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 I
believe one of the best things about a newspaper is the comics.
‘Peanuts' by  Charles
Schulz was a favorite of mine for over 50 yrs. I also liked
‘Calvin and Hobbes' by Bill Watterson who retired
the strip back in the late 90's. I also enjoyed "Kudzu"
with the Rev. Will B. Dunn created by Doug Marlette, who died
last July in an auto accident. Another favorite was ‘B.C."
by Johnny Hart who also died last year. All of my favorite
cartoonists have either died or retired. "Opus' is
still being drawn by Berke Breathed but only runs in the Sunday
editions. No matter what your favorite comic strip is, I think
the comics have a refreshing way of looking at life. I think
Jesus would have liked the comics. They remind me of Jesus'
talk about ‘new wine' - ‘Neither is new wine
put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the
wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine
is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved. Matt.9:17
New wine,
like ‘Charlie Brown', or ‘Calvin',
or ‘Kudzu' or ‘Opus', in the comics,
is a bubbling, fermenting, changing mixture that refuses to
be the same thing tomorrow that it was yesterday. New wine,
like those funny characters, is also dangerous and threatening.
There is a power constantly being released. Try to contain
it and you will  soon
be in the business of buying new containers. New wine is Jesus'
figure for new life in him. There's nothing static and dull
here, no ‘bed of roses' or ‘pie in the sky' escapism.
Jesus is offering us a constantly changing and explosive newness.
He isn't saying, ‘Follow me and be bored to death',
rather ‘follow me and be excited to life!'
I sense
that the church is like the new wine Jesus is talking about.
However, like many of the comic strip characters, we keep
trying to put old wine into new wineskins. As we continue
our adventure into 2008 may we be prepared for some wine skin
ripping as we bubble and change in the effervescent life of
following Jesus.
See you
in the funny papers,
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