't finished trying to live. As he breaks the surface of the water he screams: "I want to live! I want to live!" He then begins to try to swim to shore, but the shore is not in sight. He talks to God. He promises to obey all of the Ten Commandments but realizes he doesn't remember them. He promises to learn them. As the swim continues he panics and declares to God, "Lord, if you get me out of this, I will give you 80% of everything I have." Eventually he can just begin to see the shoreline and he begins to bargain with God once more. "Lord, if you help me to bet to shore alive, I will give you 10% of all my earnings." When he gets to that place where he is able to relax knowing that he will live, he prays to God saying, "Well, Lord, let's just forget about what I said before. I think I can make it from here on my own."
Some people turn to God for peace and happiness when they are stressed out but once things get more comfortable, they begin to think they can make it on their own just fine.
* * *
Sometimes we are so desperate in our search for love and peace that we fail to recognize what is right in front of us. Hear the legend of the temple bells:
The temple was built on an island and it held a thousand bells. Bells, big and small, fashioned by the finest craftsmen in the world. When the wind blew or a storm raged, all the bells would peal out in a symphony that would send the heart of the hearer into raptures.
But over the centuries the island sank into the sea and, with it, the temple bells. An ancient legend said that the bells continued to peal out, ceaselessly, and could be heard by anyone who would listen. Inspired by this legend, a young man traveled thousands of miles, determined to hear those bells. He sat for days on the shore, facing the vanished island, and listened with all his might. But all he could hear was the sound of the sea. He made every effort to block it out. But to no avail; the sound of the sea seemed to flood the world.
He kept at his task for weeks. Each time he got disheartened he would listen to the village pundits, who spoke with unction of the mysterious legend.
Then his heart would be aflame... only to become discouraged again when weeks of further effort yielded no results.
Finally, he decided to give up the attempt. Perhaps he was not destined to hear the bells. Perhaps the legend was not true. It was his final day, and he went to the shore to say goodbye to the sea and the sky and the wind and the coconut trees. He lay on the sand and for the first time, listened to the sound of the sea. Soon he was so lost in the sound that he was barely conscious of himself, so deep was the silence that the sound produced.
In the depth of that silence, he heard it! The tinkle of a tiny bell followed by another, and another and another... and soon every one of the thousand temple bells was pealing out in harmony, and his heart was rapt in joyous ecstasy.
* * *
Augustine's comment about the search for peace is a powerful reminder. "Thou has made us for thyself, O Lord; and our hart is restless until it rests in thee."
Any spiritual view which focuses attention on ourselves, and puts the human creature with its small ideas and adventures in the centre foreground, is dangerous till we recognize its absurdity...
We mostly spend those lives conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do. Craving, clutching and fussing, on the material, political, social, emotional, intellectual -- even on the religious -- plane, we are kept in perpetual unrest; forgetting that none of these verbs have an ultimate significance, except so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be: and that Being, not wanting, having and doing, is the essence of spiritual life.
-- From The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill
WORSHIP RESOURCE
By Thom Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: The God who is greater
than we will ever understand,
People: is humbled to become one of us.
Leader: The God who is more loving
than our hearts dare imagine,
People: gives us more grace
than we ever realize.
Leader: The God who is wiser
than we will ever know,
People: teaches us all we need
to become God's children.
Prayer of the Day
Why should we fear,
God of compassion?
You choose us
to be the bearers
of grace and justice
to a broken world;
you call us to be words
of hope and joy
to people deafened by despair.
We will extol you.
Why should we fear,
Brother of justice?
You call us to follow you
that we may serve all
who have been abandoned
by a society focused on self.
You model kindness
so we might bring healing
to a fractured culture.
We will bless you.
Why should we fear,
Spirit of grace?
When we run around in circles,
you fill us with your peace;
when we stumble
through each day,
you energize us
with your hope;
when our spirits are empty,
you come and dwell in us.
We will praise you.
