The Christmas Carol Dilemma

I get to work with kids. Great kids. And I love them. The joy they give me is the gift I'm unwrapping today as part of Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.

I work as a Children's Ministry Director at our church. We are not a huge church, so I am able to know all of the kids personally--all of their names and most of their personalities. I have known many of these kids for a long while, some since they were born. What a privilege.

This past Sunday I was the speaker in the services--doing first person talks as Mary. The kids choir also prepared a song as part of the service. They knew they were singing on the same day I was speaking...and it was part of their rehearsals to pray for me. Kid's prayers are precious and they warmed my heart. It was an honor to have them lifting me in prayer as I prepared.

Well this Sunday came, and I couldn't have been prouder of them as they sang. We don't normally have a kids choir--they just assembled for this song. They did such a great job singing "Waiting for Christmas". A last minute decision was made that the kiddos would stay up front for the singing time--it was a few Christmas Carols. They didn't practice any of these...but the words would be projected on the screens and they were told to just follow along.

I was backstage getting into Mary garb as they sang, so I didn't see what happened. But when I went to see some of them in their 5th and 6th grade classroom during Sunday School, I was bombarded. First, I was bombarded with "Good job" and "I liked your talk" and "You were a great Mary". How awesome is that? They were totally engaged with it. How sweet of them to encourage me. It was the most meaningful feedback of the day.

But then, the encouragement switched to--"Miss Dawn, did you hear what happened to us???" (imagine this being said in different voices and word choices all at the same time). I wondered what might have happened. I found out soon enough. "Miss Dawn--they made us sing a bad word!!" "I didn't know what to do!" " I just closed my mouth." "Me too!" "I got the giggles". "I couldn't finish the song." 'I never say bad words." Again...all at once.

It turns out one of the songs that was sung was What Child is This. There is a line in that song that says "Where ox and ass are sleeping." They don't say that a-word. So the poor dears were left with a quick decision to make--do we sing that word in front of the whole church? Is this some sort of test? Or do we not sing the word and look like we don't know what we are doing?

Most of them chose the latter--and I heard stories of wide eyes, shocked faces and mouths slammed shut during that word.

I don't know about you, but I think that is HY.STER.I.CAL. Wish I could have seen it. But I think the 15 different versions told in 15 different voices all at the same time might have been even better.

And then when the chattering died down...one lone kid said... "I just sang the word." I love it!

Aaah, kids. I love them. Their joy is contagious and their perspective refreshing. And they are SO funny. What a gift to know these kids.