Barrett,
The Youngest Angel in the Choir
Introduction:
Twice a year the
Primary prepared for a concert program to be performed for the entire
congregation during Sacrament meeting. The Christmas program was always an
annual highlight, with many visitors in attendance. The children began to practice
during their Primary Sunday meetings, many weeks in advance. Oftentimes
the leaders of the Primary would add actions to be used to accompany the words,
which had 2 advantages, it provided a means to keep the children engaged and it
gave the members of the congregation additional reasons to appreciate the
performance.
Barrett was the youngest child in the primary
choir, being only 3 years old. This Christmas would be his first
performance having just graduated from nursery. His infectious smile, rosy
cheeks, long curly brown hair, and large blue eyes made him a favorite of the
Nursery leaders. He was always enthusiastic, attentive and obedient to all
of their instructions. You could often hear them whisper to each other,
“oh, isn’t he the cutest! or isn’t he the best little boy!”
The Primary soon found out about
Barrett.
Part 1
The first Sunday to practice for the
Christmas program was also Barrett’s first Sunday in Primary. Barrett’s smile
was in full evidence as he was shown where to sit in his Sunbeam class by his
proud Father. He had no fear at all as he joined the other 3-year-olds in
their front row sitting in front of the older children. Barrett was
overjoyed to be joining his older brother and sister in Primary and to be one
of the big kids. Barrett was loved by his family and they were especially
proud of him.
The Primary music leader Sister Swan,
was a very patient and kind woman that loved music. She had been a high
school choir director in her younger years. Her love of music was driven
by the effect that the Primary choir had on the audience. The Primary
choir included all of the boys and girls ages 3 through 11. She loved to see
the hand waving as the children waved to their parents and family members
competing to recognize their little ones first, pointing out their little boy
or girl when they were spotted. The Primary choir Christmas performance
was always the highlight of the year and she was thrilled when the little
voices combined into a beautiful chorus that brought tears to the eyes of the
congregation.
Barrett knew the first song, Joy to the
World already; his family sang this hymn many times throughout the season, and
then some, every year. He had been singing the whole first verse from
memory since before he was 2 years old. (This was one of the of the main
reasons his family was sure that he was a genius, and clapped their hands
whenever Barrett sang it.) He was proud of knowing the words, and when
Sister Swan announced the first hymn to be practiced, Barrett exclaimed out
loud that he knew the words to that song! Sister Swan smiled and said she
was very happy that he knew the words to Joy to the World.
When they started to sing, Barrett sang
with enthusiasm, as loud as he could, so that everyone could hear that he knew
the words. He was so cute, and many of the adults attending smiled during
his performance, but not Sister Swan. Barrett sang so loudly, he was
practically yelling. Worst of all you couldn’t hear any of the other young
children. And to top it all off; Barrett couldn’t sing! Sister Swan smiled
patiently as they practiced the song and the actions, as she thought of the
colossal disaster the Christmas program would be if Barrett was allowed to
shout out the words, out of tune, while the other children sang during the
performance.
Afterwards Sister Swan explained her
concerns about Barrett to the Primary leaders. They understood, they
really did. They also wanted this year’s performance to be special and
touching. They had never had anyone with so much enthusiasm and that had
been so off-key. It wasn’t amusing to any of them, that Barrett was so
loud, drowning out all of the other children. Sister Swan agreed to talk
to the parents, to see if they could work at home with Barrett before next
week.
Barrett’s parents couldn’t understand
what the problem was. They responded to Sister Swan by telling her about
how cute Barrett was, how he knew all of the words to Joy to the World, and
wasn’t it great that he was doing so well. It was amazing that he was the
youngest child in all of Primary. Sister Swan agreed, and went home
mystified as to what to do.
At home she talked it over with her
husband, who was glad that she asked him for his advice, but as usual, she
found that his ideas about children, just wouldn’t work. But even if it
seemed to be a waste of time to ask him about any potential solutions, she did
come up with an idea while he was talking. She said, “thanks honey for
trying to help, but I think I’ve got an idea of what to do.”