Why should we fear,
God in Community, Holy in One,
as you listen to us pray
as Jesus has taught us, saying,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
We often think that God is 'out there' somewhere,
distant and uncaring. But God hears our hearts,
God sees our struggles, God walks with us as we
try to be faithful disciples. Let us come to the
One who is as close as the very breath we take
in this moment to confess the brokenness of our
lives,
Unison Prayer of Confession
We are so easily confused by what the world
tells us, Watching God, that we forget the stories
of faith we heard as children. We are so fearful
of tomorrow, we are not aware of your Spirit
with us today. We are so busy wondering, "what
if?" or "suppose?" we cannot hear the promises
you whisper to us.
So once again, Gracious God, have mercy
on us. You know our hearts so well -- touch
them with your grace. You see our deepest
fears -- heal them with your peace. You hear
our secret longings -- speak to them of your
hope. This we pray in the name of Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silence is observed)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: The One who searches our broken hearts has
found the way to mend them and make us
new people. The good news is that everything
God has done in Christ is for us, that we might
be made whole.
People: With kindness, and justice, God makes us
new people. We will sing our thanks through
all eternity. Great is God, and greatly to
be praised! Amen.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: People of God, lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them to the One
who heals our brokenness.
Leader: Let us offer our thanks to God,
who has prepared this Table for us.
People: We will bless the One
who offers us life in every moment.
We think of your greatness,
God of the living,
and fall silent.
When there was only chaos,
your whispered your Word,
and creation sprang forth.
The sun and stars
filled the heavens
with your splendor,
and the earth
sang of your glory.
You filled us with your dreams
of life with you forever,
but we confused your hopes
with our desires
and went chasing after
the seductions of sin and death.
You sent the prophets
to remind us of the stories
we had been told as your children,
but we thought them
to be myths and fables.
So once again,
you sent your Word
to speak sense to our lives.
Therefore, in this time and place,
with those who have gone before,
and those who will come after,
we join in the song of all creation:
Sanctus
Holy are you, God of Understanding,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son.
When we had been deafened
by the songs of the world,
he came to speak of hope,
and to offer us justice.
When we were easily confused
by the promises of sin,
he came to make clear
your dreams for us.
When we thought
we could save ourselves,
he offered himself on the cross,
that we might spend eternity
in your presence.
As we come to the Table of grace,
as we are offered all your gifts,
we remember what Christ has done for us:
Memorial Acclamation
Send your Spirit upon the gifts
of the bread and the cup,
and upon your children
who gather in this place.
Fill our empty hands
with the Bread of life,
that we might take
justice and peace
to the outcasts of our world.
Touch our parched hearts
with the Cup of grace,
that we might be poured out
for the broken and lost
in these times and places.
Heal us with the peace
of this joyful feast,
that we might become
your people of hope.
Then, when this world passes away,
and time has come to an end,
we will gather around the Table
in your kingdom of grace,
singing our praises to you
for all eternity,
God in Community, Holy in One.
Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Called by the Gospel
Object: want ad from a newspaper
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Good morning, boys and girls! I brought one of the want ad pages from our paper with me today. Do you ever look at the want ads? (let them answer) What are some of the reasons people place want ads in the paper? (let them answer) Yes, those are all good reasons and there are lots of other reasons people use want ads.
The thing I want you to know about want ads is that we use a want ad to let people know about something that we want them to know. We may have something to sell or we may be looking for somebody to work for us. By using the want ads, we reach a lot of people with the information and we hope some of them will be interested and respond. It's a lot better than just calling everybody in the telephone book, isn't it? (let them answer)
Now, God has some information that he wants everybody to know about, too. God wants everybody to know about the good news that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He wants everybody to know that Jesus died on the cross to pay for their sins and that everyone who believes in Jesus will go to heaven. How do you think God is going to get this information out to the people of the world? Is He going to take out a want ad? (let them answer)
Of course not. God's plan is to let all the people of the world know about this good news by using people like you and me to share it with them. Saint Paul once wrote to the believers at Thessalonica and told them that they had been called by God to be his people. When Paul told them the good news about Jesus, Paul was God's want ad in that place. God used him to let the people know the good news.
Have you ever been a want ad for God? Have you ever told anybody the good news about Jesus? (let them answer) Well, do you think that God wants us to do that? (let them answer) Of course he does. God is counting on you and all of us who believe to be his want ads to the whole world.
