The first “Peanuts” comic strip appeared in five newspapers on October 2, 1950.  It introduced to the world the character of “good ol’ Charlie Brown” in this distinctive way:

(BOY AND GIRL STANDING TOGETHER; CHARLIE BROWN STROLLS BY)

GIRL – WELL!  HERE COMES OL’ CHARLIE BROWN!

BOY – GOOD OL’ CHARLIE BROWN!  YES, SIR!

GIRL – GOOD OL’ CHARLIE BROWN!

BOY – HOW I HATE HIM!

And so we meet Charlie Brown, a semi-autobiographical character drawn by a man named Charles Schulz.  The strip would run for 50 years, with the final strip on the day after Charles Schulz died.  Altogether he wrote 17,897 individual segments of the story of Charlie Brown and friends, making the “Peanuts” comic “the longest story ever told by a human being”.  And, as readers of the strip are aware, Charlie Brown would become the classic example of everyman, struggling to live in a world populated by lots of interesting characters, most of whom seem to delight in giving him a hard time.  His dilemma is outlined in a pop song from 1959 by The Coasters, which highlights the famous Charlie Brown lament:

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 WHY IS EVERYBODY ALWAYS PICKING ON ME?

     Today is Confirmation Sunday -  a day on which the church family gathers to celebrate our newest members -    eighth graders who have completed 15 weeks

of study to prepare them for full church membership at St. Andrews.  Bruce and Bob and I  have enjoyed working with this class and we know that they are going to be excellent additions to our community of faith.  We have come to know them not only as a class but also as individuals – different people with different dreams and ideas and personalities.  Not so different from the characters in the “Peanuts” strip.  So I asked the parents of this class to let me know which of those characters is most like their son or daughter.  The results were very interesting!

     CHARLEY BROWN is described by Schulz as “a good-natured worrier who is often unsure of himself; looks for the best in others”.  Hannah Worrell’s parents see her in that description.  The character of Charlie Brown is modeled after many parts of Charles Schulz’ own life.  A recurring theme is Charlie Brown’s depressive mindset which occurs when the other characters disappoint him yet again.  He often expresses this disappointment with two simple words- GOOD GRIEF!  Yet, no matter how often he is misunderstood or mistreated by others, he continues to welcome those people back into the circle of his daily life.  Perhaps he is one of the people Jesus was thinking of when he said:

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY WILL SEE GOD. (MATTH 5:8)

 

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     The character of Lucy VanPelt, who became the true scourge of Charlie Brown’s life, was introduced to the strip on March 3, 1952 as an infant who immediately began to torment her parents. (A total coincidence that Lucy was born only 8 days before yours truly!)  She grew up quickly and then began the struggle between her and pretty much everyone in the story.  Her creator described Lucy as “something of a know-it-all, likes to be the center of attention, knows how to take charge”.  Caroline Cetola’s parents see some of their lovely daughter in Lucy.  Probably the most famous interaction between Charlie and Lucy involves a football:

LUCY – CHARLIE BROWN, I HAVE A GREAT IDEA.  I’LL HOLD THE FOOTBALL AND YOU RUN UP AND KICK IT.

C.B. – HA!  I WOULDN’T TRY THAT FOR A MILLION DOLLARS!  YOU WON’T HOLD IT – YOU’LL PULL IT AWAY.

LUCY – WAH! YOU DON’T TRUST ME.  YOU THINK I’M NO GOOD.  YOU HAVE NO FAITH IN ME!

C.B. – DON’T CRY, LUCY.  I’M SORRY.  PLEASE!  YOU HOLD THE BALL AND I’LL COME RUNNING UP AND KICK IT….. USUAL OUTCOME!

We know she’s going to pull the ball up and we wish that Charlie Brown would not fall for her game once again.  But he always does.  Actually, one time she does not pull the ball, but Charlie Brown has had so little actual practice doing this the right way that he misses the ball and kicks Lucy’s arm by mistake.  For several strips afterward, Lucy has her arm in a sling. 

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Anyone can come in contact with someone who delights in making a fool of him, like Lucy does to Charlie Brown.  The best way to handle such situations is to stay away from those persons.  I always want to remind Charlie Brown of the old adage, “fool me once; shame on you; fool me twice shame on me”.  Lucy has some good qualities -  she just sometimes lets her mischief ways take over.

    Charlie Brown has a little sister named Sally, described as “one who usually looks for the easiest way of doing things, unfailingly good-natured and easy-going”.  Several confirmation parents saw their kids in Sally, including the parents of Jake Aken, Logan Twist, Kaitlyn Eastman, Connor Downs, and Peyton Lange. Sally only refers to her older sibling as “Big Brother” and, as is often true with older siblings,he takes responsibility for helping her with new things – like school:

C.B. – WELL, SALLY, IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS, YOU’LL BE STARTING KINDERGARTEN.

SALLY – KINDERGARTEN????

C.B. – SURE – EVERYBODY HAS TO GO TO SCHOOL.

SALLY – SCHOOL???

C.B. – OF COURSE – THAT IS THE WAY YOU BECOME EDUCATED.

SALLY – EDUCATED?????

C.B. – I SEE LOTS OF TROUBLE FOR SOME POOR TEACHER.

SALLY – TEACHER?????

