By Ellen When
I have had many wonderful pictures from working in children’s ministry. Some bring me joy, some make me tear up. My favorite picture out of the thousands I have (not exaggerating) is this one. What makes this picture special is the joy I see in this child during a worship service. What brought this joy? I am glad you asked, It’s a great story.
I was working as the Children’s Director in a small church in Oklahoma and was responsible for the afterschool program. The second Sunday of every month, the children did special music. Sometimes it was a choir, sometimes it was a solo or duet – you get the idea. One particular Sunday, a little girl was doing a solo. I was talking to her little brother earlier in the week while he was working on a puzzle after school. It was a casual conversation.
“Are you excited to hear your sister do special music on Sunday?” I asked.
Nolan quickly answered ‘Yes!”
I was glad he was so excited to support his sister, but after talking with him more I found out he had his own ideas about what Sunday would be. Nolan told me Sunday was his birthday. After his sister sang the song she had rehearsed as special music, she would then start singing Happy Birthday to him. Everyone would join in and throw confetti at him.
I quickly tried to let him down easy because there was no way that was happening in worship service. I didn’t want him to be disappointed! After I was sure he didn’t have any unreal expectations, I promised we would sing Happy Birthday in Sunday school.
I shared the conversation with the Pastor. He was very familiar with Nolan. We had many funny stories about this young man. Nolan had made the walk down to the Pastors office several times for different things, usually things that made it hard to keep a straight face. Nolan got into trouble but he was usually just being mischievous. Most of the time he did things just to make people laugh. He was one of our favorite kids.
The day his sister was going to sing, Nolan’s birthday, came. I was in my office before Sunday School, when the pastor came in and asked if I had confetti. There was nothing odd about this request. I had a craft closet filled with items and everyone came to ask me for everything. While handing him the confetti it dawned on me.
“Are you…,” I began to ask.
He stopped me and just said, “I might.” Then he walked away.
I thought, “No way.”
During the service, Nolan’s sister sang and the pastor called the kids up front for the children’s moment. During the children’s moment, he told the congregation it was Nolan’s birthday and asked them to join him in singing “Happy Birthday.” He stood up with Nolan and handed Nolan confetti and they both threw the confetti in the air.
I love this picture because there is so much pure joy. My reaction when Nolan told me his vision for Sunday was “that’s not what happens in worship.” We don’t recognize kids’ birthdays. We don’t make a big mess in the sanctuary with confetti on Sunday. The service has a schedule and we don’t add things. We try to stay in a certain time frame. The pastor applies a Bible truth during the children’s moment and keeps it to 10 minutes.
That day, Nolan’s birthday, could have followed the same schedule as every Sunday. Special music, children’s moment where the pastor talked to the kids and the sermon. But we would have missed the pure joy that little boy brought to the service. Nolan would have missed out on the love he felt when the congregation sang happy birthday. I think, some of the best moments and best pictures come from things not planned – and maybe when you let children know they are seen and they are special.