Dear Lord: Please give us the courage and the desire to be your want ads in this world. Help us share the good news with those who need to hear it. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 11, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Hey, Charlie Brown!
by Barbara Jurgensen
THE WORLD
Good Ol' Charlie Brown and his beagle Snoopy -- is there anyone in this whole country, or even on this whole planet, who doesn't know and enjoy Charlie Brown and his pals Lucy and Snoopy, Linus and Sally, Peppermint Patty and Pigpen, Woodstock and all the others?
They've given us so much pleasure of realization over the years as we've watched Lucy inviting Charlie Brown, just one more time, to kick the football she's holding, then pulling it away at the last possible moment, sending him reeling.
And Linus sucking his thumb and snuggling into his security blanket. Charlie trying to keep the kite he's flying from being eaten, yet again, by the ferocious, kite-eating tree -- to no avail.
Their lives are just like ours!
Charlie and his Peanuts friends have helped us smile over the frustrations we each face each day at the hands of football-snatchers and kite-eaters. It helps to know that we're not alone in our struggles with the Lucys and kite-ivorous trees of our lives.
The creator of the Peanuts comic strip, Charles Schulz, seems to have had plenty of difficulty himself in dealing with day-to-day problems. A new book about his life, Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, and the PBS special "Good Ol' Charles Schulz" that aired last week show Schulz to have had at least as many struggles with life as the rest of us.
Fortunately, there's help for all of us. There is One who loves us and through his grace gives us comfort and hope -- an eternal comfort and hope that can see us through all our trying days. In our lesson today from 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes (2:16-17):
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
That's what the Christian faith is all about, Charlie Brown.
THE WORD
Our lessons for today give us encouragement that we're not in this alone, that our Lord knows what we're going through and has chosen to be with us to help us. We can call on him as the writer of our alternate Psalm did:
Show me your marvelous lovingkindness,
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand,
from those who rise up against them. (Psalm 17:7)
Our Haggai text urges us to:
Take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord;
work, for I am with you. (Haggai 2:4)
Psalm 145:14 reminds us to take heart because:
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
And Psalm 98:4 assures us that:
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.
And in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 Paul calls down a blessing on the people, including us:
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
Therefore, we can lift up our voices in praise:
O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. (Psalm 98:1)
And:
I will extol you, my God and King,
And bless your name forever and ever. (Psalm 145:1)
And we can remember that the Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Comforter, the Paraclete, from the Greek word paraklesis, eternal comfort.
In our times of need, help is abundantly available -- our Lord is with us.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Charles Schulz, for all his outward success -- as a cartoonist he was one of America's most highly paid entertainers, at one time earning over a million dollars a week -- this same Charles Schulz apparently had trouble finding peace of mind for himself.
His biographer says that Schulz never did break out of the perpetual gloom that seemed to surround him from his earliest days.
Happiness might be a warm puppy, but Schulz never did seem to be able to allow himself to enjoy the good things around him when those things were actually good -- home, family, the everyday pleasures of life.
If money could buy happiness, Schulz had the money to buy it. With all the royalties that were pouring in, not only from the comic strip but from all the T-shirts and plastic cups and other Peanuts gift items, his wife Joyce was able to turn their California estate into a veritable Disneyland, even building a hockey rink for Minnesota-born Schulz, who loved ice skating -- and for the whole community.
But from his earliest days Schulz felt left out, unappreciated, misunderstood, and nothing he did seemed to work out the way he wanted it to.
His boyhood home had not given him much support; his parents seemed to have little time or affection for him, and he was an only child, so there were no siblings to make common cause with.
When he married, he told his wife on their honeymoon that he didn't think he'd ever be happy. Throughout his life he kept reliving the way playground bullies way back in his grade school days had made his life miserable.
Life is not easy for any of us. Do you remember M. Scott Peck's book The Road Less Traveled? Peck begins the book by saying something like: Life is not easy. Life is difficult. Life is a struggle.
Would any of us disagree with that? Who among us hasn't known family problems? Who hasn't had problems with other kids, with teachers, with bosses, with coworkers? With our health and our job and finances and our neighbors?
