Lullabies

My family helped me craft the Children's Sermon about Lullabies I gave during Advent, so I promised to post what I said.

I started with one I assumed they would all know:

Picnic time for Teddy Bears

The little Teddy Bears are having

A lovely time today.

Watch them, catch them unawares,

And see them picnic on their holiday.

As I recited the words, I looked at blank faces. I glanced up at Pastor Ned, but he shrugged and shook his head, and seemed to indicate with his face that only a crazy family would make up a song about Teddy Bears' picnics. We used to read a book that had this song in it, how could they not know it? (After the service, one set of parents said they not only sang this song to their daughter, but had played it for her on guitar, and were surprised she didn't say anything!) Things weren't looking good, since I thought I would start with the one they were most likely to recognize.

Little Ducky Duddle

went wading in a puddle

went wading in a puddle quite small (quack quack)

said he it doesn’t matter

how much I splash and splatter

I’m only a ducky after all (quack quack)

Crickets chirping and more blank stares. Again, after the service, one of the children's dad's acknowledged this one. He said it'd been a long time since he'd heard it, but he definitely remembered it. Back in the children's sermon, and we have zero recollection and a slightly panicky Susan. I decide to skip Camels and Bears altogether and move on to Waltzing with Bears.

Waltzing with Bears

My Uncle Walter goes waltzing at night!

Chorus

He goes wa-wa-wa-wa, wa-waltzing with bears,

Raggy bears, shaggy bears, baggy bears too.

There's nothing on earth Uncle Walter won't do,

So he can go waltzing, wa-wa-wa-waltzing,

So he can go waltzing, waltzing with bears!

One of the kids threw me a bone and said he recognized it, but his dads told me afterward he was just being polite, they'd never heard of that one either.

So for the grand finale I went with one they most definitely wouldn't know, since it was by the Beach Boys and altered by my dad.

Sloop John B by the Beach Boys

We come on the Sloop John B

My grandfather and me

Around Nassau town we did roam

Shopping all night

Looked at the sights!

Well I feel so broke up

I want to go home

I remember that one sounding the saddest and darkest as a child. Let that poor sailor go home!

I told the kids what my mom said about why we sang lullabies: "The lullabies we sang to you were the ones Grandmother & Grandfather sang to us. It was nice as an adult singing it to my kids and remembering my mom & dad singing it to me. . . and to have a quiet time together as day slips into night and we’re surrounded by love."

Then I told them what my Aunt Gretchen said, that lullabies were a good way to calm down a fussy niece or nephew, and in turn it calms the adult down who's singing to the child, which then calms the child down.

So, I said, we don't just sing lullabies when things are good. We could sing them when we're scared and things aren't so good. I told them about Mary's Magnificat. How Mary was pretty freaked out when she found out what was happening to her and probably pretty scared. So she sang herself a song to calm herself down and comfort herself. She wasn't expecting this to happen to her, but she had faith and hope that this would bring someone into the world who would tear down the mighty and bring justice for the poor. She sang it until she could believe it. And we can sing ourselves through our crises and into a state of peace. I didn't put it quite so eloquently or succinctly, but they got the idea, maybe.