Okay – I know the title’s got you curious. Is he talking about children? Some new social club for short people? Actually, it was the name Charles Schulz wanted for his new comic strip. But it sounded too close to Li’l Abner, so the syndicate chose “Peanuts.” The creator hated it.

Our Creator would probably not choose to call us “Li’l Folks” either. We are blessed to be called children of God. We are messy, indeed child-like in our faith. Jesus himself alludes to this often in his teaching. We are lost little lambs; chicks that need to be gathered under the wings of the mother hen; lacking the true spiritual milk. We stumble and bumble through a world which has, admittedly, become far more complex than the first disciples and writers of scripture could have possibly fathomed.  We are crabby as Lucy, philosophical as Linus, hapless as Charlie Brown. Our hearts, our actions, our words often betray us. We feel wretched like Paul, “worm-fodder” like Martin Luther.

Charlie Brown’s kite-eating tree has become the sin-eating tree (cross) of Jesus. We have a living Gospel in the person of Jesus. The “Peanuts” creator, who was a Lutheran by the way, says it better than I:  “I cannot fail to be thrilled every time I read the things that Jesus said, and I am more and more convinced of the necessity of following him. What Jesus means to me is this: In him we are able to see God, and to understand his feelings toward us.”  That feeling, my fellow “li’l folks,” is this: His love for us is unconditional. 

Pastor Art 

Originally posted by Pastor Art five years ago.