Charlie Brown's baseball team regularly got pounded, sometimes as much as 40-0, or 123-0, or even 200-0. When Charlie Brown finally -- finally -- did hit a game-winning home run, it turned out that the pitcher had thrown one down the middle only because she felt sorry for him.
The pros, who can manage to hit the ball as often as three times out of ten, say that baseball is a game of failure.
Charlie Brown seemed to know failure -- pure, drag-yourself-back-home-with-your-bat-in-the-dust failure -- better than any of us.
Why is life -- your life and mine -- so difficult?
Partly it's because there's so much to learn. No one can step up to the plate and bat 1,000 every time. Even the pros do well to bat 300.
Partly because we get tired of putting out so much effort. Why can't we just run the bases without having to connect smashingly with that ridiculous ball?
Partly because we've been so self-centered, so centered on our own lives, that we haven't developed a realistic view of the whole of life. We've locked ourselves in our own airtight little universe.
Too often we expect everything to go our way, to go the way we think we have a right for things to go, to make an out-of-the-park home run every time we step up to the bat.
Fortunately, it's okay if we strike out, not only now and then but over and over again. Because fortunately we have someone who cares for us, who says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." And "I will never leave you nor forsake you." And "Lo, I am with you always."
So take heart, Charlie Brown. Happiness is not just a warm puppy. Happiness is our Lord who loves us and who is holding us strongly in his warm embrace.
Here's a Newsweek review of the new Schulz biography.
Here's a New York Times review of the Schulz biography.
Here's a review of a recent PBS TV special about Charles Schulz.
Here's an earlier New York Times article, dating to the time when Schulz was still living...
ANOTHER VIEW
The Gift of Contentment
By Scott Suskovic
Introduction
We have heard from the primary article about the tormented life of Charles Schultz. This is not the first time that we have heard of a rich person, surrounded with all the abundance that this life has to offer, being discontent. It seems in our pursuit of the American Dream, true contentment cannot be found in fame or riches. They can certainly make life more enjoyable -- at times. But they cannot promise contentment. Where can that rare gift of content be found?
Philippians 4:10-13
Paul, writing from a dark and dank prison cell, awaiting his own execution at the end of a difficult life when he was beaten, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, hungry, cold, and persecuted, can somehow write these amazing words.
"... I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." vv. 11-12
What is that rare gift of contentment? It isn't apathy with the status quo. It isn't a laziness that shuns hard work. It isn't a complacency that takes the path of least resistance. What is it?
From these couple of verses, Paul gives us a glimpse into his world of contentment.
First, it is a learned behavior. "I have learned to be content." That's the good news. It's not that some people have the contentment gene while others do not. Paul learned how to be content. I would venture that this is a lesson that Paul learned over a great deal of time. We are trained through advertisement to expect the instant gratification. We don't like to wait. Contentment, delaying gratification, seeking the higher things, holding on to that which will last is a learned behavior that comes from seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness instead of my own.
Second, contentment is not circumstantial. "... whatever the circumstances." Too many of us speak in terms "someday." When I get that new job, new house, new relationship. When I retire or travel or get that addition to the house, then I will be happy. Someday. Paul says that contentment is not based on the circumstances. Paul has learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. The first step is knowing when enough is enough. Howard Hughes was once asked, "How much money does it take to make a man happy?" He said, "Just a little more."
Third, contentment is adapts to change. "whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Alone, cold, tired, old -- Paul refuses to play the victim. His contentment is not based on his living conditions or the growl in his belly or the loneliness in his heart. His contentment remained constant while the rest of his life was in constant flux.
Fourth, contentment comes through knowing Christ. He is able to say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Many people like Charles Schultz sought contentment by looking outside of themselves at possessions, money, and success. Others take a more introspective journey and look deep within themselves for significance and meaning. Scripture provides us with that third option that leads to the cross, knowing that my purpose, meaning, and contentment come not through dollar bills or navel gazing but through the one who has named and claimed me as his very own. Without Christ as the center of your contentment, everything else either rusts or runs away.