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Of course, Sally learns to adjust to school and lots of other things that come with growing up.  And her “big brother” is there to help her whenever he can.  But Sally will always be a little girl in lots of ways, always innocent, always sweet, probably the one person in the strip who is unfailing in her love for good ol’ Charlie Brown.  She reminds me of these words of Jesus:

I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, ANYONE WHO WILL NOT RECEIVE THE KINGDOM OF GOD LIKE A LITTLE CHILD WILL NEVER ENTER IT.  (LUKE 17:17)

    Probably the most popular character in the “Peanuts” strip is Snoopy.  Not only that, Charlie’s pet beagle is the most recognized comic character in the entire world.  Charles Schulz drew Snoopy with his own two beagles in mind and said of them, “they are smarter than any people I know.”  He describes Snoopy as “extroverted, highly imaginative, a dreamer, excited about life in general.”    We apparently have a lot of Snoopys in our confirmation class – Natalie Long, Zoe Harris, Megan Thacker, Jordan Pollock, Patrick Luddy, Emile Schulz, Nicole Walker, Miranda Michalak.  Most of the characters play on Charlie Brown’s baseball team, which has an overall win-loss of 2 and 930.  Snoopy is the shortstop and the only really good player on the team.  Snoopy also imagines himself as Joe Cool and the World War 1 Flying Ace and sees himself writing a great novel but can never get past the introductory words, “it was a dark and stormy night”.  He also knows the Bible, it seems, as this comic segment shows us.

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SNOOPY IS LYING ON TOP OF HIS DOGHOUSE

C.B. – (HOLDING BIBLE)  FOR YOUR EDIFICATION I AM READING FROM THE BOOK OF PROVERBS, SIXTH CHAPTER, NINTH VERSE….”HOW LONG, YOU LOAFER, WILL YOU LIE THERE?  HOW LONG UNTIL YOU RISE FROM YOUR SLEEP?”

SNOOPY TAKES BIBLE FROM C.B., THUMBS THROUGH PAGES, FINDS PAGE HE WANTS, GIVES THE BOOK BACK TO CHARLIE BROWN.

C.B. – CHAPTER TWELVE, VERSE 10 – “A GOOD MAN CARES IF HIS BEAST IS HUNGRY.”

C.B. (WALKING AWAY) – I FORGOT THAT HE USED TO TEACH SUNDAY SCHOOL AT THE DAISY HILL PUPPY FARM.

Snoopy is, like lots of pets and even like some people we meet, loyal and faithful.  He is a good friend to have even if you happen to be other than human.  A special friend was introduced for Snoopy in the 1970’s.  He is described as “extremely endearing, often clumsy and impulsive, one who often doesn’t get the joke”.  His name is Woodstock, he is a little yellow bird who speaks only in what Charles Schulz called “chicken scratch”.  Haley Haskett’s parents saw some of Woodstock in her.  Together, Snoopy and Woodstock have become the two most beloved characters in the cartoon.  Whereas Charlie Brown and the others can sometimes be whiny and annoying (just like people everywhere) Snoopy and Woodstock just make their way merrily through life, often oblivious to what is going on around them, cheerful and having a good time.

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And every now and then they laugh or express astonishment or puzzlement at the things that people seem to take so seriously – things that often are not important at all.

     There is one more Peanuts character I want to speak about.  I have saved him for last because he is the philosopher and theologian of the gang and, as such, he can give us a good thought to leave with this morning.  I am speaking, of course, about the character that Elliott Kanne’s, Andrea Linville’s, and Patrick McCue’s parents identified as most like their kids – Linus.  Charles Schulz created Charlie Brown’s best friend to be “intellectual, a problem-solver, usually calm and level-headed, but may still need his security blanket now and then”.  The security blanket causes Linus a little problem, as he relates in one comic, when people tease him about it.  But as he makes a whip out of his blanket and uses it to snap off a nearby tree limb, he smiles and says, “But they only tease me about it once.”  Linus shows signs of growing up in one episode when he is shown holding the blanket while sucking his thumb, then removing his thumb from his mouth, looking at it, and saying,”It’s a good thumb, but not a great thumb.”

     But the one place where Linus really shines is in the well-loved “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.  You know how the story goes – the kids get all involved in the commercialism of Christmas, which leads to arguments and disagreements which threaten to derail the Christmas pageant they had hoped to perform.  Charlie Brown expresses his dismay about this to Linus – we take it from there in this clip:

VIDEO HERE

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One thing about that video that I had not noticed until last week even though I have seen this program countless times is what Linus does with his security blanket when he begins to say the words, “fear not”.  He drops the blanket.  “Fear not”.  He doesn’t need the blanket, does he?  But you will also see that he picks it up again before he leaves the stage.  He’s not completely ready to leave it behind – just yet.  He knows that the world can be a tough place full of people who can sometimes be difficult to get along with.  Maybe he still might need that blanket.  Better have it just in case.

    I say to our 2008 confirmation class – welcome to the church family.  We are thrilled to share this day with you.  We want to help you as you continue to grow and learn what it means to live as one of God’s children in a world that can sometimes be a scary and puzzling place.  We want to give you a place of security, a safe place full of people you can trust and people who will care about you.  Whether you are as confused as Charlie Brown, as assertive as Lucy, as innocent as Sally, as lovable as Snoopy, or as wise as Linus,we are glad to be your church home.  We promise today to relate to you as the writer of 1 John instructs – we will love you, remembering that God has first loved us, all of us with our eccentricities and faults.  This is truly the only way to deal with the various kinds of people we will all meet in life – with love.

    As part of confirmation class this year the students wrote creeds, a statement of their beliefs as they make the decision to become full members of this faith community.  Some of them will now share their creeds with us.