“Worthy are You, our Lord and God” - Mrs. Lucy McConnell
If you’re anything like me, your Bible often acts like a half-organized scrapbook. Each time you open the front cover, there are bulletin inserts or hand-written notes that threaten to spill out onto the floor, but you keep them there anyways because of their significance. Then, as you continue opening the Word and flip to a passage, you’re likely to pass by specifically placed flower petals or sticky notes or scraps of ribbon that remind you, somehow or another, of a particular passage. Those keepsakes take you back to a memory—perhaps the sermon that you heard on that passage or the time a friend encouraged you with a flower and a verse—and you cling to that memory because it deepened your faith or simply made you smile. Sometimes, however, you come across a passage and it stands out in your memory without any memorabilia. For me, one such passage is Revelation 4, and the memory surrounding it is that of a child’s excitement.
It was summertime and I was interning with the Children’s Ministry at Ebenezer ARP Church in Rock Hill, SC. That week, we were holding a two-day art camp and I got to take the reins for a bit while the Director of Children’s Ministry focused her attention on revitalizing the catechism curriculum. I got to the church early to set up; I organized the table supplies by color (it was art camp after all); I had my PowerPoint set up and ready to run. It was one of those mornings where I wished that my life was a sit-com so that I could just tell the camera how excited I was. I was giddy!
For the content of the camp, I chose to let the kids briefly explore two very different art forms: the abstract art of the mid-twentieth century and the stained-glass work of pre-Renaissance cathedrals. With each art lesson, I pulled in a Bible story to teach about an attribute of God so that the kids could see how we can give glory to the Lord with our art. Monday, we began with the Creation story from Genesis 1 and 2, hitting the highlights and doing ample call-and-response routines to maintain the focus of these 5-to-11-year-olds. We talked about how when God spoke and created the trees and flowers and dogs and cats, there had never ever been trees or flowers or dogs or cats ever before, and that was totally new and crazy exciting! All of a sudden, there was the most beautiful mixture of color and texture and sound and light, and it had never been seen before. God is creative. We talked about how God is our Creator and how when we mimic his creativity by creating art, we can give glory to him. Then, we talked about abstract art and how we can also make something that is totally new and crazy exciting.
Tuesday, though, was my favorite day and it’s the one with the memory that made me grin from ear to ear in the middle of church not too long ago. On Tuesday, we looked at John’s description of the throne room of God in Revelation 4 and we talked about all of the colors and precious shiny jewels and metals that are mentioned. We imagined how beautiful it must be and how bright it must be, everyone on the carpet of the children’s classroom loudly chiming in to give their favorite adjective (brilliant, humongous, glittery, etc.) while I tried to find a way to re-direct the group to finally nail my point. Finally, I just decided to click to the next PowerPoint slide and ask, “What do you see?” The picture was nothing super special; it was just an image of a stained-glass window I found on Google. But there was one kindergartner in the front row who made my point for me. His whole little body filled with so much excitement at the sight of that window that he could barely contain it. Clenching his fists and raising them to his chest, he shook with joy as he yelled, “THERE’S SO MUCH COLOR!”
He got it. Though he wouldn’t be able to put words to it, this child had the reaction that the whole host of Heaven had in Revelation 4. I was attempting to connect the dots and explain that the artists who designed the big stained glass windows were mimicking the bright, shiny colors of Heaven and the splendor of the Lord through their artwork because they knew that the Lord is worthy of praise. In my attempt, I could never have come as close as that child did by his reaction. It was a pure and joyful outpouring of his heart as if nothing else in the world could possibly matter because there’s just so much color! So, we talked about how exciting it is that there is so much color in that art and about how it’s even more exciting that there’s so much color in Heaven because God is so glorious. Then, we talked about medieval stained glass and about our art project for the day; but the whole time I couldn’t keep from smiling.
I kept thinking about how precious that child’s reaction was and about how bland my own reactions are to the beautiful truths of Scripture. I had heard the phrase “faith like a child” before, but I had never included “excitement” in the list of descriptors for that kind of faith. It became clear that in order for my worship to be worshipful, I couldn’t possibly have a passive reaction to the sermons or songs I encounter at church. Not that I necessarily need an extreme show of yelled joy on a Sunday morning in order to be worshipful, but that my heart should be compelled to praise. The only given reaction in Revelation 4 is an exclamation of awe and excited praise, and that is the only acceptable reaction to the glory of God. I smiled my way through a sermon I later heard on Revelation 4, remembering the memory of the kindergartner who literally shook with excitement, and I couldn’t have been more thankful for the wisdom that God imparted through the example of a child.