Every autumn when the leaves show glorious colors, and the night air cools, Charlie Brown and Lucy decide to display their annual football scuffle. Lucy will hold the football, while Charlie Brown intensely runs to give that football the largest kick he can. Yet just as Charlie begins his kick, Lucy yanks the ball causing Charlie to crumble to the ground.

 This happens faithfully every year. Why doesn’t  Charlie Brown learn his lesson?  We could say that Charlie Brown is either an eternal optimist who doesn’t want to lose his trust in others. Or he simply lives in hope that each year is the one Lucy will actually let him kick the football into the heavens.  But, year after year, Charlie’s hopes are dashed.

 Is Charlie Brown simply a wishful thinker who will not let himself be defeated by anything negative? Or is Charlie Brown a model of a person of hope? Is Charlie a faith-filled person who deep down trusts solely in a compassionate, all-powerful God who is still in charge of this world no matter how the evening news judges the world on any given night?

 Thomas Merton, the famous Trappist monk declares, “Hope trusts in the ultimate goodness of creation.” This is why Jesus never stops believing in his chosen people. Much like Charlie Brown, Jesus hopes that when we say, “I’m sorry,” we mean it, and are ready to begin anew and follow him more closely.  Merton writes,  “But real hope is not in something we think we can do, but it is trusting in God who is making something good out of what we cannot see.”

This hope overcomes Charlie Brown each time he runs towards Lucy and the football.  And hope is all Jesus perceives when he hears our pleas for his mercy and forgiveness. Jesus risks because he is our savior and wants everyone he saved to reach heaven.  

Going even deeper than Charlie Brown, Thomas Merton realizes that the heart of Christian hope is Christ’s resurrection which witnesses to the truth that out of the ashes of a horrific crucifixion emerged the possibility of a new graced life for all humankind.

Hope is God’s promise for our future in God’s Kingdom which waits for everyone:  Charlie Brown, Thomas Merton, Lucy and many more. And this hope God is powerful enough to deliver for all creation.

Charlie Brown will try to kick that football every year and it reveals who he is. But, depending on your perspective, either he does not learn from the past or he refuses to give up on the future. For the Christian, it’s the latter, which is what makes Charlie Brown something of a Christ-figure. He doesn’t close in upon himself. He doesn’t give up on others. He lives in hope.