Caroling
sorry, it’s taken me a little while to get these posts up. I’ve had some internet access issues-SL
Saturday, December 23, 2006
6:42 PM Hyderabad Time
On Base
Saturday, December 23, 2006
6:42 PM Hyderabad Time
On Base
READING: The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey
The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi by Salam Pax
IPod MUSIC: None
Last night we went caroling … FOR 7 HOURS. yea, 7, count um S-E-V-E-N. I’m not kidding. We were all on the bus by 6 pm and rolled back into campus at 1:15 am. Now this was not your typical USA sing-song experience, though come to think of it, I haven’t had one of those in years. Do we still go caroling in America? Anyway, instead of going house to house in a single neighborhood, we were all over the town. And this wasn’t sing two or three songs at a casual, finale with We Wish you a Merry Christmas and off to the next door, maybe their home, maybe their not. This was regimented. This was efficient. IN. OUT. BUS. Bing, Bang, Boom. Church leaders had a list of some 45 families from the church and we were going to hit them all, by-golley.
It was one traditional carol then a scripture reading from the Christmas story, then a prayer, (I got to read and pray sometimes), then yes we did sing We Wish you a Merry Christmas, then a cheer, then a blessing, then some snack and drink. Oh yea, they knew we were coming. We phoned ahead.
REPEAT 40 TIMES !!!—that’s a lot of snack and drink.
Santa was with us too (see picture). He must have been taking a break from packing up his sleigh and feeding his reindeer, but ya, the big St. Nick was there and he was a dancing machine.
There was a moment. It could have been tragic, a disaster of other-worldly proportion. IT COULD HAVE RUINED CHIRISTMAS for millions of little children.
As our posse—which by the way, kept growing and growing. First it was just the bus, but at our peak we had the bus, 2 SUVs and 3 or 4 motorbikes—sorry, now back to the story.
Santa was in the lead and as our group rounded the corner, heading to the next home, coming out of the home WAS ANOTHER SANTA CLAUSE with another group of carolers. Was this the end? The final battle of good vs. evil, or rather, good vs. good? No, we were lucky as no one was in the mood for a row. Our Santa, the real Santa, graciously and humbly rushed to the fake santa for a warm and jovial embrace. Then was the time in the show where they danced. And what a dance it was!
Honestly, though long, the night was quite memorable and enjoyable. It was experiencing the joy of the youth that made it worthwhile. For like the first 5 hours it was the TTC (Teachers Training Class, young people training to be teachers) that carried the crew. Their energy and singing was without bound. But about 10:30 or 11:00 pm even they got tired. Then the kids took over and their joy and singing carried us home.
As I have often noted many time on these pages and elsewhere, those with relatively little materially, believers in poor countries and poor churches can teach me, us in the west, much about the joy of the Lord and the miracle of being alive.
Maybe that’s one of the things Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Luke 6:20 b NRSV
The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi by Salam Pax
IPod MUSIC: None
Last night we went caroling … FOR 7 HOURS. yea, 7, count um S-E-V-E-N. I’m not kidding. We were all on the bus by 6 pm and rolled back into campus at 1:15 am. Now this was not your typical USA sing-song experience, though come to think of it, I haven’t had one of those in years. Do we still go caroling in America? Anyway, instead of going house to house in a single neighborhood, we were all over the town. And this wasn’t sing two or three songs at a casual, finale with We Wish you a Merry Christmas and off to the next door, maybe their home, maybe their not. This was regimented. This was efficient. IN. OUT. BUS. Bing, Bang, Boom. Church leaders had a list of some 45 families from the church and we were going to hit them all, by-golley.
It was one traditional carol then a scripture reading from the Christmas story, then a prayer, (I got to read and pray sometimes), then yes we did sing We Wish you a Merry Christmas, then a cheer, then a blessing, then some snack and drink. Oh yea, they knew we were coming. We phoned ahead.
REPEAT 40 TIMES !!!—that’s a lot of snack and drink.
Santa was with us too (see picture). He must have been taking a break from packing up his sleigh and feeding his reindeer, but ya, the big St. Nick was there and he was a dancing machine.
There was a moment. It could have been tragic, a disaster of other-worldly proportion. IT COULD HAVE RUINED CHIRISTMAS for millions of little children.
As our posse—which by the way, kept growing and growing. First it was just the bus, but at our peak we had the bus, 2 SUVs and 3 or 4 motorbikes—sorry, now back to the story.
Santa was in the lead and as our group rounded the corner, heading to the next home, coming out of the home WAS ANOTHER SANTA CLAUSE with another group of carolers. Was this the end? The final battle of good vs. evil, or rather, good vs. good? No, we were lucky as no one was in the mood for a row. Our Santa, the real Santa, graciously and humbly rushed to the fake santa for a warm and jovial embrace. Then was the time in the show where they danced. And what a dance it was!
Honestly, though long, the night was quite memorable and enjoyable. It was experiencing the joy of the youth that made it worthwhile. For like the first 5 hours it was the TTC (Teachers Training Class, young people training to be teachers) that carried the crew. Their energy and singing was without bound. But about 10:30 or 11:00 pm even they got tired. Then the kids took over and their joy and singing carried us home.
As I have often noted many time on these pages and elsewhere, those with relatively little materially, believers in poor countries and poor churches can teach me, us in the west, much about the joy of the Lord and the miracle of being alive.
Maybe that’s one of the things Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Luke 6:20 b NRSV
posted by Steve In India @ 6:42 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Great verse.
The fewer materialistic things we have in life allows us to focus on what truly matters, and creates a joy for life, simply appreciating it as the gift it is. Those people probably understand that fact better than we ever could.
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