Circumcision and Christmas Carols
// December 20th, 2007 // Family Life, Humor
I grew up in the middle of charismania. If you know anything about charismatics, you know that they don’t like to do anything the way it has always been done before. In fact, they don’t like to do things even the way they themselves did it last time. We didn’t believe in tradition, unless we “felt led” to believe in it. And then it wasn’t tradition, it was sovereignty.
Now, don’t get me wrong. My spiritual heritage is deep. I speak in tongues, prophesy, and believe that the gifts mentioned in I Corinthians 12:7-10 and elsewhere have not ceased. But I think it’s been long enough now for all of us to admit that there were some pretty cooky things we did as charismaniacs. We should laugh. I sure do.
One of the ways this manifested itself was in how we did Christmas caroling. I was about 12 at the time. Not sure of the age, but it feels like 12 when I remember it. A group of us gathered at the church to pray before going out. We huddled together like Gideon and his ragtag band of soldiers preparing to assault the gates of hell. Only they were armed with swords. We had Christmas carols and tambourines.
We came to the first house and marched (quite literally) to the front porch of these poor unsuspecting suburbanites. My Dad (pastor of the church at the time) led out with a rousing chorus of “O Come All Ye Faithful”. So far so good. The clanging tambourines and intercessors pacing in the background weren’t too noticeable. The residents came to the door to listen, smile, and act generally entertained.
Then things took a hard left turn into pre-pubescent hell. My Dad handed me and my two brothers the sheet music to a song that we sang often at church and said, “You guys are going to sing this as a solo.” The name of the song was “We are the Circumcision”. Allow me to share the primary lyric to the song before I continue:
We are the circumcision! We worship God in the Spirit.
The song was a fast-paced Jewish number and involved a lot of clapping and smiling. Not exactly traditional Christmas fare. Not exactly traditional for any time of year, in fact. Certainly not for any 12 year old male.
So, I and my brothers dutifully stepped forward and sang the song to this family. I believe I remember Dad coming in with a funky tambourine solo after the first chorus. Everything after that is kind of a blank spot in my memory. Sort of an extended blackout like what’s associated with post traumatic stress disorder. My next memory is of a Sunday morning soon after when I had the life-altering realization of what circumcision actually means. I think I may have passed out right in my seat.
But that was ok. People fell over in our church every week.
[tags]charismatic, church, christmas carols, songs, christmas, funny[/tags]
Oh my gosh, I had no idea that this was the kind of family I married into.
Just kidding; I grew up singing that I was the circumcision too!
What a hilarious story, Ben! I can so see your dad doing a tambourine solo. Did the tambourine have all kinds of ribbons streaming down from it, with something like “Jehovah Jireh” written on the drumhead part? I think I remember that being “in” back then.
Hey Jessica, remember that you guys were the ones who took the ubiquitous “Charismatic Two-Step” and made it into the “Maranatha Two-Step,” after your church name.
Good times. I also remember us singing another scripture song that night from Exodus. Yeah, I’m sure the general populace of Fuquay-Varina are intimately acquainted with the fun-to-read book of Exodus (King James Version, of course). The song went a little something like “I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider thrown into the sea!!!” Yipee! God hates equine sports!! You have to wonder if the listeners were frightened at this point. “Who’s Delores, and why did she toss a horse and a jockey into the ocean?”
The best part of that night was when some elderly lady gave me some spiked eggnog.
LOL! Joseph, I had forgotten about the horse and the rider song. I sang that song every Sunday for many years having no clue what it was about.
Jessica, I don’t think it had ribbons. That was considered feminine. All ribboned tambourines were played by women. Wearing doilies on their head.
Yeah, Dad had the “authentic” Israeli tambourine with a natural wood finish and left a dent in your thigh when you played it. That’s Biblical masculinity.
While blasting a shofar with the skill of Louis Armstrong.
too funny!! ROFL
This really made me laugh and smile, a good way to close my day. Thanks!
Do y’all remember when we were in college, and a friend (who shall remain un-named)used to sing that song at the top of his lungs in the student union? Then, he would start doing the charismatic “chicken dance.”
LOL! I DO remember the chicken dance. Very well, in fact. I had forgotten that…
That’s a really funny story!
I came upon your post after googling “we are the circumcision” to show to my wife that it is (was) actually a song. Man, those were the days.
“Kol HaKavod” (congrats), as we say in Israel. After spending 20 years of my life living in Jerusalem as a Christian Worker, and knowing all there is to know about all that and Charismania too, that was just too good.