The Perfect Leader/Ruler
Jesus is the Ever Present Savoir, Born to Deliver Us.
In early 1965, Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon series, was asked to create a Christmas cartoon to be aired later that year. He and his producers laid out the basics of the cartoon within a few hours. It would include ice-skating; a pageant; a mix of Christmas carols and Guaraldi’s contemporary jazz; and the message that Christmas is really about the joyful miracle of Jesus’ birth. Schulz wanted “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to have the religious meaning that was central to his own experience of Christmas.
Television executives hated it from the start.
It was criticized as being too religious—Linus quotes straight from the King James Bible reading Luke 2:8–14.
Schultz’s two producers cautioned him about putting something like that in the special, because they were convinced it wouldn’t go over well. Charles Schultz faced both of the producers and said, “If not us, then who’s going to do it?”
Schultz stuck to his principles and it was produced just as he wanted it. On Thursday, December 9, 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was seen in more than 15 million homes, capturing nearly half of the possible audience. It won critical acclaim as well as an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program and a Peabody Award for excellence in programming.
The Lord asks us to acknowledge Him wherever He has placed us.
6–7. What follows: the King and his rule. Each preceding explanation leads into this third and fundamental explanation. How does the victorious, covenant-fulfilling work of God (4) come about? By what way do the Lord’s people (5) enter a non-contributory salvation? By the mere fact of the King’s birth. The emphasis rests not on to us but on a child is born. Child: his human descent. Son: his maleness and dignity in the royal line. Born of human parentage but also given by the Lord. His people’s shoulders (4) are delivered when his shoulders accept the burden of rule. He will be called: literally ‘one will call his name’. In its highest use, ‘name’ sums up character; it declares the person. The perfection of this King is seen in his qualification for ruling (Wonderful Counsellor), his person and power (Mighty God), his relationship to his subjects (Everlasting Father) and the society his rule creates (Prince of Peace).
Wonderful Counselor. Wonderful.
Someone has written that people use Xmas and it means Xhaustion, Xcuses, Xchanges, Xcesses, Xtravagances, Xasperations, Xhibitions and worldly Xcitement. How much better to make Christ the very center of our Christmas observances and know joy, happiness, sharing and contentment in Him. Keep Christ in Christmas!