Guest Author: Liz Holt
Since I grew up in a family that rarely attended a church service and never opened a Bible, I am especially grateful to Charles Schultz for producing A Charlie Brown Christmas for television in 1965. The reason for the season was proclaimed to me every year by Linus.
Most of us have seen this timeless animation dozens of times, no matter how old we are. But still, let’s briefly review the story. Charlie Brown was already in distress about the commercialism of the season, but when the small, pitiful Christmas tree he found as a consolation became the laughingstock of the Peanuts Gang, he reached a panicked pitch, crying out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
Linus said he knew the answer to Charlie’s provocation. He entered stage left, dragging his blue blanket behind him and with a lisp, he called out to the tech team, “Lights please,” He recited Luke 2:8-14, which spoke order into his dear friend’s chaos. Read that passage today!
The Hebraic view of time is not linear like the view of our modern, western culture. On the contrary, the ancient Hebrews understood that time was cyclical with the repetition of types and patterns, revealed through story.
The concept of God speaking order into chaos started, “In the beginning…” in the first chapter of Genesis. God also called for lights at that time, “Let there be light” Genesis 1:3, and He did not need a tech team!
This story of God bringing order into human chaos occurs over and over in the Bible, world history and even in a Charlie Brown television production. The birth of Jesus into our confusing world, approximately 2,000 years ago, was God again reenacting the familiar scene–His order healing our chaos. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness” (John 1:4-5).
What about you this Christmas? Have you signed up to be part of the divine, cyclical pattern of bringing order into chaos? There are plenty of opportunities that await you. There are redemptive stories for you to enter.
In fact, it’s in your divine family DNA to bring order into chaos. You have what it takes! In Genesis 1:26, it says that all of us have been made in His “likeness.” We have been designed to do what He does and to function like He functions. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Someone in the parking lot on Sunday asked me how she could donate funds toward the needs of a single mom. Someone in my family prayed for a man with serious neuropathy recently, and he was healed. Can we attend a Noon-Day Fire Prayer meeting and contend for our nation, our state and our city with prayer? Can we reach out to someone who is lonely? Or struggling in some way? These good works bring order into chaos. Keep looking for ways to partner with Him in good works this Christmas.
Instead of having a Charlie Brown chaotic moment when he emoted, “Everything I do turns into a disaster”, have an ordered Charlie Brown moment. He listened to the Lord’s word, picked up the imperfect tree, walked outside with the Peanuts Gang in tow and said, “Linus was right. I won’t let all of this commercialism ruin my Christmas.” Linus further assessed the ailing tree, “Maybe it just needs a little love.” Maybe chaos in us and around us just needs a little love.
Liz Holt
Women’s Ministry Director
