Today was, of course, Children's Pageant Day. We had some new participants this year in the pageant: Hannah and her twin brother Stephen, Ben, and twin sisters Stacy and Leah. (Yes, that's 2 sets of four-year-old twins. We have even more twins who are older! It must be the water.)

Hannah is something else. She's that little kid that every church wants to have: cute by the truck-load, and absolutely unabashed. She is the only one of the four-year-olds who will sing with the Children's Choir. She stands in the front row, although she will stand there all by herself if she could. Hannah *loves* to sing. Hannah is tone deaf, so far.

Today she was having trouble with "Away in the Manger", which is, to be honest, a very difficult song to sing. It's got ridiculously high notes and low notes all in one song. There's no one key that works for everybody. Today the only phrase of it that Hannah could remember was "Alay in the nanger". So whenever she got lost, that's what she sang. She sang it with swagger. She sang it with gusto. She sang it with her eyes closed, her own personal prayer. Sitting in the front row, I was captivated by her passion for this song she couldn't even pronounce.

The other moment of this morning's worship I will never forget is the very last song. Stacy and Leah were adopted this summer, by relatives of their birth mom. They were born early, and sick. Due to some traumas in their very early lives, they are what we whisper about when we say "Special Needs Kids." They have an affective/detachment disorder that is not exactly like Aspberger's or Autism, but which prevents them from making significant eye contact or emotional contact with most people. They are in intensive therapy for this.

When I saw their names last week on the outline for the service, that they were going to sing the last song by themselves, I called their mother to see how she felt about it. She was fine: "If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, well, they're four. Big deal."

When the time came, Leah went up to the microphone, with little or no prompting from Mom. A few seconds later, Stacy joined her up there, only Stacy was only able to be on the platform facing away from the crowd and holding onto Leah's hand.

Together they stood, holding on to one another for dear life while Leah sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" in a loud clear voice.

I tell you this: as long as I live, I will never be able to hear that song again without thinking of those two sisters, of Leah who was brave, and Stacy who loved her sister enough to hold her hand in front of that crowd, even though she was unable to face the crowd herself.

Alay in the Nanger, indeed.

Thanks be to God.