Week Two:

Hope

In our hopelessness we make desperate decisions just to get some relief.

“Maybe I don’t understand Christmas.” Charlie Brown didn’t get a Christmas card. He’s depressed. But it’s the happiest time of the year! Why isn’t he happy?

That’s a very complex idea to put in a kid’s animated program in 1965. And yet we can relate. People we work with or our neighbors or others can relate, as well. We know the statistics, that more domestic violence and suicides happen over the holidays. These are symptoms of a deeper issue, however. Hopelessness.

Hope is the confident expectation that life will be good. When we feel stuck or a sudden tragedy throws our lives into chaos, we lose that hope. We are surrounded by evidence that life won’t be good, both real and imagined, and in that hopelessness we make desperate, often destructive, decisions just to get some relief.

During a holiday supposedly celebrating the hope God gives to the world, it is ironic people deal with the most hopelessness and depression. But maybe it’s not confusing at all. Maybe we just don’t understand Christmas.

In his efforts to deal with hopelessness, Charlie Brown tries counseling. That didn’t work so he tries activity. Despite the constant mocking from the community, he goes to pick out a Christmas tree. Rejecting the commercialism of the holiday, the aluminum trees, he picks the sad-looking old wooden tree. Why?

“I think this one needs me.”

And when his “friends” mock him for buying a tree that doesn’t seem to have value, Charlie Brown pleads for someone to tell him what Christmas is all about.

A hush falls over the group as Linus steps in. He quotes from Luke 2, when heaven opened up, the eternal met the temporal, and a legion of angels put on a show for a couple of poor shepherds out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. And just before Linus quotes the Bible, he puts down his blanket, the symbol of his security.

“Don’t be afraid!” he (the angel) said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Charlie Brown’s response to the truth about Christmas? He takes his wilting, pitiful tree home.

God saw the world in a mess, making a mess, and he chose to invite everyone to come home with him. Not because we were cool or pretty or shiny, but because that’s what we needed.

Even more specifically, God saw me, a dumb and dorky mess, making mistakes all over the place, and he picked me. Not because I was the most attractive. But because he knew “this one needs me.”

God took me home and wrapped me in his glory and gave me value.

That’s what he offers the world. That’s what he offers you.

It gives us hope. That promise of the Messiah? He’s here. For you. For me. For all people. He’s here to bring us into his family and take us home with him.

Life will be good because God has said it will. We may be dealing with tragedy and chaos now, but God has fulfilled his promises before and he will again. This hope becomes an anchor for our soul (Hebrews 6:19).

This Christmas, this hope is for all people. We can spread that message of hope by being like God the Father. Reach out to friends and family. Bring them to your home and extend your family to others.

There are others that need us.

Prayer for the Week

Father, during this Advent season, I want to be reminded of your promises to me and your faithfulness to fulfill them. The world promises hope but it always leaves me unsatisfied. Empty. My hope is anchored in You. I say it again, my hope is anchored in you. It is anchored in Jesus, and I choose to prepare my life for His Advent, his arrival, his return. It is in the precious and powerful name of Jesus I pray. Amen

Daily Readings

Sunday (12/5) - Genesis 3:15, Matthew 24:30

Monday (12/6) - Psalm 110:1-4, Mark 13:26

Tuesday (12/7) - Isaiah 7:10-14, Luke 12:40

Wednesday (12/8) - Isaiah 9:1-7, Luke 21:27

Thursday (12/9) - Jeremiah 31:31-35, Acts 1:10-11

Friday (12/10) - Daniel 2:44, Revelation 1:7-8

Saturday (12/11) - Micah 5:2, Revelation 16:15

Songs for the Week

Pick a song to listen to each day to draw close to God.

Here Comes Heaven

Watchman, Tell Us of the Night (Lyrics here)

Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Movie to Watch

It’s not going to come as a surprise, but we recommend you gather up your family and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. Watch how Charlie Brown attempts to soothe his hopelessness, and see what happens when hope is restored.