“The Gospel in Peanuts: The Church” 1 Cor. 9: 16-23

On October 2, 1950, a comic strip came out that ran in newspapers for over 50 years. This comic strip was funny, but it also spoke deep truths about life. It was made into TV specials and books as well as a full length feature film. What comic do you think had such a wide impact? If you guessed Charles Schutlz’s Peanuts then you were correct!

How many of us have seen the case of characters from Peanuts appearing in our newspapers and on the TV? When I was little, we used to have a ritual with my dad. After Sunday School and Church we would go to the grocery store to pick up something for lunch and the Sunday papers. I always got to read the comics first, in full color on Sundays, and I had my favorites, including Garfield, Family Circus, and of course Peanut. 

As I look back on Peanuts now, as an adult, I have an even greater appreciation for the humor of Charles Schultz, for it didn’t just get to the punch line, but often in just a few frames could speak deep truths about our faith life, if only we would just look deeper and notice. 

For the past several years in the summer we have engaged in sermon series focused on seeing the Gospel of Christ in the world around us. Why do we need to have sermon series like this? Because I think its important that we have ways to engage the world around us in order to bring out the Gospel truths. More and more, we are finding that the folks around us, didn’t grow up going to church, yet are spiritually seeking. If we can use every day things that they understand, we have an opening to proclaim the Gospel in a way that can sink into hearts and change lives.

That being said, I’ll give the same disclaimer that I feel the need to give every year - we are not saying that Peanuts is the Gospel. Instead we are saying that it is a lens we can use to explain Jesus to folks. 

In some ways, I think we find ourselves asking the same question that the Psalmist raised so long ago in one of my favorite Psalms, 137. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? In some ways the context of the Psalm doesn’t fit us today - for here the Israelites are in Babaloyian captivity. They have been told to sink down their roots because they are going to be here a while. And now it would seem like their captors are mocking them, at the worst, or not understanding their religious songs, at the best, as they ask them to sing those songs. So the Israelites are wondering how they can sing the songs of God when they aren’t in Jerusalem, aren’t in their comfort zone, aren’t in the temple. 

But perhaps that is where we can resonate with the Psalmist today - for in a lot of ways it may feel like we are living in a foreign land. The world around us is rapidly changing. More and more of our neighbors are either leaving church, not going to church, or even more common, simply didn’t grow up in church. They don’t know why this God language that we use has value for their lives when they are simply trying to make enough money to raise their families and keep up with their ever-busy schedules. How can we sing (or share) the gospel truth today, in this type of context? 

It can often feel like we are Charlie Brown in an old strip from Peanuts where he is going around shouting again and again, louder and louder “Believe Me!” With everyone passing him by, until at last he sits down, defeated, head in his hands, saying “I guess no one believes me.” It seemed like no one was listening. No one was connecting with his message. 

Which brings us to our scripture from the Apostle Paul this morning. The Corinthians are sort of being a pain in Paul’s side. He loves them dearly. He invested time in them, setting up their community, teaching them about the ways and mission and ministry of Jesus - then when he left to go on to the next church plant, everything seemed to fall apart. The individual behavior in the community was awful. The way they were treating one another was worse. And now they are starting to doubt what Paul taught them, so he has to write this letter to set them straight. 

Two important things - first Paul has to defend himself as an apostle - a proclaimer of the Gospel. However, while he is speaking about himself, it is also true of all believers. By virtue of our baptisms, we are all called to share the Gospel. All. Robert Short, who has written several books about Peanuts and the Gospels, sums it up this way: “The job of the Christian, in everything he does, is to make down the good new of the victory already won.”

But we have to think about how we proclaim the Gospel. I vividly remember one day in college where I had to walk past a man with a very large sign on an even larger pole that was shouting at all the girls, and only the girls, who walked by that all of the women at my university were going to hell. He didn’t know us. But he thought that was his way of sharing the Gospel. Paul tells us that we not only need to be careful about how we share but also think about why we share - we don’t proclaim the Good News in order to boast about ourselves, we do it because we love Jesus. Because we are obligated to share because we are believers. 

Second, Paul points out that we get the privilege of sharing the Gospel by meeting people where they are at - not just in terms of physical location but also in terms of spirituality. Friends, we have to meet people where they are. I can’t stress that enough. If we start using church-y words that are super familiar to us, but mean nothing to people who haven’t heard them before, we can quickly lose someone’s attention and privilege to speak to them about Christ. Even using what used to be familiar Bible stories, don’t hold as much familiarity. So we begin where people are. 

Where do you meet people in your every day coming and going that gives you the privilege to form relationships? For me, one of my passions in ministry are called Fresh Expressions - going to where you naturally are and discerning if God is stirring up something new there - a new way to talk to people about God. For me, that happens a lot at the YMCA teaching exercise classes, or down at The Painting Broad. A few months ago, I had two ladies that stumbled upon our Paint and Pray there, not realizing what it was, but wanting to engage in the project. By the end, they were asking me to pray for them as they left. Friends, that is meeting people where they are and being open in how we share the Good News. 

Here’s the thing - I am not where you are. I am not always with you as your pastor. So it is on you to share about Jesus with what you do and say at your work places, grocery stores and meetings. Around your kitchen tables and at your kids schools. When we limit to being a Christ follower to Sunday morning, fiends we are missing the mission field, where God is sending us to be in deep, real relationships with folks, and relating to people where they are. Where are you called to meet people and in what ways is God leading you into conversation. 

Brothers and sisters, Jesus came to us as the bodily form of love. We are now called to go and share that love with others. Key word being go. Using the things God has put in front of us is not about making our church the new popular place to be, or making grace cheap, its about inviting people into conversations that matter. Using the language we have been given to reflect the message of grace and beauty to a world that is yearning to hear it. Let us go forth and exist into our purpose church, to raise up disciples and transform our world, all in the name of the one who loves us. Amen.