One of most memorable days of December for Kathy and me was Sunday the 12th, when we had the annual Christmas program at Holy Communion in the morning and the Sing Along Messiah that afternoon and evening. . . all in the immediate wake of a very nasty winter storm that had dumped snow all over southeastern Wisconsin and then stirred it up with ferocious, blizzard-like winds. All kinds of services and concerts were cancelled Sunday, but Holy Communion forged ahead…. although Kate Barrow, the director of our program, fully expected there to be all kinds of kids absent and steeled herself for having to reassign reading parts and solos at the last minute . . . and certainly she was fully prepared for the likelihood that the farm animals would be absent as well. (What a bummer that would be, since hours were spent laying down plastic and straw in the sanctuary the day before to prepare for them!)
When Kathy and I got to Holy Communion (affectionately known as the Church on the HIll) that morning and first got out of our car, we were both sure we had never ever stood (or tried to stand) in such savagely strong winds. The weatherman said that the winds were blowing as hard as 50 m.p.h., with gusts even higher than that, the kind of winds that seemed to be trying to tear the clothes right off of your body. It was brutal – and the thought of a farmer driving a truck and trailer in that kind of wind to deliver animals to us seemed utterly ludicrous.
And yet, incredibly, they DID make it somehow. . . and that beat up, grimy trailer sitting in the parking lot was one of the most beautiful sights we saw all Christmas! And the animals added so much to the proceedings- especially a certain sheep that could not stop bleating through the program, as though it were exclaiming its own “Amen! Praise Jesus!” as each chapter of the Christmas story was told.
Just as incredible, almost every single child made it to church. . . including every single kid with a solo or a speaking part! Kate didn’t have to do any last minute reassigning at all – and everyone did a wonderful job with whatever their particular role happened to be. In fact, the biggest boo boo of the morning was when Kate tried to usher in the congregation to sing the fifth and final verse of “We Three Kings” when we hadn’t yet heard from the last King (“Myrrh is mine, a bitter perfume.”) The instant Kate realized her mistake, she laughed uproariously as only she can laugh- a moment that beautifully embodied how she approaches this huge undertaking. She is amazingly meticulous in her planning and organization- and yet she also knows that this program is not about achieving some sort of sterile, chilly perfections. It’s about telling a great story and rediscovering the joy and wonder that is at the heart of that story. And “Look for the Light” has managed to do that and be that- not only for the kids up front, sharing the stage with the farm animals, but also for the adults out in the pews, taking it all in with delight and wondering awe.
pictured at the top: Young people and farm animals are up front together. Most of the animals are either entirely hidden from view or hard to see in this picture – but right in the midst of it all is the cow who eventually got a little too rambunctious and had to go back to the trailer. But the others, by and large, were well-behaved. So were the kids. You can see kate at the far left of the picture. By the way, at the end of the program, when it was time to say thank you’s, she singled out the farmer and his son for special acknowledgment and the sanctuary erupted in huge applause at that point. Everyone fully appreciated what a tough trip it had to have been to transport the animals in such terrible winds.