Saturday, December 2, 2006
Charlie Brown Christmas
Luke 2:8 - 14 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Charlie Brown (voice of Peter Robbins) is fed up - again. This time he is frustrated with the commercialization of Christmas which, according to Lucy van Pelt (voice of Tracy Stratford), is "run by a big eastern syndicate, y'know." Charlie sets out to show that there is more, much more to Christmas, to tell the real meaning of Christmas, specifically the Reason for the season. When feeling especially down about the emptiness Charlie feels about Christmas, Lucy suggested Charlie get involved to deal with his depression. Lucy suggested that Charlie direct the children's Christmas play. Now there's an idea! Charlie could really get into that so he accepts. And as a consequence of Charlie's play, the true meaning of Christmas is told. By Linus. Linus tells of the birth of Christ from the Holy Bible.
Before I go any further, I want to remind our visitors that under the CAP Analysis Model, to maintain consistency of reporting any animated behavior which can be reasonably duplicated by or subjected to children is treated as influential as the influence of live performances.
I have been told there is talk about the speech by Linus van Pelt (voice of Christopher Shea) telling of the true meaning of Christmas, verbatim from the KJV Bible [Luke 2:8 - 14], being chopped from some of the broadcasts of this program on television. It would not surprise me if it was, but fortunately in the first presentation I saw this season, on ABC no less, Linus' speech was not cut. It felt so good to hear a children's show speak straight out of the Bible!
This episode of the Peanuts TV specials is an Emmy Award winner and is fully deserving of it. I wanted to give A Charlie Brown Christmas a final score of 100 but I cannot do that. The CAP Analysis Model determines the scoring which is strictly determined by content. Not me. Though a delightful and moving children's tale with incredible accuracy about the true meaning of Christmas, Charles Schultz used some spices in the form of slapstick cartoon violence similar to "Buggs Bunny/Road Runner"(tm) violence and some attitude in Lucy van Pelt [Ps. 133:1; Prov. 13:24]. An episode of Snoopy spinning Charlie and Linus around with Linus' blanket on the ice then Charlie slamming through the snow on the bank into a tree trunk is certainly not something a child is likely to emulate but it is action violence. And, although a "trademark " of the Peanuts (tm) style, Lucy's threats to hit other characters to intimidate them into submission with her seemingly constant hateful, name-calling attitude can most certainly be reasonably duplicated by children.
This is the episode in which Charlie chooses a scrawny little real pine tree for the Christmas tree over the metallic monoliths and plastic pretenses. A lot of tender loving care by the children, who realize Charlie is right about the true meaning of Christmas, brought the little dead-looking tree to "life." The scrawny little tree was made into a beautiful work of art. This change, made possible just by the right touch, reminds me of the song "The Master's Hand" which tells of a discarded dusty squawky old violin being sold at an auction. The auctioneer asked only a few dollars for it until a master musician came forward and took the violin, brushed away the dust, tuned it with fractional tone perfection then made sweet music with it. All saw how precious the violin was with just a touch of a master's hand who could see under the dust and could correct its sad condition resulting from inattention and neglect. All with just a touch of the master's hand -- perfectly symbolic of the touch of our Master's Hand to our hearts. Jesus sees under our often unattractive veneer and knows how the less-than-honorable behaviors we all practice from time to time can cause a loss of "tuning" as we sometimes drift away from Him and His Word. Have you let a layer of dust accumulate on your heart? Have some of your behaviors cause you to need a good tuning? Just a touch of the Master's Hand can make all things good. Maybe you do not know the Master and desperately need that tuning? Let me ask you to consider letting me walk you through prayer to receive a perfect tuning through salvation by the touch of the Master's Hand.
Post a Comment