Three Wise Men And A Baby

Elliott participated in a play the youth put on at church today: 3 Wise Men and a Baby.  I have to admit, watching your 7 year-old perform in public comes with a fair amount of anxiety.  At that age, they are prone to interject lines or facial expressions or sudden exits stage left that are nowhere to be found in the script everyone else is working from.  I have to say, though, Elliott and all of the kids did a wonderful job.  Where they drifted from the script, it took the audience to a delightfully unexpected place.

I was thinking during the show that if Jesus ever chose just one group to share His story, it would probably be small children.  When children talk and sing about Jesus, the room instantly fills with joy.  I think children still sense the spirit of adventure of 3 wise men following a star to find a baby in a manger and the gratitude they felt when they found Him.  Children are still young enough to believe this journey is the biggest part of the story, and not a footnote to a much larger and complicated story I fear they'll be led to ponder down the road. 

The reality is Jesus didn't choose one group to share His story.  He chose us all.  But I think most of us could take a few storytelling tips from our children.  When our children stood on the stage next to each other today and talked and sang about a baby who came for all of us, they said it like it didn't matter whether the little boy or girl next to them was a democrat or a republican, or where they stood on abortion or what a marriage looks like.  Maybe that's why they smiled so widely when they shared the good news.  They truly believe it is a story for all of us.

Sometimes I think we forget the Christmas story is about a savior who came to save us all.  He didn't come to set us straight on the things of this world, but to give us a path to eternal life in His world.  The kids did a great job sharing the message found in Romans 10:9 - because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

I fear so much of our Christian energy is being wasted on trying to bully people into thinking like we do, instead of demonstrating how to love like Jesus loved.  It is an incredible story that our God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, and that he loved you and me and the guy down the street that you and I avoid so much that he allowed that son to die on a cross for us. There is no greater love.  That is the Christmas story.  And boy do the New Song kids have a joyful way of reminding us of that.

Awesome job gang!

Enjoy the photo and the video clip below.