Contentment doesn't mean liking the situation you are in. Paul didn't like being in prison awaiting his execution. However, contentment and enjoyment are two separate things. It depends what it highest on your ultimate pursuits -- a happy life or a content life.
Crafting the Sermon
It was in 1965 that the Rolling Stones recorded the song, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."
I can't get no satisfaction I can't get no satisfaction 'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try I can't get no, I can't get no
Even today, over thirty years later, we are still saying the same words and feeling the same emptiness of no satisfaction. Commercials promise it with whiter teeth and fresher breath. Wall Street promises it with higher returns. Soap operas promise it with a dynamic love life. Yet those who have conquered each of those summits come up with the same cry, "I can't get no satisfaction." Can you?
Contentment is a rare gift that comes through a deep, personal relationship with Jesus that transcends circumstances. It flows from a sure and certain hope that because Jesus lives, I will, too, and that neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come will separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. In that promise, we find that rare gift of contentment.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There's a famous Peanuts comic strip in which Lucy is standing in the outfield of the baseball field. A fly ball is heading her way. She raises her glove to catch the ball, but then we see her remembering all the times she missed the ball in the past. Sure enough, when the ball comes her way, she drops it.
She explains to Charlie Brown: "I almost had it, but then my past got in my eyes."
Charles Schulz, we are now learning, lived that sort of experience, all his life. Sometimes the greatest obstacle to our happiness is how we handle memories of days past.
***
There's another Peanuts strip in which Lucy asks, "Why do you think we're put on earth, Charlie Brown?"
Charlie replies, "To make others happy."
Lucy responds, "I don't think I'm making anyone very happy... Of course, nobody's making me very happy either."
In the final panel, Lucy is in full fussbudget mode as she bellows, "SOMEBODY'S NOT DOING HIS JOB!"
Sometimes, we make the mistake of looking to others to make us happy. Given the reality of human sin (other people's as well as our own), that strategy is doomed to fail.
***
In his autobiography, Surprised By Joy, C.S. Lewis describes joy as "an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.... I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world."
The distinction between joy and pleasure is an important one. It is lost on many in our culture, who expend vast amounts of time, money, and energy seeking fleeting pleasures that cannot yield satisfaction. "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" asks the prophet Isaiah (55:2).
It is a life-changing insight to realize, as Augustine did at the time of his conversion experience, and recalled in this famous prayer: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you."
God is our joy, and none other.
* * *
"Happiness is not a criterion for the truest kind of family loving, any more than instant gratification is a criterion for joy. There seems to be an illusion in some of Christendom that Christians are always happy. No matter what tragedies happen, Christians are supposed to be happy if they truly have faith. It's only an illusion and can cause enormous trouble. Jesus was not always happy. He was, indeed, the suffering servant Isaiah talks about. Happiness, unquestioning happiness, is not the sign of the Christian. Even the Holy Family was not, in the superficial sense of the world, happy.
Simeon warned Mary that a sword of anguish would penetrate her own heart. And, indeed, it did."
-- Madeleine L'Engle, Sold Into Egypt
* * *
"I think we have lost the knowledge that happiness is overrated -- that, in a way, life is overrated. We have lost, somehow, a sense of mystery -- about us, our purpose, our meaning, our role. Our ancestors believed in two worlds, and understood this to be the solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short one. We are the first generations of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth, and our search for it has caused such -- unhappiness. The reason: if you do not believe in another, higher world, if you believe only in the flat material world around you, if you believe that this is your only chance at happiness--if that is what you believe, then you are not disappointed when the world does not give you a good measure of its riches, you are despairing."
-- Peggy Noonan, speechwriter for President Reagan; from an article in Forbes magazine, date unknown
* * *
"I want to beg you to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
-- Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
* * *
Sometimes in searching for happiness we want to keep too many options open.
