I was not prepared for the Voodoo event. In my wildest dreams, I could not have seen this challenge coming, especially during one of our twelve Christmas chapel services last month.
First of all, just the word "voodoo" kind of scares me! Second of all, I've never seen The Exorcist, Friday the 13th, or any movie that has the word "dead" in its title. Third of all, the word "voodoo" really does scare me!
Maybe I should have worn my WWJD wristband when I entered the main care giving area that December morning. I wanted to help with breakfast and meet that day's visiting children. Chapel wasn't scheduled for a couple of hours. As I entered the pod, I was immediately greeted by one of our young friends holding a paper with hand drawn stick figures on it. He was visibly upset and held up the artwork for me to see. "Voodoo!" he yelled out frantically. "Voodoo!" he said again as if he was expecting an answer. Caught totally by surprise, I had no response. I was saved from my predicament by a Child Care Specialist who adeptly redirected him to breakfast.
Ninety minutes later it was time for chapel. Our lesson object was the baby Jesus as an anti-anxiety toy that I thought up. I am not kidding! When my adult son, with severe Autism, has a meltdown, we often place a hand towel near his mouth so that, in his extreme frustration, he can bite the towel instead of himself (or his parents.)
The idea popped into my mind one day (Thanks, Lord) that if I rolled up a tan washcloth, tied a string around it to make a head, it could look like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. I added a happy face in permanent magic marker to complete the very first Baby Jesus anti-anxiety toy. (I'm sure Hasbro and Mattel are dialing my cell as I write this.)
During one of the morning worship services, as I revealed the Baby Jesus washcloth, guess who yelled out the word "voodoo"? It was that emotional boy. This time I just said "No, it's the baby Jesus." and told the story of the Nativity. I concluded the children's sermon by handing out a washcloth baby Jesus to each child for them to keep. To my great relief, my young friend gladly accepted it. Cool story? Yes, and this story has a terrific conclusion!
The reason that the boy had been obsessing about "Voodoo" was that he had seen the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog the day before. It is one of his favorite movies. Unfortunately, the movie does not have much to offer the Christian community. In fact, young viewers may tend to be steered off course with anti Christian themes. Here's a quote about the movie theme from HollywoodJesus.com
"I also want to mention that the spirituality in this film is pretty dark, even for a Disney film. The villain sings a song about his friends "from the other side" making it very plain this isn't just magic that's being used but the powers of hell and its minions. This is serious stuff, and the light-handed manner that it was often handled with made me a bit uncomfortable. One should never lightly toy with the spiritual world, especially the world of demons and their dark powers. Having a show-stopping Broadway-like song about dalliances with dark forces in an animated movie may make it seem like doing such things is really no big deal; not something I want my kids to pick-up on."
I did not find out until weeks later that this boy took the washcloth Jesus back to his room and placed it next to his voodoo artwork. At first he played with both objects. As reported to me by one of the staff, this boy later in the day, was seen carrying around the washcloth Jesus while the voodoo artwork sat on the floor of his room. (I guess I did not need that WWJD wristband after all.)
This is the "Worship for All" blog. It has a heavenly ending!
Next up: "Freedom to Worship!"
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