Real Simple magazine is running an essay contest where entrants are invited to finish this sentence: “I never thought I’d…” Perhaps I’ll submit an entry about having a daughter with Down syndrome. We’ll see. But I’m pretty sure that what I’m about to write here wouldn’t win. While it’s true that I never thought I’d have a daughter with Down syndrome, I also never thought I’d have kids who praise Jesus by raising their hands and swaying in the aisles at church. 

We’ve been attending a small, informal church this summer.
It meets in a community center. The sermons are loose. Sometimes the pastor
preaches. Sometimes he tells stories. Sometimes other people share thoughts and
experiences and prayers–requests, answers. Penny and William come to the
beginning and the end, and both of them would tell you, “I like the singing
part.”

Peter and I like it too. We like the actual music. But what
we like even more is the experience of our children in worship. For regular
readers of this blog, and for anyone who knows us in person, it will come as no
surprise that Peter and I tend to be, shall we say–reserved–when it comes to
expressing ourselves. We’re kneel-in-the-pews and hold-the-hymnal types.

Now don’t get me wrong. I believe our bodies are meant to
assist us in prayer and in worship, whether that’s by holding our hands in the
air, kneeling in a posture of humility, or swaying and clapping with joy. I’m
just not very comfortable doing it.

But our children are an entirely different story. On a
typical Sunday, William will be standing on a chair, alternating between
saying, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” and strumming an air guitar in solidarity with the
lady up front. Penny is usually a little farther afield, often in the middle of
the aisle. Her whole body sways back and forth, both hands raised, sometimes
clapping, and often mouthing the words, “Praise Jesus.”

They aren’t performing. They aren’t self-conscious. They’re
just using their whole selves to enter into the experience of proclaiming God
as the one who made us and cares for us and is worthy of our praise.

I never thought we’d have children like this. But I’m
grateful that we do.