Burt Reynolds starred in an old film titled The End. In the film he has given up on life and finds himself swimming out from shore as far as he can until he is exhausted. As he slips beneath the surface and he contemplates his situation, he decides he isn't finished trying to live. As he breaks the surface of the water he screams: "I want to live! I want to live!" He then begins to try to swim to shore, but the shore is not in sight. He talks to God. He promises to obey all of the Ten Commandments but realizes he doesn't remember them. He promises to learn them. As the swim continues he panics and declares to God, "Lord, if you get me out of this, I will give you 80% of everything I have." Eventually he can just begin to see the shoreline and he begins to bargain with God once more. "Lord, if you help me to bet to shore alive, I will give you 10% of all my earnings." When he gets to that place where he is able to relax knowing that he will live, he prays to God saying, "Well, Lord, let's just forget about what I said before. I think I can make it from here on my own."
Some people turn to God for peace and happiness when they are stressed out but once things get more comfortable, they begin to think they can make it on their own just fine.
* * *
Sometimes we are so desperate in our search for love and peace that we fail to recognize what is right in front of us. Hear the legend of the temple bells:
The temple was built on an island and it held a thousand bells. Bells, big and small, fashioned by the finest craftsmen in the world. When the wind blew or a storm raged, all the bells would peal out in a symphony that would send the heart of the hearer into raptures.
But over the centuries the island sank into the sea and, with it, the temple bells. An ancient legend said that the bells continued to peal out, ceaselessly, and could be heard by anyone who would listen. Inspired by this legend, a young man traveled thousands of miles, determined to hear those bells. He sat for days on the shore, facing the vanished island, and listened with all his might. But all he could hear was the sound of the sea. He made every effort to block it out. But to no avail; the sound of the sea seemed to flood the world.
He kept at his task for weeks. Each time he got disheartened he would listen to the village pundits, who spoke with unction of the mysterious legend.
Then his heart would be aflame... only to become discouraged again when weeks of further effort yielded no results.
Finally, he decided to give up the attempt. Perhaps he was not destined to hear the bells. Perhaps the legend was not true. It was his final day, and he went to the shore to say goodbye to the sea and the sky and the wind and the coconut trees. He lay on the sand and for the first time, listened to the sound of the sea. Soon he was so lost in the sound that he was barely conscious of himself, so deep was the silence that the sound produced.
In the depth of that silence, he heard it! The tinkle of a tiny bell followed by another, and another and another... and soon every one of the thousand temple bells was pealing out in harmony, and his heart was rapt in joyous ecstasy.
* * *
Augustine's comment about the search for peace is a powerful reminder. "Thou has made us for thyself, O Lord; and our hart is restless until it rests in thee."
Any spiritual view which focuses attention on ourselves, and puts the human creature with its small ideas and adventures in the centre foreground, is dangerous till we recognize its absurdity...
We mostly spend those lives conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do. Craving, clutching and fussing, on the material, political, social, emotional, intellectual -- even on the religious -- plane, we are kept in perpetual unrest; forgetting that none of these verbs have an ultimate significance, except so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be: and that Being, not wanting, having and doing, is the essence of spiritual life.
-- From The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill
WORSHIP RESOURCE
By Thom Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: The God who is greater
than we will ever understand,
People: is humbled to become one of us.
Leader: The God who is more loving
than our hearts dare imagine,
People: gives us more grace
than we ever realize.
Leader: The God who is wiser
than we will ever know,
People: teaches us all we need
to become God's children.
Prayer of the Day
Why should we fear,
God of compassion?
You choose us
to be the bearers
of grace and justice
to a broken world;
you call us to be words
of hope and joy
to people deafened by despair.
We will extol you.
Why should we fear,
Brother of justice?
You call us to follow you
that we may serve all
who have been abandoned
by a society focused on self.
You model kindness
so we might bring healing
to a fractured culture.
We will bless you.
Why should we fear,
Spirit of grace?
When we run around in circles,
you fill us with your peace;
when we stumble
through each day,
you energize us
with your hope;
when our spirits are empty,
you come and dwell in us.
We will praise you.
Why should we fear,
God in Community, Holy in One,
as you listen to us pray
as Jesus has taught us, saying,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
We often think that God is 'out there' somewhere,
distant and uncaring. But God hears our hearts,
God sees our struggles, God walks with us as we
try to be faithful disciples. Let us come to the
One who is as close as the very breath we take
in this moment to confess the brokenness of our
lives,
Unison Prayer of Confession
We are so easily confused by what the world
tells us, Watching God, that we forget the stories
of faith we heard as children. We are so fearful
of tomorrow, we are not aware of your Spirit
with us today. We are so busy wondering, "what
if?" or "suppose?" we cannot hear the promises
you whisper to us.