The next week Sister Swan made Barrett
the chairman of the actions or gestures that were used by the children in
timing with the words that were sung. She had him come down from the stage
and stand on the pew next to her (so the children could see him), turn-around
and face the boys and girls and lead them in the actions…while not
singing. Sister Swan's assistant guided Barrett's arms during the song to
teach him how to lead. Barrett was actually very happy to lead everyone in the Christmas
hymn’s actions. The solution worked! Even Mom and Dad were happy,
their boy was the chairman of the actions!
So that was how it happened that Barrett
was chairman of the actions for the next 9 years, never singing again in
another Primary program at church.
Part 2
After Barrett turned 12, he graduated
from Primary and joined the youth, the young men and young women, for their
meetings. By default, he became part of their youth choir that also sang every
Christmas, after all it was a tradition. At the first practice, the young
men and women found out their song that year was to be, yes that’s right, Joy
to the World. Barrett sang at that first practice as loudly as he ever had
in Primary (and yes, whenever Barrett performed at home, his family still
clapped for their youngest child) and he was just as much off-key. The
youth had a different Choir director, Sister Prudence. The youth didn’t
practice as much as the Primary, because most of the youth already knew the
words of the most popular Christmas hymns and there were no actions. Consequently,
Barrett was out of a job.
Sister Prudence approached Barrett after
that first practice and asked “Barrett, do you have a few minutes so that we
could talk about our Choir’s performance?”
Barrett beamed as he thought that this
year would be his first chance to sing in the annual Christmas program, and
said, “sure, what’s up Sister Prudence.”
She explained, “Barrett, the words to
this hymn, Joy to the World, are very important, maybe these words are some of
the most important words of any hymn, don’t you agree?”
“You bet, that’s why this is my favorite
hymn!”
“Then you know the part about that the
saints and the angels sing together the words ‘Joy to the world, the Lord is
come; Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare him room?”
“I sure do. I have had those words
memorized my whole life! The first verse is especially awesome!”
“That’s true Barrett. In the first verse we learn, I believe, that Jesus
Christ is the Joy given to the world, and that all angels, and all of the
saints sing together that they recognize Jesus as their Lord and King and make
room for Him to rule and reign in their hearts. Do you understand what
that means?”
“I think so. We are the saints and
they are the angels, and together we recognize Jesus as Lord and King”
“That’s right. Do you know why that
is important?”
“Well, let me see, I’m not really sure,”
said Barrett as he sat down, rubbing his forehead and looking bewildered.
“Because Jesus is our Lord and King,
that makes us His servants,” explained Sister Prudence. “When we recognize
ourselves as His servants, we understand our relationship to Him. We
understand that He is greater than us and our duty is to obey him just as the
angels do. If we learn obedience now, we will be accepted to live with the
angels in Heaven that also obey Him. Then we will all be united in this
life and united with the saints and angels in Heaven forever.
Barrett brightened up, “I get it! We are
obedient because we know He is our King, and at Christmas time we are so happy
about it, we want to sing about it!”
“That’s right. So, when we sing, we
think about the words, and when we think about the words, we want to sing with
others so that they also can think about the words, those in the choir and in
the congregation. We want to sing the best we can so that we show God we
love him and the spirit can teach everyone while they are singing.”
“I know, that’s why I sing as loud as I
can, because I am so happy and I love God so much!”
“Barrett, it is more important that the
spirit helps others to feel the spirit, to think about the words, and be happy,
than we sing more loudly than everyone else. If we think about the words
and we know they are true in our heart, our music is beautiful to our King, and
it doesn’t have to be louder than everyone else. God will know that we love
Him, and that we have made room for Him as our King in our heart and that we
want to be obedient to Him.”
“I never thought of it that way before,
thanks, that is just perfect!” exclaimed Barrett. “I am going to sing so
that everyone can be touched by the spirit so that they can make room for their
King in their heart and be obedient to him.”
When Barrett sang with the youth during
their Christmas program that year, his voice was beautiful and a joy to listen
to, as he blended his voice with the choirs. His heart had been
touched. He had learned that it wasn’t the volume that mattered. What
mattered most was if his heart was His, if he was His servant, then his voice was
beautiful indeed.
