A Joyful Noise

I never, ever, EVER get upset by fussy babies in the worship assembly. I wonder sometimes if they are voicing disagreement about a doctrinal error I may have just made. Babies can be very particular about their theology, you know. My ego normally encourages me to simply accept their outbursts as the baby version of “Amen!” I never know if that that child is teething, dealing with diaper rash, colic, or some other issue. Therefore, I always give the parents the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are doing all they can to quiet the child and will take the little one elsewhere when it goes too far. It can be tempting to make assumptions and form opinions about how the parents SHOULD handle it. Frazzled parents sometimes come up and apologize to me for their noisy child whom they assumed was a distraction to me and everyone else. I always sincerely respond by saying it does not bother me. But, I have found that I cannot speak for others on this matter.

Some people seem to imagine that there would have been no crying babies in the first century house churches. Ridiculous! Besides, we are not called to live our faith in a quiet, sterile, sanctuary once a week which bears no resemblance to real life. We are called to live our faith in the messy, noisy, inconvenient, and distraction-filled real world. It is good practice for the kids to learn about worship, being considerate of others, and devoting ourselves to God even when they don’t feel like it. It is also good practice for adults to learn how to worship even when things try to pull us away from focusing on God. We are losing our ability to concentrate because of things such as DVRs which allow us to skip past commercials and any other unpleasantness which threatens to ruin our perfect viewing experience. We tappity-tap on our phones for immediate answers to every question except the most important questions like “How can I be more like Christ?”

Praise to you parents and grandparents of small children struggling to teach them to sit still. Praise to you others who are being patient while that child tries to learn those lessons. Remember, YOU were once that fussy baby “bothering” everyone else. Let’s all lighten up and remember that the church is a family and worship is a family activity. It would be so easy (and so sad) for that frustrated parent to just stay home because it would be less of a hassle. We would miss the blessing of their presence and they would miss the blessing of worshiping with the body. They are the future of the church, after all. Plus, babies are cute and funny. But the noise comes along with that joy. It’s a package deal. May the Lord shine upon you.