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Running A.M.O.K.:Little Drummer Boy Found in the Bible!
by Dave Weiss (Dave's bio)
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Many of you watch it every year around Christmas that stop motion animation masterpiece "The Little Drummer Boy." You've heard the song, with its chorus of "pa rap puh pum pum." Up until now most of you thought it was just a cute story, cute but untrue. Well I've found him in the Bible, OK, well sort of.
You see the reason people haven't found him is because they looked in the wrong places. They looked in the Gospels and stopped there. You have to go much further back, back to 1 Peter 4:10. Think about the story, this poor kid stumbles upon the manger where Jesus is born. He shows up just about the time when the three wise men showed up. (Yes, I know that's Biblically inaccurate, Jesus was two when they finally showed up, but I have a point so work with me here.) Here are these guys showing up with three very valuable and very symbolic gifts: gold, a gift for a king, frankincense, a gift for a God, and myrrh (something used in burial), a gift for someone who would die. This poor kid sees all of these great gifts and feels like he has nothing to offer. Then he gets creative. He is an artist and he decides that he will use his gift to serve the Lord. He will play his drum for Jesus. Now here's where the story falls apart because any parent of an infant will tell you a drum solo is a lousy gift for a sleeping baby even if that Baby is God.
But the point remains, 1 Peter 4:10 tells us that each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others. Of course The Little Drummer Boy is fiction but the concept behind the story is very true. God has blessed each one of his children with at least one gift that can be used to bring Him glory and serve Him. Not all gifts are easily seen as gifts that the Kingdom can use but all (unless they violate the Word of God) are useful. Otherwise God wouldn't have given them. Sometimes you just have to be creative to figure out a way to do it. Artists have been successful at using their gifts to serve others in the church for centuries (don't believe me walk into any big church). Musicians share their gifts each week, and we hardly consider it. Stained glass artists have done the vast majority of their craft in church windows, while fabric artists create beautiful banners. Where would children's Sunday School curriculum be without the work of illustrators? Some churches incorporate dance, while many are seeing the value of drama ministry as a way of communicating the Gospel. The truth is, though as of late the arts haven't been as valued as they once were, artists have been used mightily within the church since the construction of the first tabernacle. If we really want to remain relevant to our visually driven society, we had better re-invite the artists back into our churches.
Even more importantly, if we want to be successful in taking the Gospel message to a hurting world, the arts are a key component. We have to be willing to use every ounce of the creativity God has given. Don't give me the line, "I have no gifts to bring to set before the king." You have a gift, you probably have many. God gives them freely. Use them, serve others with them, lift them to God in prayer or better yet, ask God to reveal to you exactly what your gift are. Then use them, and run A.M.O.K.!
Copyright 2002, Dave Weiss. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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About Dave Weiss: Dave Weiss is the founder of A.M.O.K. (Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom) a writer, speaker, graphic designer and a licensed minister with a background in youth ministry. For more information on A.M.O.K. or to learn more about using the arts in ministry go to the A.M.O.K. website at http://members.christhost.com/amok or join the A.M.O.K. list serve at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amokarts/.
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