As we look forward to the upcoming choral performances endearingly known as Silver Tea, I do so with some hopes.
My deepest hope is that you, our parents, experience the love that this gift is meant to convey. The children understand that this performance is for you. They practice harmony, memorize words, pay attention to the details of how they are presenting themselves, and patiently persist in the pursuit of perfection, all for the sake of providing you with the gift of joy that they expectantly intend for you to experience.
Another very deep hope I have is that, through the pure innocence of these children’s song and story, we are all reminded of the True Meaning of Christmas. Secular, commercial and cultural pressures tend to override or at least minimize the powerful message of the birth of that one sacred baby born in the Bethlehem manger. I don’t think we can say it enough: God revealed God’s Self in a unique and new way through that vulnerable, poor and needy child!
My third hope is that the implications of this special story hit our heart at new levels! What does this story say about the Master and Creator of the Universe? What is God trying to REVEAL by BEING so perfectly present in this human form? Do we understand our material world differently? Do we understand humanity differently? Do we understand God differently?
My final hope is that you ENJOY the performances! Sit back and take in this time while your children are shimmering with innocence and shining forth with heart-beauty reflective of the Face of Christ we see within their deepest and best selves. The incarnation assuredly continues as they (and we) allow God to fill our hearts and shine forth through our lives and loves.
United to each of you in and through the Heart that beats in each of our hearts, if only we allow our hearts to be open enough to birth Christ anew in the here, and the now!
