My Christmas blessing

Every year as Christmas approaches, I eagerly anticipate a Christmas blessing: that special time when I know I will meet God. It happens every year. I just never know how or where. This year it caught me by surprise in the form of a small child in the night.

My young friend invited me to her Sunday school Christmas program. I had not gone since my own children were in Sunday school, but I soon discovered not much had changed. Every children’s Christmas program has its obligatory quota of children singing happily, children too shy to sing, children waving at grandparents, and children who cry. Then of course there are the attention seekers: children who yell into the mic, outshout the entire choir, or just make dreadful faces. What fun to watch them all.

The program was going along as planned. The little ones had been assembled at the front and sung their angelic song. The herding and arranging of children had of course taken much longer than the actual singing time, as had the reclaiming of children afterwards by proud parents. But who could not be touched by the sweet choir of tiny angels, wings and halos all aquiver in the candlelight, breathy baby voices singing glory to God in the highest? Then had come the pageant proper. Shepherds in traditional housecoat garb jabbing each other with their shepherd’s staffs were proof once again that hope springs eternal in the breasts of young boys that everyone in the audience will see their antics except their own parents. Props that had performed perfectly in every rehearsal predictably stuck and tipped and dropped. Lines memorized were delivered too fast, too slow, or forgotten entirely. In spite of it all, the age-old truth of Jesus’ birth miraculously unfolded before us.

My young friend was part of the choir that sang joyfully, a wonderful blend of husky boy voices and sweet girl voices. I waved at her and she waved back. Finally, as the program drew to a close, the entire pageant cast of actors, narrators and choir gathered around the Christ child in the manger. As they sang to the baby king, my heart was touched by the symbolism of the moment. How beautiful that they were singing to the One who said, “let the children come to me: let the eager ones come, let the shy ones come, the ones that wave, the ones that cry, let even the clowns come to me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

It had been a wonderful evening for me. I had laughed and I had cried and I had been blessed. But I was unaware that The Christmas Blessing was about to happen. A very little girl, too young even for the preschoolers’ angel choir, wanted to see more. From the back row of the sanctuary, she was drawn up the dark aisle to the lighted scene at the front. Her father hurried to catch her. I expected him to take her back to where their family was sitting. Instead, crouching low, he took her hand and led her to the very front. Her eyes were aglow with wonder as together they approached the singing children and the baby in the manger.

Illustration: Tamara Paetkau

I too was filled with wonder as this little one, not even two years old, came to be with Jesus. As I beheld the beautiful image of a father walking alongside his child and gently showing her the way, I realized that all the pageantry in the world cannot prevent God’s incredible power from drawing people to Him.

Every year, as Christmas approaches, I eagerly anticipate the special time when I will meet God. It happens every year. This year it came dressed in a tiny velvet Christmas dress with wispy baby hair all caught up on top. It came in the form of a young father leading his little girl into the light that is Jesus.

Ingrid Koss is a member of McIvor Ave. MB Church, Winnipeg. This fall she has been writing a WordWise study guide on Revelation for Kindred Productions. “My Christmas Blessing” was written after Christmas 2002.

Illustrator Tamara Paetkau is a 2003 graduate of the graphic design program at Red River College, and a 2001 graduate of Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, both in Winnipeg. She attends Jubilee Mennonite Church.