And yet, and yet…

A few weeks ago, the Kids’ Choir sang at our church. As usual it was a wonderful group of sweet kids singing their hearts out. Those days in church are always good ones!

But this time was a bit different. At a point in the song, one of the children up at the front bolted off running to the side of the sanctuary. It was a really surprising thing.

Many of us in church often will have a negative response to this kind of movement. We like order, we like continuity, we like expectation. When there is a sudden movement like this it catches us off guard. And when we are faced with the unexpected, we rarely like it.

Then I saw where she was headed.

The little girl ran over to the side because she saw a friend. She pelted over there because in that moment that she was singing praises to God, she just had to greet and embrace that friend. While singing for the Lord, she welcomed another in love. She then returned to the choir and finished the song.

So often we get caught up in order and the way we want things to be, especially when it comes to worship. And in a metamodern culture that pushes us to curate our own reality and which raises comfort above all other virtues, we can find ourselves personally offended at anything that flows contrary to our expectation.

But in the face of our lockstep rigidity of worship, a child runs and embraces a friend.

Maybe expressions of love in worship are more important than having it all together in production. Maybe the best thing we can do in church is not to disappear into the crowd, but to step out from the crowd to let others know that they are seen by the eyes of Christ. Maybe instead of only looking to our convenience and convention, we should raise our eyes to look for those Jesus loves.

Praise God that the faith of a child humbles our pride and shows us the will of God. Praise God that love leaves the crowd to seek us out. Praise God for a hug from a kids’ choir.

Signs and wonders y’all.

⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40