A few days before he was scheduled to preach, I heard John say something curious on the phone. Since his habit is to walk around the house as he talks, I never caught the context.
"Yes, I would love to have you bring stuffed animals to the service..."
It was about Noah, it turns out. We sang a song about all
the animals in the choir, the ones that honk and bray. Children were invited up to climb into what was trying to be a boat, with a stuffie under their arm. They were happy to comply.
Except one small girl who apparently didn't get quite her first choice. She wailed, and eventually her mother took her out. John invited someone to carry the biggest, fluffiest lamb out to her, knowing it might not work.
He talked about feelings, and
how the animals who walked up that plank were all invited to the party. Well, maybe it is disingenuous to call it a party, when it was a life saving measure in dire circumstances. But the reality is, that God accepts that we are sometimes afraid, sad, lonely, even angry. Those emotions are the price of admission to being human. None of us present were impatient with the little girl who was angry.
The passage John read to the grown ups was about how the ferocious
animals could coexist with the gentle ones. We can weather the feelings that flood us, we just need to resist hurting each other with them.
By the way, the little girl came back in, with a cuddly lamb in her lap.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them." Isaiah
11
