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There is nothing that makes me more weepy than a children’s Christmas program…and that’s saying a lot, because I’m not that person who cries at movies or heartstring-pulling commercials, or at much of anything, really.  But give me two minutes in a chapel filled with children singing Christmas songs and my eyes tear up every time.

I think it’s the combination of the general hope I tend to feel during Advent with the message being heralded by such wide-eyed and hopeful innocence.  You never see a Kindergartener rolling his eyes at the idea of light coming into the world or peace being possible, because he absolutely think it is.  Kindergarteners think, in fact, that there IS light and peace in the world, and so it’s the most natural thing in the world to sing about it.

For those of you who have not attended any Christmas programs this week (and for those of you like me who believe when it comes to Christmas programs, truly the more the merrier),  here are the money quotes I heard the past two days that got my eyes to watering.  (It’s not surprising that both of these are inspired by Isaiah 11, which is one of THE best chapters of Scripture.)  Go ahead and imagine a chapel full of children’s voices when you read them…it’ll do your heart some good.

Compliments of my second grader and her classmates, I heard joyful clapping to these beautiful words:

“Dance and sing for the Lord shall be with us!  Glory, Halleluia!

Peace and justice soon shall be with us!  Glory, Halleluia!

Clap your hands and sing, Glory, Halleluia!

Joyful voices ring, Glory, Halleluia!

Wolf and lamb shall rest together

Calf and lion shall join as friends

Peace shall come to all the nations

Come, O Savior, Come!”

And the Gospel given to us by a rafters-full set of smiling Kindergarteners:

“You be the lion strong and wild, I’ll be the lamb, meek and mild.

We’ll live together, happily, and THAT’S how it ought to be!”

(During that last line they would all emphatically swing their arms across their chests, just so we could SEE they expect the world to be this way.)

Advent Lord, grant that we would be able to sing as openly and joyfully as do your youngest family members.  Give us the wisdom to hope for your peace and justice to be made real among us, and to walk faithfully toward your future where lions lay together peacefully with lambs.  And may all God’s people say…Amen.

Every year from Thanksgiving to Epiphany, my husband listens to nothing but Christmas music.  I will get into my car and find the presets to a Christmas music station.  The minute he steps in the door after work, he turns it on- this year using some app through his iPhone that works through our computer and plays through our sound system (or as I like to say, by magic).  Selections range from traditional (Nat King Cole) to sentimental (The Lettermen) to experimental (Eddie Vedder), but whatever the flavor, Christmas bells are always jingling around here.

We like to do it up right at Journey, too.  I know some of my more mainline friends think it’s cheating to sing Christmas songs in church before Christmas Eve (you know, because you are supposed to have to wait to sing them) but I disagree.  The kind of waiting we are doing at Advent is hopeful waiting.  We are waiting for a baby to be born, and not just any baby, but One who will bring the kind of light that will shine like the dawn and guide our feet into the way of peace.  And what, may I ask, do we do when expecting a baby?  We celebrate.  We shower people, even before the baby arrives.

Or, think of it this way.  What do you do when you are looking forward to seeing your favorite band in concert?  Why, you spend the whole week listening to their songs, all the way ’till you roll on up into the parking lot with your favorite song now on repeat, giddily dancing around, eager to hear their opening number. 

Hopeful waiting gives us permission to sing about that for which we wait– it encourages us, even, because what better sign of hope is there than joyful singing?  This coming third Sunday of Advent is generally known as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of joy.  It’s the day we light the candle on the Advent wreath that is a shade brighter than all the others.  Its lighter color symbolizes the happiness we feel when we are nearing our concert destination- we know the thing we are waiting for is coming near, and we can’t help but sing about it.

So if you happen to join us at Journey this Sunday, no need to wonder why we are singing Joy to the World already.  We like to practice Advent hopeful waiting, Christmas carols and all.