“Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
and the voices of those who celebrate.
I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.”
Jeremiah 30:19
The sheep in the Christmas pageant did it again. The cute preschoolers and kindergartners in their fuzzy little sheep suits stole the show during the Sunday school program. I’m not talking about the way they slowly melted into wooly heaps when their attention spans wavered. I’m not talking their ability to ignore the heroic attempts of the shepherds to keep them in tow. And I’m not talking about their shuffly journey to the manger, or the way they almost climbed on top of each other to eyeball the baby Jesus.
I’m talking about their baa-ing, the beautiful descant explosion which floated above the verses of Away in the Manger. The congregation laughed uproariously at the unexpected orchestration, and their reaction infected the sheep with boldness. They baa-ed louder, though they politely quieted down when the actors recited their lines. But each time a carol started, some sheep launched into the one word song, and the rest followed. Parents grinned and cameras flashed. Silly as it seems, the dads and moms’ glowing, loving faces brought tears to my eyes.
Does God feel a rush of love like that when we raise our voices to him? Does he smile when we remember to sing, even though our words are no more than gibberish compared to the angelic hosts praising him day and night,? Can our feeble and incomprehensible offerings possibly bring joy to the creator and sustainer of the universe?
Unbelievable as it seems, God’s word to the sheepish Jewish exiles in Babylon says that, yes, our childish songs bring him joy. He watches us dissolve into useless heaps when we lose sight of him. He sees us ignore him and go our own rebellious ways. But when we repent and raise our voices to him in fervent song, he grins ear to ear. We, who sing our feeble and incomprehensible praise, remain neither few nor small in his eyes. Instead he honors and multiplies us because our offerings bring him great joy. And laughing, he gives the same joy back to us.
In the presence of such love, such forgiveness, such joy and such delight, my tears fall freely. I am wrapped in the assurance that my small, inadequate praise is treasured by the Creator and Sustainer of all things.
Now, I ask myself as the strains of Silent Night fill the room, how can I keep from singing?
The truth is…I can’t.
Baa, baa, baaaa.