So once again, Gracious God, have mercy
on us. You know our hearts so well -- touch
them with your grace. You see our deepest
fears -- heal them with your peace. You hear
our secret longings -- speak to them of your
hope. This we pray in the name of Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silence is observed)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: The One who searches our broken hearts has
found the way to mend them and make us
new people. The good news is that everything
God has done in Christ is for us, that we might
be made whole.
People: With kindness, and justice, God makes us
new people. We will sing our thanks through
all eternity. Great is God, and greatly to
be praised! Amen.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: People of God, lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them to the One
who heals our brokenness.
Leader: Let us offer our thanks to God,
who has prepared this Table for us.
People: We will bless the One
who offers us life in every moment.
We think of your greatness,
God of the living,
and fall silent.
When there was only chaos,
your whispered your Word,
and creation sprang forth.
The sun and stars
filled the heavens
with your splendor,
and the earth
sang of your glory.
You filled us with your dreams
of life with you forever,
but we confused your hopes
with our desires
and went chasing after
the seductions of sin and death.
You sent the prophets
to remind us of the stories
we had been told as your children,
but we thought them
to be myths and fables.
So once again,
you sent your Word
to speak sense to our lives.
Therefore, in this time and place,
with those who have gone before,
and those who will come after,
we join in the song of all creation:
Sanctus
Holy are you, God of Understanding,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son.
When we had been deafened
by the songs of the world,
he came to speak of hope,
and to offer us justice.
When we were easily confused
by the promises of sin,
he came to make clear
your dreams for us.
When we thought
we could save ourselves,
he offered himself on the cross,
that we might spend eternity
in your presence.
As we come to the Table of grace,
as we are offered all your gifts,
we remember what Christ has done for us:
Memorial Acclamation
Send your Spirit upon the gifts
of the bread and the cup,
and upon your children
who gather in this place.
Fill our empty hands
with the Bread of life,
that we might take
justice and peace
to the outcasts of our world.
Touch our parched hearts
with the Cup of grace,
that we might be poured out
for the broken and lost
in these times and places.
Heal us with the peace
of this joyful feast,
that we might become
your people of hope.
Then, when this world passes away,
and time has come to an end,
we will gather around the Table
in your kingdom of grace,
singing our praises to you
for all eternity,
God in Community, Holy in One.
Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Called by the Gospel
Object: want ad from a newspaper
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Good morning, boys and girls! I brought one of the want ad pages from our paper with me today. Do you ever look at the want ads? (let them answer) What are some of the reasons people place want ads in the paper? (let them answer) Yes, those are all good reasons and there are lots of other reasons people use want ads.
The thing I want you to know about want ads is that we use a want ad to let people know about something that we want them to know. We may have something to sell or we may be looking for somebody to work for us. By using the want ads, we reach a lot of people with the information and we hope some of them will be interested and respond. It's a lot better than just calling everybody in the telephone book, isn't it? (let them answer)
Now, God has some information that he wants everybody to know about, too. God wants everybody to know about the good news that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He wants everybody to know that Jesus died on the cross to pay for their sins and that everyone who believes in Jesus will go to heaven. How do you think God is going to get this information out to the people of the world? Is He going to take out a want ad? (let them answer)
Of course not. God's plan is to let all the people of the world know about this good news by using people like you and me to share it with them. Saint Paul once wrote to the believers at Thessalonica and told them that they had been called by God to be his people. When Paul told them the good news about Jesus, Paul was God's want ad in that place. God used him to let the people know the good news.
Have you ever been a want ad for God? Have you ever told anybody the good news about Jesus? (let them answer) Well, do you think that God wants us to do that? (let them answer) Of course he does. God is counting on you and all of us who believe to be his want ads to the whole world.
Dear Lord: Please give us the courage and the desire to be your want ads in this world. Help us share the good news with those who need to hear it. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 11, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
